Museum Friday

Last night I learned a mo'olelo mostly concerning the whale. The two species that visit the islands in the pacific are the humpback Kohola and the sperm whale Palaoa. I usually keep the new mo'olelo I learn from someone to myself. Until I can absorb it onto myself and make it my own at some later time in my life that relates to it. But when I woke up this morning and saw on the news that a dead sperm whale was found floating in the sea off shore of Kaneohe, I knew I had to share this.

Observing the migration of birds and whales were possible motivating factors for early voyagers from the south pacific to Hawaii. Sometimes the whales would die and wash onto the shore on the windward side of Oahu. The Palaoa tooth ivory would be used to make the Lei Niho of the Ali'i. The ali'i of Maui / Hawaii island and were recognized with the curved tongue shape, and the ali'i of Oahu / Kauai wore the flat oblong shape.

When Kahekili II recognized a member of his own court, Kahahana to become the Al'ii Nui of Oahu. It was very treacherous when Kahekili II asked to keep Kualoa and the whale ivory that washed onto the shore for himself. No future Ali'i of Oahu would be able to attain the level of Kapu Ai, and Kahekili II with the Maui kingdom would virtually rule over Oahu and one of it's most sacred areas. Eventually it happened anyway but not before Kahahana's kahuna, Kaopulupulu realized Kahekili II's intentions and foiled his plans for a short time. By rejecting Kahekili II's offer and keeping Kualoa under Oahu rule.



Kupopolo Heiau, Kawailoa

This large heiau at the flat land of Kawailoa just before Waimea. Was said to have been created during the reign the last sovereign Mo'i of Oahu, Kahahana.  His Kahuna Nui, Kaopulupulu was the high priest presiding over it.

 

On my last blog entry about Waimea, while visiting some of the burial caves of Waimea. I was only able to see Kupopolo from the hills above. 

 

 

 

 

 

KSBE owns the land and UH uses the heiau now as a open classroom for students practicing archeology techniques. Although, McAllister and Emory have both surveyed the area years ago and found much disturbance due to curio relic hunters...

 

Hopefully this heiau will be carefully preserved for the future generations and not privatized... 

 

 

 

The kahuna nui Kaopulupulu and his son Kahulupue may have started their dreaded journey at this very heiau after being summoned by Kahahana. The priests tattooed their knees black as a sign that the communication and counsel of the kahuna were not heeded by the ali'i. This breakdown led to the fall of the Oahu kingdom to Maui rule... 

 

I'm unsure if this large upright stone has any connection with the heiau but it has the look of a shark fin.

Museum Friday

This pā kiʻi meat platter originally made for Kahekili to honor his victory over Oahu. The two figures represent the last sovereign Oahu Mo'i, Kahahana and his wife Kekuapoiʻulaokalani.

 

 

Return to Hawea Heiau

 

Every second Saturday of the month Hawea Heiau Complex and Keawawa Wetlands hosts a volunteer clean up of the five acre parcel. This was my second visit and I actually got to become sort of a steward for the new visitors this time. Some of the volunteer students from Kalani High School and I made a human chain to help clear out the rubbish bags from the ridge. Then a couple of them helped me plant a couple of ti leaf plants at the entrance. Later I got to conduct my own tour with a third grade teacher and was able to pass on what I have learned about the complex so far.

The importance of Hawea as a ceremonial heiau is evident with the two types of coconut trees found here. The football shaped Hewa would have been used to carry water and the spherical Nelo would have contained the awa during Awa ceremonies to honor the akua...

 

Kaleo told me that these offerings were placed on the corners of the five acre parcel lot. As a blessing by the caretakers when the landowner agreed to sell it to them for preservation. Just in the back ground you can see the honu petroglyph that I also posted on my first visit. Kaleo says one should offer the opposite to the akua. A mountain should receive something from the see and an akua on the shore should receive something from the mountains. This area is somewhere in the middle of either during present day. Although it would have been just at the foot of the ocean in the past...

The main volunteer, Sam is just doing some awesome work. He's done so much within the last month and has rediscovered so much more things that were lost to overgrowth. Here is a small wall that was just waiting to be revealed....

Here is a terrace wall on the upper perimeter slowly being brought out to the light of the sun again.

 

 I missed the information from Kaleo about this curved wall the last time. She pointed out that curved walls aren't really found at Oahu sites. Most of them are on Molokai and she suggests that this heiau may have had practitioners from across the Kaiwi in Molokai during it's construction.

 

Another lesson I learned was about these little ili ili stones. They don't really gather like this naturally and Kaleo suggested that ili ili are used to level ground within terracing. While terracing holds ground and prevents it from eroding...

Here is a wili wili tree almost in the center of the ridge at the top of what has already been cleared. It seems to have significance to the structure like those of the Hewa and Nelo. Wili wili wood would have been used as floaters for fishing nets, outriggers and wa'a for the canoes, and surboards for ali'i even though surf might not have been too good in the fishpond of Maunalua. Wili wili trees are indigenous and in quick decline due to a certain wasp infestation. Wili wili would have been abundant in the leeward areas in dry land forests.

