The Kualoa ArchaeologicalResearch Project. 1975-1985:A Brief Overview

Jo Lynn Gunness

Kualoa Regional Park, as part of the almpun'al of Kualoa, islisted on the National Register of Historic Places as being ofSmtewide significance. The entire a!mplla'a was placed onboth the Stare and National Registers in October of 1974 onthe basis of irs mytho]ogicllJ and legendary importance to rheHawaiian people. Since December of 1974, the Kualoa Re-gional Park area (which encompasses approximately \I.iof theentire Kualoa fdmplIll'a) has been the focus of on-going ar-chaeological research conducted under the auspices of theCity and County of Honolulu, Department of Parks andRecreation. The purpose of this paper is to provide a briefoverview of that work. 2

Physical Environment

The Kualoa ahupuniz is locned on the windward (northclS[)coaS[ of O'ahu Island, Hawai'i. The ahupuaiz consiS[S of abroad, flat plain bounded on the north by the ahupua'a ofKa'a'awa. on the east by the: Pacific Ocean, on the south byKane'ohe Bay, and on the: weS{by [he ahuplUld of Hakipu'uand Moli'i Fishpond. a prehistorically built fishpond which isstill being operated rod<ty.Politically. the ridgeline forming meboundary between Ka'a'awa and Kualoa (Kalaeoka'o'io) alsomarks [he boundary between me districtS of Ko'olau Loa tothe north, and Ko'olau Poko. of which Kualoa is the north-ernmost ahupun'a, to the south.

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The nearly vertical ridgeline, called Palikfi, whichforms the northern boundary of Kualaa is a sec~fion of lhe caldera rim of me exunn Ko'olau vol-cano, which reaches an elevation of 579 m at thepeak known as "Pu'u Kanehoalani." The ridge'stalus slopes drop steeply to the flat plain whichforms the Kualaa peninsula, approximately 61.6

hectares of which comprise Kualaa RegionalPark-the focus of the present archaeological in-vestigations.

Situated aboul 400 m off Kualoa Point isMokoli'i Island (Chinaman's Hal). a sea srack for-merlya part of the Ko'olau rim. A broad, shallowreef extends out to Mokou'j Island, beyond whichme reef drops off into open sea.

The reef, lhe rocky shoreline of Mokoli'j Island,and remnams of a now destroyed fishpond walloff Kualaa Point provide a habitat for a widerange of marine fauna which have been exploiredsince prehistoric times.

Kualoa in Ethnohistoric Records

The Kualoa area is rich in oral rraditions whichgive insigh[ into its place in the island's culture.Kualoa (literally "long back~) was in ancienttimes called Paliku ("vertical cliff~); being namedfor the ridgeline which forms the land division'snorthern boundary (Pukui, Elbert and Mookini1974).

It is said that the goddess Haumea, and her hus-band Wikea-the progenirofs of the Hawaiianpeople-made their home at Pa[ikfi (Holm 0

Hawni; 1928; Sterling and Summers 1978:183-184). It was from the cliffs that Haumea battledthe warriors of Kumuhonua; and from here thatHaumea, \'fakea. and all their followers werewashed to sea by a great tidal wave:

They swam in an effort ro save themselves, untilthey were almost exhausted. Kamo'awa, Wakea'sknhuml, taught Wakea how [Q cup his hands ro-ge[her to represent a hrinu, [hen he caught a humu-humunukunukuapua'n fish fa form of Kamapua'aor Lono, god of srorm and rain] and sruck it head

first into the cupped hands (Q represent a pig.Then [he followers swam around Wakea in pro-cession. dedicating [he "h~iau." As soon as thisceremony was finished, [he sea washed [hemashore (Handy and Handy 1972:449 from Hokuo Hawn;i March 12. 1928; see also Sterling andSummers 1978:183-184).

As a result of this event, here was built [he highshrine 10 Lono, the god of storm, who saveWakea and Haumea in the flood and was [here-after served by what Malo (1903. p.21 0) refers toas Qthe separate order" of priests. the Mo'o l...ono(Mo'o-kuauhau-o-Lono, or genealogical-line-of-Lono). "The priests of this rimal were also said robe of [he order of Paliku" (Handy and Handy1972:447).

Numerous specific geogr.l.phical points aroundKualoa are associated with other Hawaiian myth-ological figures-many of them tied to me leg-ends of Pele, the volcano goddess, and her sister,Hi'iaka (both daughters of Haumea). Hi'iaka issaid to have fought and killed a huge moo, or •.dragon ar Kualoa. Part of his tail became Mokoli'iIsland, and his body became the foothills belowthe Kualoa cliffs (Beckwith 1970, Fornander1880, Mitchell 1973, Raphaelson 1925). AndKam:lpua'a, rhe half-man, half-pig being is said tohave once hidden ftOm Pele in a hollow at Kua-loa, and later made the holes which can be seentOday in the Kualoa ridge (Sterling and Summers1978:182-183).

Another story tells rhar Kualoa was the home of ayoung shark demi-god who lived in a pond forspring in another version of the story] ar the endof KuaJoa Poim, and who was fed fish and takencare of by the people of the land. In return, heprotected the people from sharks when they wentom on the reef to collen food. One day a newkonohiki (the headman of me ahupuo'n under thechief) came to Kualoa, and because he wanled tokeep all the fish for himself. he refused to let mepeople feed the shark god. In lime. the sharkgod's father came passing by. and discovered hisson wasting away. When he learned of me kana-hiki's stinginess, he was very angry. and caused agreat tidal wave thar washed away the konohikiand destroyed the pond [or spring] (POO 1972.

52hawaiian archaeology

Raphaelson 1925). And since that time, peoplehave had to be wary of sharks when they go OUt

on the reef at Kualaa.

Kamakau (1964:73-74) also tells of a shark thatlived in me waters of Mokoli'i, at Hakipu'u andKualaa. This shark had only 1 tomh, and nippedlike a crab to warn swimmers of the presence ofdangrrous sharks.

