Ka‘ū News Briefs Wednesday, March 14, 2018

Proposed roads and trails would skirt historic sites within the South Point National Landmarks Complex.  The Department of Hawaiian Home Lands aims to provide more protection with its new South  Point Resources Management Plan. Map from the Management Plan

MORE THAN 80 KA LAE ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES are documented in the recently released Department of Hawaiian Home Lands South Point Resources Management Plan. It states that "Kalae is believed to be the site where Polynesians from the Marquesas Islands and possibly other islands first settled when they arrived in Hawaiʻi, which is estimated to have occurred as early as AD 124."
     The 779-page report documents evidence of life in fishing villages along the South Point coast.  Excavations from the 1950s revealed "a plethora of traditional fishhooks that were used to establish a relative chronology of fishhook types," the plan reports.
     The plan includes such special places as Lua O Mākālei, which is listed in the South Point Complex of National Historic Landmarks.
     The Plan's Archaeological Inventory Survey Report describes Lua O Mākālei as a cave made by a lava tube. The site is located near a heavily traveled place where visitors and locals park to walk to Māhana Bay and Green Sands Beach. It is near what is called the Barracks, the remains of military buildings left over from World War II, when the area was used as an airbase. Lua O Mākālei is located about 245 feet south of South Point Road and 820 feet west of Hawaiian Home Land's proposed Pedestrian Path Parking for a walking trail to Māhana Bay and Green Sands Beach.

Lua O Mākālei at Ka Lae. The white image flying above  the cave is a pueo, Hawaiian owl. Photo from lorayne's flickr

     The plan reports Kaʻū resident and cultural practitioner Nohea Kaʻawa describing Lua O Mākālei's possible use for sheltering and training warriors during Kamehameha I's reign, from 1782 to 1819; a fishermen's work shelter; a teaching site for Hawaiian martial arts; a classroom; and a possible burial site. Carbon dating shows occupation between 1600 and 1850, according to the report.
     The name Lua O Mākālei includes the word lua, which means hole in the ground, or pit, as in against another in battle. The name Mākālei, according to the report, is connected to a supernatural tree of Haumea, goddess of fertility and childbirth, and mother of Pele. Martha Beckwith's book Hawaiian Mythology (1970) states that the naming of the cave centers around Haumea, who owns the stick Mākālei, which attracts fish. Mākālei is also associated with a tree of never-failing food supply. Mākālei is also a lua (martial art) technique that refers to, "(gouge) out the eye," (Lloyd Soehren, Hawaiian Place Names, 2010).
     The Ka Lae Place Name Chant, given to Mary Kawena Pukui in 1935 by her aunt Keli‘ihue Kamali, a kahuna lapa‘au, concludes with a description of Lua O Mākālei:

     The report also includes an interview with Palikapu Dedman, a founding member of the Burial Council, saying that decades ago, he and his companions found Lua O Mākālei filled with barbed wire and rubbish left over from the World War II era of the South Point military base, called Morse Airfield. He stated, "The military filled up Lua o Makalei with rubbish-cans and barbed wire. When we came down, we had them clean up the mess. When the military left, they did not put that place back to the way it was. They had that alternate airport but they didn't clean up that tar pit. They applied to use the Superfund but they never got it. The tar pit is still there," he said.

     The South Point Plan proposes roads, parking lots, pathways, waste disposal facilities, and other improvements to handle visitor and local traffic to the area and states that, "No significant impacts on cultural resources and practices are anticipated to result from the proposed Project." The report also states that "the plan is supported by the majority of those interviewed for the study, as it has potential to positively impact the usage and environment of Ka Lae."
     No steps to further protect Lua O Mākālei are detailed in the South Point Plan, though it does mention a 1984 archaeological survey that suggested protection of all the sites at Ka Lae by providing fencing and a full-time ranger, limiting vehicle access, documenting eroding sites, and conducting further archaeological surveys.
     Archaeological findings documented in the area include: structure platforms, temporary and lava bubble shelters, walls, clearings, mounds, paving, fishhooks, a stone adze fragment, coral abraiders, heaiu, burial sites including iwi, smoothed stones, bait cups, canoe holes, marine shell fragments, walls, hearths, middens, and more.
    The plan also mentions wildlife, noting that Lua O Mākālei serves as a habitat for the Hawaiian owl, the endemic pueo, Asio flammus sanwichensis.

     See March 3, March 5, March 6, March 7, March 8, March 9, March 10, March 11, March 12, March 13, and future Ka‘ū News Briefs for more in the continuing South Point Resource Management Plan series. See the 799-page plan online.

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FRIENDS OF THE KA‘Ū LIBRARIES HOSTS A CONTEST until Monday, Apr. 2. The contest, open to all ages, asks for participants to create a slogan or motto the organization can use to encourage reading and use of community libraries. To enter, participants must turn in their suggestions to either Nā‘ālehu Public Library or Pāhala Public and School Library. The winner will be awarded a cash prize of $55 on Friday, Apr. 13, at Pāhala Public and School Library’s 55th Anniversary Celebration. For more info, call 929-9244.

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PĀHALA PUBLIC AND SCHOOL LIBRARY CELEBRATES ITS 55TH ANNIVERSARY with the public welcome to join the festivities on Friday, Apr. 13, from 2 to 4 p.m., announces Hawai‘i State Public Library System. The event offers music, food, games and prizes. All programs are subject to change. For a list of other upcoming library events, visit librarieshawaii.org/events.

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To read comments, add your own, and like this story, see Facebook. Follow us on Instagram and Twitter. See our online calendars and our latest print edition at kaucalendar.com.