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Recent work to extend the instrumental record of Hawaiian rainfall (available since the early 1900s ) back several centuries indicates the presence of large and significant variations in rainfall on decadal time scales (see time series graphic above). Parallel efforts to understand agricultural changes in the Hawaiian Islands prior to European influences suggests that after about 1650 CE there was a shift in emphasis to productive maximizing strategies, with implications for the region’s economic and socio-political stability.The above is one of the motivating ideas for conducting this workshop. Previous work by several of the participants argued that an increased reliance on risky product maximization strategies...
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What became apparent during the course of the workshop was the varying scales at which climatologists and archaeologists analyze and understand their data. Archaeologists are often concerned with the particular historical sequence of a place, and the effects that climatic conditions might have in that fairly limited spatial location. Climatologists tend to evaluate global and regional patterns without specifying localized patterns of variation that would have been important to human populations. The closing of this gap is a primary objective for future studies and this workshop provides the first step in creating space for additional discussion and collaboration. As an example, the organizers have begun to evaluate...
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