Kualaa is said EO have been a very sacred place.Many authors record mat all canoes lowered theiTsails when passing Kualaa, in respect for it's sa-credness (Alexander 1899, Fornander 1880,Thrum 1911); and even Kamehameha I is said tohave followed mis CUSlOffi.Handy and Handy, inspeculating on the reasons for this rieual, recallthe manner in which Haumea and Wiikea wefesaved from the sea by creating a ~heiaun to Lona.They say this cusrom, which was carefully fol-lowed by all passersby, would seem to justifY theconclusion that it was at the base of the cliffcalled Paliku that the ancient miipl!ie shtine dedi-cated to LOllo was located. This undoubtedly wasthe sea of the hierarchy of the priestly order ofLOllo, to which Malo referred ... where was trallS~mitted orally "the genealogy of Pali-ku" by and tothe Mo'o-Lono. It is not unlikely that the longchant describing the birth and exploits of Kama-pua'a, who was identified with Lono, was com-posed and recited here (1972:448).

Kualoa is where the "sacred drums of Kapahuulaand Kaahulliapunawai" were located; and it iswhere whale ivory was~ed ashore-called"paJaoa-pal!." (Whale ivory was highly prized foriu use in the manufacrure of the ki ni"o pa/aoa,or whale-tooth pendant, the symbol of highchiefly rank.) For these reasons, the po~ion ofthe lands of Kualoa by Uahu's chief was consid-ered to be a symbol of sovereignry and indepen-dence for O'ahu (Kamakau 1961, Westerveh1926. Fornander 1880). Ka Nai Aupuni (1906)states: "If Kualoa should be taken. Ih of the islandof O'ahu, and all the pink dyed tapas ofKoolauloa were to be taken aJso." Kamakau0964:18) and Thrum (1911:152) both list theentire ahupun'a of Kualoa as a pu'ulJonua, or placeof refuge.

Fornander (1880), Raphaelson (1925), andMitchell (1973), also record that Kualoa was thesite of a training school for young chiefs. Herethey were: trained "in the am of war and the an-cient traditions of Hawaiian chiefs" (Raphaelson1925).

In addition, Kamakau records mat Kalaeoka'o'io,the: dividing point between Ka'a'awa and Kllaloawas the traditional ending place ror the 11IJlkahiki3processions and was where the wealth collectedduring the makahiki circuits was disuibutecl(19600-21).

Historic Land Use

Diverse historic land use on the Kualoa peninsulahas had a major influence on the nature of ar-chaeological remains now found in the area. LandCommission records and te~timony show that onNovember 20, 1850, when Dr. Gerritt P. Juddpurchased Kualoa from Kamehameha 111,25bnd Commission-awarded native ku/erma (smallplots of land) existed within the presem parkboundaries, including 14 houses. The kll/f!4lU1

were grouped in 2 areas-6 houses along thenorthern portion of the eaSt beach; and 8 houses,and 8 taro and sweet potato plots near the north-western corner of the park.

Between 1850 and 1860, Dr. Judd practiced di-versified farming at Kualoa. In 1860, he deededKualoa ro his son Charles H. Judd and his son-in-law Samuel G. Wilder. who planted Kualoa insugarcane and built a sugar mill (approximatdy0.8 km toward Ka'a'awa from the pre.!ient parkentrance). For building materials mer used near-by abundant basalt rocks and burned locallyavailable coral for lime. In 1868 WLlder's 9-year-old son fdl into a vat of boiling syrup at the milJand died. This tragedy, combined with low sugarprices and a pOOt qualiry of cane, caused Juddand Wilder to dose down the mill in 1871. andKualoa became a ranch under the direction ofCharles Judd.

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In 1916, the Morgan family (a descendam branchof the Judd family, and present owners of KualoaRanch) bUlh a small bathhouse of basalt rocks onthe soum beach of Kualoa Poim bClWecn 'Apuaand Mali'i Ponds. With this exception, berween187\ and the: late 19305 the majority of theKualoa Point area was used principally for grazingof horses and cattle. Following this period, anumber of Iand-ahering activities took place inseveral areas. All of these aaivities required bull-dozing to one extent or anomer.

In the latc 19305 an emergency airplane landingsuip with grass surface was laid out along the eastbeach of Kualoa's peninsula. With the coming ofWorld War II, the U.S. Army (Ook over KualoaRanch. In 194\ the landing strip was bulldozedto 1829 m long and 46 ill wide. a steel landingmat was put down, and grass was plamed in themesh. The landing strip ran from near KualoaPoint, parallel to the beach, across the highway,and a shon way toward the mountains. Othermodifications of the land associated with WorldWar II included a series of cemenr «pillboxes~along the coast and eastern side of Moli'i Pond,and a coral-paved mototpool and camouflagedplane parking area in the cenll'al portion of thepark.

After KuaJoa was remrncd to the control ofKualoa Ranch, the Morgan family, in 1957, builta home near the southeast corner of Moli'i Pond,JUStto the south of the stone bathhouse.

In 1966, the City and County of Honolulu beganacquisition from the Morgan family, throughcondemnation proceedings, of the approximately61.6 hectares at Kualoa Point for a City andCounty park. In 1974 the process of land acquisi-tion was completed and the City undenook aprogram of development which included bulldoz-ing and clearing of areas along the beach thatwould be planted in grass for public use; and the-installation of 4 comfort stations-3 on the- e-asrbeach and 1 on the south beach. In addirion, atree nursery was developed in the north-centralportion of [he park, in an area which had formany years previous been plowed and planted incorn.

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Previous Archaeological Work

J. G. McAllister (933) recorded 4 archaeologicalsites in the Kualoa Park area. The first, Moli'iFishpond (Site 313), is the large fishpond imme-diately west of, and adjacent w the park. Thepond encompasses 50 hectares and was formed byenclosing a bay-like area with a swne wall ap-proximau:ly 1,200 m long. Just east of Moli'iPond he recorded, bm did not assign a site num-ber to a smaller pond CApua Pond). The walls of'Apua Pond consist of a sand embankment and astone wall on the sea side.

