The goals of HARP may be summarized as the following:

• to implement new techniques and approaches in archaeology and anthropology that will improve our understanding of how and why Hawaiian society developed the way it did
• to emphasize non-invasive archaeological techniques and methods and those analyses that provide new kinds of cultural and environment information about the past
• to enlarge the geographic scale at which archaeologists conduct their research
• to compare, contrast, and integrate the findings of different disciplines as they pertain to the cultural and natural history of Kohala and the Hawaiian Islands.

HARP seeks to advance the application of new techniques and approaches in archaeology and anthropology that will lead to an improved understanding of how and why traditional Hawaiian society developed in the way it did. In addition to techniques that focus on the recovery of locational data pertaining to archaeological sites, we are using Hawaiian traditions, extant archaeological, geographic, and archival collections, and previous descriptions of the archaeological record in Hawai'i to develop information relative to the history of the archipelago.

In Kohala, we integrate global positioning system (GPS) units with instrument and non-instrument mapping to locate, describe, and map archaeological sites and topographic features that are visible on the surface of the landscape. We have already established a computerized geographic information (GIS) system database of the aerial photo derived map of the Kohala Field System (Ladefoged et al. 1996). There are more than 4,500 field border walls and 600 trail sections contained in the database. The field border walls when lined end-to-end cover a distance of more than 570 km. New GPS and other mapping data are being added to that GIS (along with environmental and social data) about the entire district, now including archaeological features in the north and northeast where valleys occur. This GIS database now allows us to generate different combinations of maps showing the distribution of archaeological sites, in particular the walls associated with the dry land agricultural fields, in relation to environmental variables.

A second goal involves spearheading the use of relatively non-invasive archaeological techniques that provide contextual information usually associated only with excavations. In particular, the GPS maps highlight relationships between field border walls and trails that allow us now (Ladefoged et al. 2003) to develop relative chronologies of the construction of walls and trails in different areas of the field system (see Rosendahl 1974 and Kirch 1986 for suggestions on how this should be done). Recently, we added 14C dating to link the relative chronology to calendrical age estimates (Ladefoged and Graves 2006).

Along with mapping, we have developed a feature record form for architectural structures and have recorded more than 1,000 structures in the KFS and along the coast. We now use the built-in computer applications on our GPS units to record architectural and other attributes associated with archaeological features - making our survey nearly paperless. Already we have successfully used stylistic data from these forms as the basis for developing seriations, that is, relative chronologies, of residential architecture in two of the ahupua'a (traditional Hawaiian communities) previously mapped (Graves et al. 2002; O'Connor 1998) along with heiau (Hawaiian religious sites) in the Kohala uplands (Mulrooney and Ladefoged 2005). Functional attributes are also noted and provide the basis, once relative chronologies are established, for sorting out the different components of changes in prehistoric settlements in North Kohala. For example, we expect to be able to distinguish permanent from temporary habitation structures and animal pens from kuleana (household) enclosing walls.

Given concerns expressed by Hawaiians and archaeologists on the increasing loss of archaeological sites (or historic properties), our techniques and methods in Kohala have emphasized those which are non-invasive or which do not require extensive new excavations. This involves using existing collections where possible and the relevant information which can be obtained from previously conducted excavations. The use of GPS units for mapping and GIS databases are also consistent with this goal, as they provide digital forms for spatial or locational information on the archaeological record and other variables that we record.

A third goal of HARP is to enlarge the scale at which archaeologists conduct their research, such as the recovery of site data and from which they develop their interpretations. In north Hawai'i, the Kohala Field System (KFS), is an extremely large site, extending approximately 60 sq km along the gently sloping uplands of the Kohala Mountains. This area was converted to fixed field dry land farming by Hawaiians prior to the European discovery of the archipelago and sweet potato was likely the main cultivar. In a project area of this size, large scale spatial excavations would be time consuming and cost prohibitive. Our use of GPS for surface mapping and site recording and the integration of this data into a GIS database are intended to partly resolve this matter. We have now extended this research to the wetter side of Kohala and are currently conducting fieldwork and digitizing existing archaeological maps for the larger valleys (such as Pololu and Honokane) and the smaller gulches (such as Halawa) where both dryland and pondfield terraces are located.

This combination of technological, large scale, and non-invasive archaeological and anthropological means for generating historical data distinguishes us from much of the tradition of archaeology in Hawai'i and the United States. It is, however, in keeping with the conservation ethic of archaeology (Lipe 1974) and our commitment to the development of reliable knowledge about the past. It also reflects our theoretical orientation, to help develop archaeology as a science based on the principles of evolutionary archaeology and/or evolutionary ecology.

A fourth goal of HARP is to compare, contrast, and integrate the findings of different disciplines as they pertain to the cultural and natural history of Kohala and the Hawaiian Islands. This kind of inter-disciplinary research will determine the potential synergy that can be achieved by scientists working in such diverse areas as archaeology, ethnohistory and oral traditions, paleo-ecologists, earth scientists, and human demography and modeling. Results of this synergy can already be seen in recent publications that link soil properties to the KFS (Vitousek et al. 2004), the recovery of the earliest sweet potato sample thus far in Hawai'i (Ladefoged et al. 2005), and new models that link soils, nutrient flows, elevation, and rainfall to describe variation in potential agricultural production across the KFS.

Other projects aligned with HARP's goals and which include large scale analyses are those by Jadelyn Moniz-Nakamura (1999) on birds from archaeological contexts distributed over much of Hawai'i Island, Graves and C. K. Cachola-Abad (1996, 2006) efforts to seriate and explain the history of heiau architecture across Maui, Cachola-Abad (2000) on oral traditions from the four main Hawaiian Islands (Hawai'i, Maui, O'ahu, and Kaua'i), Wendy McElroy's (2003) MA thesis on poi pounders from Kaua'i, and the inter-institutional research project at Kahikinui, Maui and in Kohala spearheaded by Patrick V. Kirch (2001) of U.C. Berkeley. One purpose of these studies is to show geographic patterning or variation in the history of artifact, behavioral, and organizational forms that occurred in prehistoric Hawai'i. U.H. Manoa graduate students are pursuing or have completed similar kinds of studies in Rapa Nui (Shepardson 2006), the Marquesas (Addison 2005), Society Islands, the Yasawa Islands (Cochrane 2004), and Fiji (Field 2003), Micronesia, Melanesia, and Southeast Asia.