Wind Erosion and Intensive Prehistoric Agriculture: A Case Study from the Kalaupapa Field System, Moloka’i Island, Hawai’i Mark D. McCoy 1, * and Anthony S. Hartshorn 2 1 Department of Anthropology and Behavioral Sciences, One Washington Square, San José State University, San José, California 95192-0113 2 Department of Geography, 3611 Ellison Hall, University of California, Santa Barbara, Santa Barbara, California 93106-4060 Wind erosion is a major problem for modern farmers, a key variable affecting nutrient levels in ecosystems, and a potentially major force impacting archaeological site formation; however, it has received scant consideration in geoarchaeological studies of agricultural development com- pared with more easily quantifiable environmental costs, such as vegetation change or fluvial erosion. In this study, soil nutrient analysis is used in the Kalaupapa field system, Moloka’i Island, Hawai’i, to detect an increase in wind erosion attributable to intensive agriculture fol- lowing the burning of endemic forest. This practice began on a small scale in the 13th century A.D., expanded around cal A.D. 1450–1550, and continued until the near total abandonment of the fields after European contact in the 18th century. Nutrients that naturally occur in high amounts in coastal windward areas due to the long-term, cumulative effect of sea spray were especially impacted. However, thanks to the unique landform of the Kalaupapa Peninsula, nutri- ent depletion in windward areas was offset by downwind enrichment and likely contributed to the long-term sustainability of the system as a whole. Future research on tropical and arid agriculture should consider the cumulative environmental cost of increased eolian erosion attributable to anthropogenic landscape modification. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. INTRODUCTION Although recent studies cite wind erosion as a major problem for modern farmers (Sterk, 2003), a key variable effecting nutrient levels in ecosystems (Chadwick et al., 1999; Kurtz et al., 2001; Reynolds et al., 2001; Riksen and De Graaff, 2001; Okin et al., 2004), and a potentially major force impacting archaeological site formation (Rick, 2002), it has received scant consideration in geoarchaeological studies of agricultural devel- opment compared with more easily quantifiable environmental costs, such as vegetation change or fluvial erosion (Redman, 1999). Here we analyze the spatial distribution of soil nutrients to document increased wind erosion associated with the transforma- tion of a forested landscape into an intensively cultivated field system on Kalaupapa Peninsula, Moloka’i Island, Hawai’i. We find that although efforts to control erosion Geoarchaeology: An International Journal, Vol. 22, No. 5, 511–532 (2007) © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. Published online in Wiley Interscience (www.interscience.wiley.com). DOI:10.1002/gea.20170 *Corresponding author; E-mail: mdmccoy@email.sjsu.edu.