The third sire, Koholalcle Pond (Site 312), is 10-cared in the center of the park. He recorded rhepond as being 885 feet long and 30 feer wide onthe northeast end wirh the southwest third beingconsiderably wider, measuring 85 feet.

The fourth site, Niuolaa Heiau (Site 310), ISrecorded as located in the northwest corner of thepark. Although the location was pointed 'our tohim by a local informant, nothing remained ofIhis hl!iall at the time of McAllister's survey.

Beckwith mentions a heiau ofPahulu "on the Ka-neohe side of the Judd place, about 600 feet awayfrom the old sugar mill and out in the water to-ward Mokoli'i" (Beckwith 1970:108). However,this site is not recorded by McAllister and it, toO,apparently no longer existed at [he time of hissurvey.

Local residents report that in bulldozing for theKualoa airstrip, a number of human burials weredisturbed. Unfortunately, no records were keptconcerning the discovery and disposal of theseburials.

In 1974, as part of the Statewide Inventory ofHistoric Places, the entire ahupunnof Kualoa wasplaced on both the State and National Registersof Historic Places.4 A5 mentioned in the intro-duction, it was listed as being of Starewide signifi-cance, on rhe basis of its mythological andlegendary richness. At the same time, Moli'i Fish-pond was listed as being of National significance

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for its excellenr state of preservation and its pG-"[emial for imerpretuion.

Because of Kualoa's placement on me NationalRegister of Historic Places, the City and Countyof Honolulu was required to conduct an archaeo-logical survey of me Kualoa Park areas scheduledfor developmenr at that time. As a result. WilliamBarrera, Jr. (1974) conducted a reconnaissancesurvey with subsurface testing of me beach areaswhich had already been developed (primarilybulldozed and grassed). Excavating 51 1 m! testpits, Barrera discovered a discontinuous imactculwral layer with numerous features includingpits, post molds. fire pits and I human burial. Ar-tifacts associated with the cultural layer includedan 'ulu maika, fishing equipment, several adzesand adze fragments, hammerswnes, choppers,basalt Rakes, and volcanic glass. Three dates ob-tained from [he volcanic glass were reported asA.D. 1639, 1646, and 1668. Based on his find-ings, Barrera reconlnlended that further archaeo-logical work be done at Kualoa.

Kualoa Archaeological Research Project

The Kualoa Archaeological Research Project(KARP) was established in December 1974 as aresult of Barrera's recommendations, and theavailabiliry of Comprehensive EmploymentTraining Act (C.E.T.A) nmds 1O suppon a long-term archaeological project. Under the co-direc*tion of Stephan D. Clark and Robert D.Connolly III, me project: had 2 primary goals: (I)to determine me naru.re and cxtem of archaeolog-ical remains within the park area, in conjunctionwith priority patk area development plans; and(2) 10 suppOrt and enhance the park's cui ruraland environmental programs mrough archaeolog-ical research and interpretive inputs (Clark andConnolly 1975, 1978). Berween January 1975and September 1979 the archaeological staffcompleted a surfuce survey of virtually all areas ofthe park. conducted subsurface test excavations in5 areas of the park scheduled for immediate de-velopment activities. and did archaeological mon-itoring and recording while me developmem was

underway. During the summer of 1977 a Univer-sity of Hawaii archaeological field school was alsoconducted at Kualoa.

C.E.T.A. funding was eliminated in Seprembt'r1979, and the full-time archaeological project wasrerminated at that time. Unforrunate1y no de-miled archaeological report covering KARP workduring mese years was prepared before me projectterminated; although a numbet of brief repons,including archaeological information were sub-mirred ro the City and County of Honolulu, De-partment of Parks and Recrearion (Clark andConnolly 1975, 1978; Connolly 1977, 1978),and to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Gun-ness 1978).

Since October 1979, archaeological work atKualoa has been done by mis author eirher on apart-time andlor voluntary basis, or on a tempo-rary cotHract basis. Berween October 1979 andMay 1985, as a part-time employee, 1 was pri-marily charged with maintaining conservation ofthe artifacts and records collecred during the pre-vious years of the projecL However, because botherosion and park maintenance and developmentactivities continued, an attempt was made, on avoluntary basis, ro keep lip with and record datathat mighr affecr interpretation of the prehistOricuse of the area. This included monimring bull-dozing whenever possible, continuing the surfacecollection and recording of artifacts and fearuteseroding out of beach sites, and recording and sal-vaging burials that occasionally also erode Out ofthe beach. During this period, 2 additional Uni-versity of Hawaii archaeological field schools wereconducted at Kualoa in the summers of 1983 and1984. Since May 1985, [his aumor has been em-ployed on a full-time basis doing extensive fieldresting in conjunction with ongoing park im-provement activities; and with me process of re-porting on rhe pr~ious years of archaeologicalwork (Gunness 1986, 1987).

This paper provides brief descriptions of some ofthe more imporram archaeological discoveriesmade at Kualoa Park be[Ween January 1975 andDecember of 1985. See Gunness 1987 for moredetailed information on KARP work. For sire arealocations refer to Fig. I.

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.-- "..... .'..''..--

••

•'_~~~-'l3\",••.,...•

,1 ,

'000 , •• ,

N

.~~~ ·"0'"'',..

•

..~;~-

Figure 1. locations of archaeological sites atKualoa Regional Park.

Mokoli'j Island

Nine large grindstones made from basalt bouldershave been mapped and recorded on rhe westshore of Makoll'j Island. They range in size from.80 III to 1.5 m in diameter, and have from I to 4oval-shaped depressions worn in theiT surfaces.One boulder has 2 historic pctroglyphs in addi-fion to 2 grinding surfaces.

