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ABSTRACT Building upon a pioneering 1909 survey of Moloka‘i Islandheiau(temples) by archaeologist John F. G. Stokes, the pre‐contact temple system of Hālawa Valley is described and analysed. Tenheiauwere relocated and mapped, with seven sites test excavated and radiocarbon dated. The majority of sites are terraces or terraced platforms in architectural form, ranging in size from 72 to 1300 square meters in basal area. Functionally, the temples include fishing shrines (ko‘a), agricultural or fertility temples (heiau ho‘oulu‘ai), and oneluakinior temple of human sacrifice dedicated to the war god Kū. The orientations of the temple foundations appear to be deliberate (rather than dictated by topography). One group is slightly offset from cardinality and shows an eastward orientation, likely associated with the god Kāne. A second group exhibits an orientation to the ENE, which is the direction of the star cluster Makali‘i (Pleiades), whose achronycal rising determined the onset of the Makahiki season dedicated to the god Lono. The radiocarbon dates indicate that the temples were constructed during the seventeenth to eighteenth centuries, or the Archaic States Period of the Hawaiian cultural sequence. 

The Halawa dune site on Moloka‘i Island has played a key role in understanding early Hawaiian history. Initially excavated in 1969– 1970 and regarded then as dating to the early phase of Hawaiian settlement, the site yielded a diverse artifact assemblage and the first evidence for round-ended house foundations in Hawai‘i. Prior attempts to refine the site’s chronology yielded inconsistent results. Renewed excavations and re-analysis of previously excavated collections from the site have allowed for recovery of a stratigraphically controlled sample of faunal materials and charcoal. AMS dating of candlenut endocarp indicates initial use of Mound A cal AD 1366– 1610, with occupation continuing into the post-contact period. Matched pairs of candlenut and marine mollusk shell dates allow for the derivation of a Halawa-specific marine reservoir value (DR¼􀀀 267), in turn permitting the calibration of 12 dates on marine mollusk shells excavated from Mound B in 1970. Faunal materials from the 2020 Mound A excavation add new information on patterns of marine exploitation, and on a trend of increased frequency of domestic pig and dog over time. Charcoal identified from Mound A indicates largely native forest taxa, but with several Polynesian introduced plants as well, including candlenut, breadfruit, and mountain apple.