 

Lower near the marsh and just under the coconut grove are more structures. Such as this other small curved wall... 

 

...and this large terrace wall which contains some faint petroglyphs...

 

Here is one of the nelo trees we planted last month next to a dead one and an upright stone altar. Kaleo suggested that it may be a kapua stone....

 

Here is a view of the marsh and where the students were sent to gather tennis balls from the nearby courts of the country club...

 

I heard Kaleo mention that there was a survey marker at the top of the ridge and by this time in the day my curiosity took over and I skipped out to see if I could find it.

 

 

Here is the view from the top of the ridge.

 

Museum Friday

Happy Aloha (Museum) Friday! I have a special one for you today! The archaeology conference is going on at Bishop Museum this weekend and they had a few tours today offered for those that reserved a spot ahead of time. Mahalo to Nicole Ishihara for sending me the link to the event on my comments.

There were other tours hosted by Bishop Museum. One went to the Koolau district to view places like He'eia and another went to the North Shore. The other option was a tour behind the closed doors of the museum's anthropology department. Although I wouldn't mind to have went to the north shore or the Koolau's with some people with better insight of the sights there, I've been wanting to get into the anthropology department for some time now.

The artifacts on this image are from Nu'alolo Kai. An ancient fishing village that was well preserved on the Napali Coast of Kauai. A lot of the specimens left out for us to see on the tour
 were from this area.  

Laid out beside them were artifacts from Emory's class study of Kuli'ou'ou Rock Shelter. A couple of the other well informed people were interested in what looked like a scraper made from a jawbone of a pig. On the bottom left.

I'm unsure where this tray of artifacts originated from. The piece on the bottom right looks like my friend Kyle's clothing brand Morals Fiber and the short staff on top looks to me like it's Kau'ila wood.

This remarkable disc is a stone mirror. It's said to have been found in Kauai and has no connection with any stone material found in Hawaii. It's suspected to have been brought here from somewhere else long ago. The user would have placed it in a larger stone bowl full of water and looked down into it as it reflected. Or simply adding water to the surface of the stone disc itself would also work as easy and similarly as a woman's pocket mirror...

Here is another item that is not found anywhere else in the Hawaiian archipelago. A stone pohaku from Moanalua Valley with two humanoid petroglyphs protruding outward from the stone. Instead of carved into the rock like almost every Hawaiian petroglyph. 

I have been searching for this stone ever since I started reading up on Hawaiian history and saw its image in books years ago. One book stated that it was simply left in the courtyard of Bishop Museum and during my first return to the museum since childhood, I looked everywhere for it. Pushing bushes and leaves to the side, and crawling next to the walls of the buildings in search of it....

Here is a well preserved tapa from the Nu'alolo Kai site. Our guide Victoria mentioned how they would sometimes find old tapa debris floating down from the cliffside. Possibly from birds living in burial caves and disturbing the remains until they finally get pushed off the cliff. Another person mentioned finding a small nest made of some sections of the old tapa gathered by some resourceful bird...

Just a few of the kahili they have in their collection...

I have no idea what this is. Looks like a very elaborate coat hanger but I'm sure I'm totally clueless.

This red pohaku managed to get indoors to this room but I have no explanation for it as well. Some Heiau sites are said to have contained key stones that were red like this. Like at Waha'ula Heiau on Hawaii island. That one was covered by lava in recent times. Could this be a rescued pohaku from before the lava flow? I should have asked...

There were a couple of three level shelves with all types of stone artifacts on them. Some anchors, lamps, bowls. The trippy part was when our guide told us to put our cameras away as she uncovered a shelf full of stone Ki'i like those found on Nihoa Island and on display inside the museum. There were also others that had their own individual human face or entire body. She said, "they like to rest" and mentioned that she gets the goosebumps every time she's near them. That kind of freaked me out. Wish I could share an image with you but I didn't want to be disrespectful or even risk a small sample of what she was hinting at...

This shell bracelet from Niihau is a preview of a new display to be placed in the museum.

Here are some stone adze followed by some pohaku ku'i from all over Polynesia. 

Some Pohaku ku'i were made of coral or even stalactites... 

Horrible pic but this one had a face on the top.

Finally we made our way to the Malacology Department. A gentleman there explained the distribution of land snails in Polynesia and how they can be used to tell what the environment was like during the snail's lifetime. The smallest and most abundant ones were able to be carried by birds across the ocean. But one species seems to have been able to be found on only a select few islands across the Pacific and suggested human distribution...

These snails were preserved with the meat inside...



Museum Friday

Kuli'ou'ou Rock Shelter

Some images continuing where I left off at the new exhibit in Bishop Museum's Pacific Hall.

I was very excited to see these items because I read about Emory's 1950 study a few years ago and actually went hiking in Kuli'ou'ou to look for it once...

 

 

 

 

I apologize again for stacking Museum Fridays. I hope to go on another adventure soon!