The archaeological staff also discovered severalsmall veins of fairly poor quality volcanic glassnear the hack side of the island in 1977. Theseappear to be the remnantS of an exhausred vol-canic glass quarrying sire, and preliminary analy-sis indicates mar this Wa5probably the source ofmuch of the volcanic glass excavated in the parkproper.

Offshore Fishpond Walt A survey on the reefoffshore of Kualoa Point verified the exiStence ofremains of a previously unrecorded fishpond wall.This wall, part of which is still visible at low tide,

,

can be seen clearly in outline on a 1945 aerialphotograph of Kualoa, where it appears as a darkshadow on the lighter-colored coral and sand reef.While an accurate map of the wall has not yetbeen made, a general description can be given .

The fishpond wall is consuucted of basalr rocksand boulders and a few large coral chunks, rang-ing in diminishing size from 1 m in diamerer rofist-sized pebbles. The easternmost porrion isconsiderably broken down, and irs rocks havebeen scauered over a wide area of me reef wherethe water is between 25 and 80 cm deep at lowtide. The southernmost, and most central por-tion, broadens our into a platform measuringnearly 20 x 20 m, and is paved with fist-sizedpebbles. This area is approximately 2 m high onthe inland side, and in some places on the sea-ward side stands almost 3 m from the sand bm-tom. This platform area may have been thelocation of a guard or caretaker's house. The west-ernmost portion of me wall can be seen above the

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water at low ride abom 500 ill from the presentsouthern shore. This ponion measures from 2 to3 ill in width along irs length.

The consrruction of trus fishpond wall, and itsprobable destruction by a LSllnamiprior to aoom1850, is believed ro have had a major influenceon the long-term accretion and ermion forces op-erating on the Kualaa shoreline (Connolly 1977.Gunness 1987).

'Apua Pond Wall (Site lA-1) In April 1975,surface survey approximately 152 ill east of theKualoa Park offices located what appeared to bt: adiscontinuous srone alignment running for anundetermined disrance in a north-south direc-[ion. Thirry-six I m2 test pits were excavatedalong the length of what proved to be the westernpoTtion of the sea wall of J\pua Pond. The ma-rine sand marrix surrounding the wall comainedquantities of hisroric rubbish such as rusted metalfragmems and bits of broken glass. These hislOricmaterials were distribured throughout the profilc,from thc surface to the base of the excavations atthe water table (approximately I rn below sur-face). No prehistoric renlains, except dle wall it-self, were found during these excavations.

The archaeologists eventuaJly llllcovered approxi-mately 72 m of the wall, including I makahii, orsluice gare, toward the sourhernrnosr end. Thewall is constructed of basalr boulders and coralchunks ranging in size from 20 [Q 80 em in diam-eter. It is 1.2 to 1.5 m in width and stands slight-ly more than I m above the water table. However,irs rrue height is probably 1.5 to 2.0 m. Excava-tion could not proceed below the water rable butprobing indicates ar least 2 additional courses ofrock beneath rhe water.

Stone Bathhouse Area (Site lA-2) In late1976, ir became necessary to clear kna hank fromaround the m/1l1kaside of me old Stone bathhousebuilr by the Morgans. The bathhouse is locatedJUSt to rhe east of the patk offices and south ofthe soum beach access road. The archaeologicalsraff was requested to do testing in me area priorto grubbing.

Three 1 m1 tCSt pits were laid out in the "back-yard" of rhe bathhouse, at the foor of the backsteps. The excavations, which were eventually ex-panded ro a total of 17 m2, revealed a prehistoriccultural layer which in plaees was 40 ro 50 emthick, beginning 5 to 10 em beneam me surface.This layer consists of a loamy sand which is darkgray in color in rhe tOp approximarely 35 cm,and grades to lighr grny below. The soil containedcharcoal; fish, bird and mammal bones; seaurchin remains; and quantities of shell represent-ing numerous species of edible mollusks. In addi-tion, a number of prehistoric rypes of anifanswere uncovered. These included slingstones, adouble kho sinker (for OCtopUSfishing), a ham-merstone, adz.e flakes, numerous coral abraders,bone fishhook manufacturing debris, and a dogroorh pendant. Additionally, 11 volcanic glassflakes were recovered, and wetI' dated in 1977 byHawaii Marine Research. The dates were repon-ed as follows: A.D. 1422, 1458, 14G8, 1471,1477,1541,1572,1601,1622,1624, and 1629.While reliability of volcanic glass daring ispresently in question (Olson 1983), radiocarbondates from other areas of the park suggest rhatthese dates may be within an appropriate range.

The features found in this site arc of panicularinterest (Fig. 2 and 3). At the base of the backsteps to the bathhouse, an imu measuring approx-imarely 90 em across, and consisting of fire-cracked basalt rocks and scattered concentrationsof charcoal and ash was recorded. Approximately45 em to rhe west, rhe intact skeleton of a pig,lying in a narrow pit was discovered. The skele-ron is thar of a boar with limbs rightly flexed(suggesting that they may have been bound).lying on its right side, with its head pointed inthe mallRa direction. A dog femur was found JUStabove me forelimbs. A pattern of POStmolds ap-pear ro be associated wim me pig burial feature(.and possibly the imu feature) suggesting thatsome kind of strucrure marked the locarion.Unfortunately, the records kept during mese ex-cavations are somewhat lacking. making imer-pretation of the relationships between variousfeatures difficult. Thus. ir is unclear if the imlland pig burial are associated; or what meit rela-tionship may be co other post molds in the test

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•

o" •

• PIT-. -PIT

-•••• IMU.. " ~

STEPS

I

lHISTORIC STONE

BATHHOUSE

•-. POST MOLDSPORCH

O__ ~~_.-:3mete rs

•

Plan view of site area lA-2 excava-Figure 2.tions.

pits just to the nonh-wh.ich indicate additionalSlrucrural fearures. Figure 3, showing the imu andpig skeleton side by side following excavation,should not be taken as indicating that these fea-tures were necessarily associated in time.

