Ethnobotany of Hawaiian figure sculpture
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(2020) 12:1
ORIGINAL PAPER
Ethnobotany of Hawaiian figure sculpture Paula J. Rudall 1
&
Caroline R. Cartwright 2
Received: 24 July 2019 / Accepted: 10 December 2019 # The Author(s) 2019
Abstract Anecdotal theories about traditional uses of Polynesian woods in relation to social and religious practices were tested using comparative wood identification. The woods used to make 135 figure carvings from the Hawaiian archipelago were identified and compared with 23 figure carvings from elsewhere in Polynesia (especially Tahiti and the Marquesas). Prior to this study, the majority of Hawaiian images were believed to have been made from wood of Metrosideros polymorpha, the commonest forest tree on the archipelago. The results confirm that Metrosideros was relatively popular in Hawaii (13% of Hawaiian carvings, compared with 4% in central and south-eastern Polynesia). However, more unexpectedly, over 18 different genera were utilized for figure carvings in Hawaii. The genus Cordia accounted for 20% of Hawaiian figure carvings identified here, compared with 26% elsewhere in Polynesia, and Thespesia for 4%, compared with 30% in Marquesas. Use of some woods, such as species of Acacia, was not previously recorded for this purpose, including the first record of Artocarpus wood for large Hawaiian temple images. Many species—especially those that were less popular for ritual figure carving—were also used for various other purposes, including food, canoe building and medicines. This study demonstrates that the early Polynesian settlers brought with them traditions of using certain trees, but also took advantage of elements of the extensive indigenous flora. Keywords Ethnobotany . Figure sculpture . Hawaii . Pacific Islands . Wood
Introduction Hawaiian figure sculpture represents perhaps the pinnacle of a tradition of woodcarving that spread throughout the Pacific with the early Polynesian colonists, and later died out after European contact. Its forms, symbols and conventions are inextricably linked to a social and religious framework. Many ideas and beliefs, later modified by characteristically Hawaiian cultural and environmental demands during a long period of isolation, were originally taken to Hawaii by seafaring Polynesians, probably from central eastern Polynesia, during the early settlement period that lasted until about 1400 AD (Kirch 2018). There are about 150 existing examples of Hawaiian wood carvings with human figures, now dispersed in museums and private collections throughout the world, some of them
* Paula J. Rudall [email protected] 1
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Richmond Surrey TW9 3AB, UK
2
Department of Scientific Research, The British Museum, Great Russell Street, London WC1B 3DG, UK
traceable to Captain Cook’s own collections. Apart from some anecdotal information (e.g. Rock 1913, Kaeppler et al. 1993), relatively little is known about the woods used for the images. Previous laboratory wood identifications of Hawaiian figure carvings were primarily concerned with testing for possible non-authentic im
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