Heiau, 'Āina, Lani

The Hawaiian Temple System in Ancient Kahikinui and Kaupō, Maui
Erscheinungsjahr 2019
ISBN: 978-0-8248-7827-6
Verlag: University of Hawaii Press

Buch, Englisch, 480 Seiten, Hardback, Format (B × H): 183 mm x 257 mm, Gewicht: 998 g

Heiau, ‘Aina, Lani is a collaborative study of 78 temple sites in the ancient moku of Kahikinui and Kaupo in southeastern Maui, undertaken using a novel approach that combines archaeology and archaeoastronomy. Although temple sites (heiau) were the primary focus of Hawaiian archaeologists in the earlier part of the twentieth century, they were later neglected as attention turned to the excavation of artifact-rich habitation sites and theoretical and methodological approaches focused more upon entire cultural landscapes. This book restores heiau to center stage. Its title, meaning “Temples, Land, and Sky,” reflects the integrated approach taken by Patrick Vinton Kirch and Clive Ruggles, based upon detailed mapping of the structures, precise determination of their orientations, and accurate dating.

Heiau, ‘Aina, Lani is the outcome of a joint fieldwork project by the two authors, spanning more than fifteen years, in a remarkably well-preserved archaeological landscape containing precontact house sites, walls, and terraces for dryland cultivation, and including scores of heiau ranging from simple upright stones dedicated to Kane, to massive platforms where the priests performed rites of human sacrifice to the war god Ku. Many of these heiau are newly discovered and reported for the first time in the book.

The authors offer a fresh narrative based upon some provocative interpretations of the complex relationships between the Hawaiian temple system, the landscape, and the heavens (the “skyscape”). They demonstrate that renewed attention to heiau in the context of contemporary methodological and theoretical perspectives offers important new insights into ancient Hawaiian cosmology, ritual practices, ethnogeography, political organization, and the habitus of everyday life. Clearly, Heiau, ‘Aina, Lani repositions the study of heiau at the forefront of Hawaiian archaeology.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Kirch, Patrick Vinton

Ruggles, Clive

Fachgebiete

• Sozialwissenschaften Ethnologie | Volkskunde Ethnologie Kultur- und Sozialethnologie: Allgemeines
• Naturwissenschaften Astronomie Astronomie: Allgemeines
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Weltgeschichte & Geschichte einzelner Länder und Gebietsräume Geschichte einzelner Länder Australische und Pazifische Geschichte
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Alte Geschichte & Archäologie

Über Autor(innen)

Patrick Vinton Kirch is Chancellor’s Professor Emeritus and Professor of the Graduate School at the University of California, Berkeley.

Clive Ruggles is emeritus professor of archaeoastronomy in the School of Archaeology and Ancient History at the University of Leicester, United Kingdom.