Significandy, if one stands at the tail of this pigskeleton and looks moURn along its back and pastits snout,.one is sighting in a din~c[ line along theedge of Moli'j Pond and up the ridgeline markingthe Kualoa/Hakipu'u boundary. It has thereforebeen proposed that the pig skeleton represents anoffering intended as an ahupUll'n boundary mark-er (Connolly 1977. Clark and Connolly 1978).As such, it would be the first of irs kind found inan archaeological contexr.

The pig skeleton was left in place, and mer beingthoroughly recorded, it was reburied. The archae-ological sraff recommended permanent preserva-tion of this fea£ure for its very high interpretivevalue, with eventual re-excavation and display inplace, as parr of the park's educational and cultur-al programs. "

Area Mauka of the Stone Bathhouse (SurveyArea 1B) Discovered ro be a continuarion ofthe above site, the archaeological work describedhere has been done in the area bounded on thesouth and east by the south beach access road, onthe west by M5li'i Pond, and on the north by animaginary e:l.S[-wcstline drawn from the cornerwhere the access road turns south, to M5li'iPond.

An area measuring approximarely 45 x 65 m Inrhe southeast corner of the larger area was bull-dozed in the summer of 1977 to dear koa haokfor temporary parking. At that rime, 267 artifactSwere surface collected, including 256 basaltRakes, polished adze fragments, scrapers,abraders, and a basalt awl. The archaeologists ad-vised the program staff against allowing any addi-tional disturbance to the area withour archaeologicalclearance. Unfortunately, no wriuen repOrt wasmade concerning the finds or the archaeologicalrecommendation.

In the spring of 1983 a 15 to 20 m wide swathwas bulldozed ("grubbed") from the northeastern

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hawaiian archaeology

Figure 3. Pig skeleton believed to mark ahu-pua'a boundary (Site 1A-2).

corner of the larger area [Q the center of its south-ern boundary, prior to the excavation of trenchesfor rhe installation of new water and electriclines. Unfortunately, the City and County didnot go through the proper permit applicationprocess prior ro this work, and rhe archaeologistwas not informed about it, and did nor discoverit, lImil rhe bulldozing had been completed. Thesoil found turned up in the area was nearly blackfrom the very high charcoal and organic content,and it was full of shell and bone midden remains.Hundreds of arrifacts including basalt flakes.hammersrones and adze fragments, coralabraders. basah awls, quantities of volcanic glass,and a niho p«lAoawere surra<:e-<:olle<:ledwhen thework was dis<=overed.

Archaeological tes[ excavations, and monilOringof the trenching activities, resuhed in me di.scov-ery and recording of 98 features. These includedpits and POSt molds, fire pits and imu. a humanand a dog burial, and a suucrural feature suspect-ed at [his time 10 be a small hriau or fishingshrine.

A1mough laboralOry work is ongoing, the 2,639presently recorded artifacts recovered in the area

indicate adze manufacruring and use, as well asother slone and woodworking activities. Prelimi-nary analysis (visual inspection and specific gravi-ty measurements) of a small sample of the 589pieces of volcanic glass recovered from this areasuggest 3 sources for the glass. While most of ilappears identical 10 that found in other areas ofthe park (which is believed 10 originate from alocal source-Mokoli'i Island is suspened), Ipiece appears ro have been obtained from Pu'uWa'awa'a, on the Island of Hawai'i. If so, thismay he the filS( archaeologically documemed evi-dence of inler-island transpon of what might becalled a "high-status" <=onsumergood. Dating of3 volcanic glass flakes provide dares of A.D.1643, AD. 1693, and a dare of A.D. 1643-1683for the Rake believed to be of Pu'u Wa'awa'a ori-gin.

The human burial has recently provided a con-venrional radiocarbon age of 260 ± 10 years(Matthew Spriggs, pers. com.). A Klein et a!'(1980) dibratioll places this date between A.D.1425-1625. Because the burial feature strati-graphically precedes the overlying layer fromwhich volc:ll1icglass dates were derived it is likelythat the earlier half of the radiocarbon date rangemore accur:ttely dates the burial.

Also during this project, the archaeologist con-ducted a walk-through survey of the areas west ofthe trenching, 10 the edge of Moli'i Pond. Ap-proximately 40 prehistoric-type artifacrs were sur-f.tce~coJlected during rhe survey. They are of thesame types as those found during rhe trenchingprojeCt and are evidence thar the archaeologicalmaterials extend beyond the bulldozed area.

lrou with Associated Postmolds (Site 1(-2)Immediately sourheast and across the access roadfrom rh~ above-described archaeological site area<and mOSt certainly a continuation of that area),rest ~xcava[ions in 1985 uncovered a large imuSutroundc:d by at leasr 13 POSt molds (Fig. 4).The overlying loamy sand, and the fill in the imucontained literally thousands of basalt flakes pro-duced in me process of adze manufacturing. Ad-ditionally, a polished adze fragment was found in1 poSI mold, and a small adze preform was found

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Figure 4. Imu and associated post molds duringexcavation at Site 1(-2. Photo courtesy of Wen-dell Kam.

in another. Other anifacts recovered from theseexcavations include: 8 polished adze flakes, 4basah awls, a hammerswne, a whetstone frag-ment, and 13 volcanic glass flakes. A charcoalsample taken from me base of the imu has beenradiocarbon dated by Bera Analytic Inc. as 90 ±60 years B. P. (one -26.7 '" 60 ± 60 years B. P.)A Klein et al. (1982) calibration places Ihis dateberween A.D. 1670 and 1730.

At lhe time of this writing, salvage of these fea-tures is incomplete. The sile was left: in irs partial-ly excavated SGI.[C wid! the inrencion that it wouldbe incorporaTed into park interpretive programs.

