ARTICLE Celebration as a source of power in archaic states: archaeological and historical evidence for the Makahiki festival in the Hawaiian Islands Mark D. McCoy Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, U.S.A. ABSTRACT Large celebrations in ancient societies, when viewed through the lens of political economy theory, were opportunities for economic redistribution, elite rivalry and social integration. Metrics to evaluate celebratory behaviour – such as festive gatherings, offerings at temples and shrines, games and memorials – remain underdeveloped. Here the author examines the archaeological and historical evidence for the Makahiki festival in the Hawaiian Islands. He takes a direct historical approach combining independent datasets to classify settings of cel- ebrations and evaluate claims that the Makahiki festival originated, and was most elaborate, on Hawai’i Island, as well as that the festival was practised di fferently across the archipelago. The author finds that the relevant data collected over more than a century of archaeology are not sufficient to support these claims and that the distribution of tracks for the sledding sport (hōlua) might be a fruitful avenue for future research, especially when investigating elite rivalry. More speculatively, the author argues that it is possible to decipher choices in architectural design and location at royal centres that speak to attempts by the elite to artificially increase the density of crowds at low turn-out events while at the same time leaving enough room to accommodate high turn-out events. KEYWORDS Political economy; royal centres; Makahiki festival; ancient sport; hōlua sledding; Hawaiian Islands When viewed through the lens of political economy theory large celebrations involving hundreds or thousands of people provided the ruling class of pre-modern states with a host of opportunities to create and maintain power. Gatherings could be used to shape the economy, publicly demonstrate personal power, and capitalize on shared experiences in games, sports and performances as an avenue to promote social integration. Cross-cultural examples of celebrations in pre-modern states and chiefdoms involving tribute and redistribution, elite competition and elite-sponsored sports suggest celebrations were, at different times and places, a remarkable and important source of power (see Flannery and Marcus [2012] for a summary). Metrics to evaluate celebratory behaviour – such as festive gatherings, offerings at temples and shrines, games and memorials – remain underdeveloped, in part, as they often require a great deal of historically particular knowledge that is not always possible based on material evidence in isolation from documentary and ethnohistoric information. The first Western account of traditional Hawaiian society includes rich detail on celebrations (Figures 1 and 2). In 1778, two British ships commanded by Captain James Cook sailed into Kealakekua Bay during the largest annual celebration on Hawai’i Island: Makahiki. Sometimes CONTACT Mark D. McCoy mdmccoy@smu.edu Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX, U.S.A. Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here. WORLD ARCHAEOLOGY, 2018 https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2018.1445554 © 2018 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group