Kamehameha Highway Area (Survey Area 3)Ten test pirs and 37 [est rrenches were excavatedin the park area bordering Kamehameha High-way before construction of (he park maintenancebuilding in 1976. These excavations provided in~sight into the geological development of theKualaa peninsula, and produced evidence of pre-historic use of the immediate area. In the nonh-westernmost COTnerof the park area, me stonefoundation of a StruCture was uncovered (Site3-1) which may have been Niuolaa Heiau (Clarkand Connolly 1978). Field work in the possibleheiau area remains unfinished because of develop-mental priorities in other areas of the park.

East Beach Area The eastern beach of KualoaPark has been undergoing extremely heavy ero-sion for at least the past 80 years. Here, wave ac-tion has exposed in the beach edge a culturallayer, ranging between 15 and 50 cm in thick-ness, of compact, black loamy sand, midden ma-terials, and fire features which can be traced alongthe beach, sometimes intermittently, from the,nonhern boundary of the park to within about100m of Kualoa Point. As of December 1985, anestimated 2,000 primarily wotked srone artifacrs(not counting unmodified basalt flakes) derivedfrom this cultural layer had been surface-collectedfrom along the beach and adjacent reef by the ar-chaeological staff and many volunteers. These ar-tifacts represent a range of activities includingadze and other swne rool manufacture, woodworking, fishing, food preparation, and gameplaying. In addition, a number of human burialshave also been discovered as the beach recedes.Brief descriprions of actual work done in theseareas follows.

1975 Test Excavations (Site 28-1, 28-2) Dur-ing 4 weeks in the summer of 1975, 3 1 x 2 m

test pits and 1 I m2 test pit were excavated in theceorral portion of the eastern beach, in and justnorth of a shallow depression runningmauka-makai at the edge of the beach. These ex-cavations revealed an ensilted water channel nextto an area of intact cultural layer JUSt to thenorth, and uncovered in this layer prehistoric-rypes of artifacts including bird bone picks orawls, polished adz.eRakes, and fishing equipmenr;and features including pits and fire places.

60hawaiian archaeology

Figure 5. Tapa beater found in waterlogged site2B-2.

Waterlogged Site (Site 2B-2) In December of1977, erosion on the eastern beach in [he area ofthe water channel mentioned above uncoveredwaterlogged and preserved organic materials in-cluding kllkui, pandanus, gourd, numerous piecesof unidentified wood; and artifacts including awooden rapa beater (Fig. 5), a ner gauge, andpieces of canoe plank-some of which still retaintheif scnnir lashings-and a 1.5 m long woodenpole which has adze markings over moST of itssurface. This area was designated as a single fea-ture at the time of its discovery, and various planswere considered, but never implemented, to pro-reet it from further erosion until adequate excava-tion and preservation could be undertaken.

University of Hawaii Field School Excavations(Site 28-1) The KuaJoa Regional Park EastBeach Site was the location of the 1977 Universi-ty of Hawaii archaeological field school. Excava-tions were done in conjunCtion with the ongoingKualoa Archaeological Research ProjeCt and wereconduCled under the direction of Dr. Hallen H.Hamman, then visiting professor at the Universi-ty of Hawaii, and Stephan D. Clark and RobenD. Connolly III, co-direcrors of KARP. Fifteenstudents took part in the field school, which ranfor 10 weeks during June, July, and August--6weeks of field excavation and 4 weeks of laborato-ry analysis.

The goal of the field school was to excavate a 10m2 grid in the area around the nonhernmoS[ testpits excavated in 1975, where an intact cullUrallayer containing features had been recorded.However. as excavation proceeded more slowlythan expected, only a portion of me site was ex:ca+vate<!:essentially removing the overlying Layers Iand II (a plow zone and a sterile sand layer), andexcavating into the targeted cultural layer in only11 I m2 pits, and through the cultural layer to(what was believed to be) the underlying sterilesand in only 4 I m2 pitS.

Two additional tasks were completed during the1977 field season. A 10 x 1 m trench was shovel-excavated from the southern edge of the fieldschool excavations into the adjacent ensiltedwater channel to correlate the stI1ltigraphy in the2 site areas; and, 1 day during an exceptionallylow tide, the beach side of the channel mouthwas swept dean of overlying beach sand and itsextent and profile were recorded, both with draw-ings and photOgraphs.

The 1983 University of Hawaii archaeologicalfield school returned to Kualoa to continue exca-vation in site 28--1. Under the direction of Dr. P.Bion Griffin, 16 archaeological field school stu-dents and 2 teaching assistants split their time be-tween Kualoa Regional Park, supervised by theauthor, and Kahana Valley, supervised by PauiciaPrice-Beggerly. Fieldwork ac Kualoa took placefor 20 days between July 18 and August 12, andconsisted of the excavation of 10 I m2 test pits.The lest pining procedure was chosen, ratherthan attempting to excavate I larger contiguousarea, for several reasons. First, erosion on themaRai side of the site had been so sevete since1977 thal approximately 5 m of beach edge, andarchaeological site, had been washed away. Thismade il imperative that Ihe natUTeof remainingarchaeological depositS nearest the beach edge bedetermined before they were los[. At the sametime, testing in 1977 had indicated that differemtypes of activity areas existed within the fieldschool site, and further testing of this notion alsoseemed important for the overall imerpretation ofprehistoric aet:ivities in the east beach area. Third-ly. the labor force, being split and with personnel

"gunnes5

ofren shifted unexpectedly berween the 2 fieldschool sites, could nm be depended on for thecontinuity needed (0 adequately excavate a singlelarger area.

Therefore, 6 1 m1 test pitS wefe excavated I mapan along the beach edge of what had been theeastern edge of the 1977 excavations. Four addi-tional I m1 rest pits were randomly placed 4 to10m back from the beach.

During these excavations, 1 day was also spentbeing the beach edge of the field school sire sothat the entire profile could he recorded. Unfor~runarely, only the southern ~ of the profile wascompleted before unusually high tides forcedabandonment of this project. Two neonate burialswere di5Covered and recorded during the profil-mg.

[n addition (0 the above work, several field schoolstudents were assigned to [liSt an apparent wallfeature which had been discovered eroding fromthe beach edge roward the northern boundary ofthe park. This work is described under Site20-1.

In 1984, under the direction of Dr. MatthewSpriggs, and supervised by the aurhor, 10 stu-dents and a teaching assistam again took part inexcavations in the Kualoa field school site. Thecxcavations wcre scheduled w take place betweenJuly 9th and August 16th. However, because ofthe nature of the finds made near the scheduledend of the summer session, work extended, on avoluntary basis, on weekends up uma Thanksgiv-ing of 1984.

Excavations took place in a 2 m wide snip alongthe entire length of the mnkni side of the [then]fenced field school site, ultimately excavating 37m2 imo underlying sterile sand (Fig. 6). This wasdone to complete the cross-section of the sitebegun in previous field SC2S0ns,and to salvage asmuch informacion as possible before this area wasentirely desuoyed by the increasingly rapid ero-sion. The beach side of the site had ro be sand-bagged during the early pan of the field season,and excavation was slowed during the summerand fall by the need to keep replacing the sand

bags, which were displaced with every high tide.The excavation site was completely washed awayduring Storm tides on November 21 and 22,1984.

In addition to the above excavations, on July 30mand 31st when the tide was low enough, the adja-cent waterlogged ditch site (Site 28-2) was grid-ded off and 7 m2 of the mnkni edge wassalvage-excavated by shoveling me deposits imoplastic bags. Analysis of this material is incom-plete.

On September 22, during the continued excava-tion of the field school site, bones were discoverederoding from an area in the beach between 22and 35 m norm of the field school site. Studentsvolunteering that day assi.sted in .salvaging the re-mains of 17 human burial.s washed out of thebeach by high tides.

While labotatory analysis for the excavations isunfinished, data presently available is summarizedbelow. ,Strntig1'llpby. 5rratigraphy in Site 2B-I genetallyconforms to the following:

Layer I: 0-20 em bs. Historic plow zone. Black(lOYR 2/1 m) thoroughly churned loamy sand,containing mixed prehistoric, early historic, andpost-World War II historic arrifactual materials.This actually incorporates the upper portion ofLayer lIla in the western half of the site (seebelow).

Layer II: 0-20 em thick. Light gray [Q white(I0YR 7.5/2m) beach sand. Found only in theeastern half of the site, this layer lenses OUt ap-proximately halfway across the sire ro rhe west.This sand contains a very few, small, prehistoric-type artifacts and .scattered single bits of humanbone. and teeth. This is believed ro be a single-evem storm deposit.

Layer ilia: 30-50 em thick. Black (IOYR 211m)compact loamy sand with high carbon content.In the central portion of me site, from the beachedge west, this layer comains huge numbers offirepit features--often intruded one on rop of an-other to me point where it is extremely difficult

62hawaiian archaeology

Figure 6. 1984 University of Hawaii Field Schoolexcavations (Site 28-1).

to distinguish one from another. Early hiSTOric ar-tifacts arc found in rhe very tOp of this layer inthe 'mwka portion of the site, while only prehis-loric-types of artifacts are found beneath. The de-position of Layer II sealed in and prmcClcd memakni portion of rhis layer from la[l~ragriculmraJplowing acTivities, while the maukl/ portion hasbeen plowed to a depth of nearly 20 em (dieplow zone now referred to as Layer I).

byer !lIb: 0-10 em thick. Gray (JOYR 611m)moderately campau, very slightly loamy sand.This layer appears [0 be imermi[(cm uUOUghOUlrhe site, and was not recognized until 1979, anerthe designation of Layer TV had become firmlyattached ro the underlying seerile sand layer-ehus the IlIa and IIIb division. This is. however. asepar.ue layer. Layer IIlb appears to be the layerfrolll which many human burials intrude intoLayer IV. It also contains scancred small pirs, andpossible pose molds, which also immde intoLayer TV.Few artifacts been recovered from Layer1118.

Layer TV:Culturally sterile yellow (IOYR 311m)coral beach sand underlying Layers lila and I1Ib[0 below the wa((~rtable. The term sterile is usedwith caution because alrhough no adler cultural

materials have been found in this layer, humanburials are found around which no discernible pitfill can be recognized-suggesting that the burialoriginated from the upper portion of this layer.

&aturrs. Roughly 300 features have been record-ed during the excavations in Site 2B-l. The high-esr percentage of these are fire features includingimu and smaller fire pirs. and shallow charcoaland .iSh deposits, often in such concentrations asto be indistinguishable from one anOther duringexcavation. Other common fearures include mis-cellaneous small shallow pits, and post molds.Four human burials have also been recorded. Sev-eral features, which can be seen in Fig. 6, requiresome funher discussion.

Possibly rhe mOst intriguing is a complex of fea-tures which can be seen in the foreground of Fig.6. On the right (east) is a large pit containing alight gray sand fill, at the bottom of whieh we dis-covered the skeletal remains of an older middle-aged female. The body had been dismemberedprior to burial. The skull and long bones were mis-sing, and the remaining pieces had been placed(apparently) randomly in the bottom of the pit fora length of approximately 140 em. A basalt prismwith edge damage, and a mediumsized hammer-stone were associated with this burial. Beta Ana-Iyeic Inc. has provided a 13C/I"C adjusted age of420 ± 70 years B. P. for this burial (A.D.1400-1525 using the Klein el al. calibration).

On the left {west} is another very large pit withlight gray sand fill. near the bonom of whichwere discovered 2 parallel elongate "strucruresn ofmud veneer, with impressions of what appear tohave been rough planks in their tops. A large,deep imu intrudes into this pit, truncating theend of the weslernmost mud feacure (left fore-ground of Fig. 6). No explanation fot the mudfeatures had been forthcoming to dare.

The 2 large pit feature/complexes were originallydescribed as a single feature (Gunness 1987:133);however, subsequent re-examination of excava-tion records and photographs suggests otherwise.It is presently uncertain which pi! cut into theother, but future comple!ion of laboratory analy-sis of field school excavation materials may re-solve this question.

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What is believed to be a ruslOrica11yconstructedsenion of a retaining wall (seen in the back·ground of Fig. 6) was originally discovered erod-ing from me beach edge of the site. The excavatedporcion of the retaining wall, running roughlymnuko-11Ulkni, is constructed of basalt rocks and Ilarge upright cornl head. A large posrmold fills agap adjacem [0 me wesrern side of the coral up--right. A number of smaller postmoJds wererecorded along me upper (nonhern) side of thewall. A roughly 1 m wide ditch fearure wasrecorded along the southern side of me wall. Theditch fill, of heavily lensed black and gray loamysand, comained a rusted and corroded metal ob-ject, and appears to have originated at a later dalethan the wall.

•

Artif4~ts. Artifacts recovered during the fieldschool site excavations include both hiswric andprehistoric types. Ceramic fragments, beads, bur·tons, a fragment of a clay pipe stem, and flintflakes and fragments atrest to the early historicnature of the upper proveniences. A Spanish coindated 1773 was found in a clearly historic con-text. Prehistoric occupation of the area is indicat-ed by objects including; basalt and Conus shelladzes and adze fragments, hammerstones, vol-canic glass, coral abraders, bone and shell fish-hooks and fishhook manufacturing debris, stonesinkers, and an 'ulu maika.

Northern Extension of Picnic Area (SurveyArea 2C) During the wimer of 1977~1978, rhepreviously undeveloped section of the easr beachsurrounding rhe field school sire, and norrh forapproximarely 150 m, was bulldozed and plantedin grass as a scheduled phase of the park develop-ment. Monitoring during the bulldozing andtrenching activities related [Q insrallation of asprinkler system provided information concern-ing the distribution and number of fearures andanifacrs in the area. Twemy-seven features discov-ered during me trenching oper.uions were record·ed by the archaeologisrs. These included 3 humanburials, several imu, other fire features. 2 stonealignments, a water channel, and several areas de-fined simply as activiry areas on rhe basis of arti-fact concentratlons. A toral of 605prehisroric-type arrifacrs was collecred, including

polished adzes alld fragmems, adze blanks andpreforms, grilldsrones and whetstones, hammer-swnes. coral abraders, basalr awls, sillkers alldcowry lures, slingstolles and 'ulu maika, a quoir, amuller, groulld hematite. and many basalr 8akes.

Coral Structure (Site 2D--1) In May of 1983.in rhe central ponion of the northern, men unde-veloped senion of me eastern beach, a 17 m longalignment of large coral heads and a few smallbasalt bouJders was discovered [Q be eroding fromrhe wave-eut bank. During the 1983 field school,111m2 test pirs were shovel-excavated to testrhis aligllment. Although excavarion was notcompleted because the tide washed into several ofthe pirs. some kind of cultural deposit seemed robe present on the mauka side of the wall. Onebroken segment of a boar's tusk bracelet wasfound during rhe resting.

A plan map was made of rhe makai edge of thisfeature in September 1983, after erosion had ex~posed whar appeared to be its complete lengrh.Sandbags were placed in hom of the feature dur-ing rhe 1984 field school season, but by summerof 1985 erosion had cur back behind the align-menr and was threatening to completely destroyit. Therefore, as parr of the subsutface reconnais-sance survey rhen underway for scheduled parkimprovements, several days were spent sweepingthe beach sand off of the feature, remapping it,and taking a number of phorographs. Two adja-cent I m2 test pits were excavated into the wave-cut bank at rhe feature's northern end where acultural deposit still seemed to be present. A tesrtrench was also later excavated (using a backhoe)from the beach, west, to determine if the featureextended any farther into the bank, and to fur-ther test for intact cultural deposirs.

Exceptionally high tides and erosion again cut thefield recording process shorr, and the feature isnow nearly complerely destroyed.

Based on the 1983 and 1985 archaeological workthis feature appears to have been a retaining wallor narrow terrace of some type, measuring 17 mlong. 50 to 60 em high, and roughly 2 m wide. Itwas constructed on culturally srerile-appearingsand using the large (50 to 75 em diameter) coral

64

hawaiian arc.haeology

J

Figure 7. Basalt stone foundation of possiblehale mua (Site 20-2).

heads for the foundation, with smaller coral andbasalt rocks placed on top. Smaller coral rubblewas used as fill behind the Facing rocks.

Functional interpretation of this structure IS

made difficult to impossible by the lack of associ-ated inr:lct cultural deposits. However, between[975 and 1983 a significam concentration of ar-tifacrual mnerials (with. an apparent emphasis onadze manufacruring debris) was surface-collectedin the area on the makai side of this feature. It ispossible that this may have been the lanai of apre- or proto-historic period house. There are his-toric records of houses having been located alongthe beach in 1850, hut none were recorded atthat time in rhis location.

Stone Foundation (Site 20-2) Early in 1981an alignment of basalr boulders was observederoding our of rhe nonhernmost portion of theeast be2ch. Wirhin a few monrhs, a rectangularstructural foundation measuring approximately8.25 x 5.25 m had been uncovered (Fig. 7), withlarge numbers of stone artifacts both inside, andimmediately outside of the walls. In lare Decem-ber 1981, waterlogged organic materials werefound preserved in a thin layer of dark gray toblack sediment wirhin the structure. Remains sal-vaged at that time include goutd, pandanus,

Imlmi nUlS, unidentified worked wood, and awell-preserved mrlomrlo, or bair suck. Swne arti-facts presently believed ro be direcrly associaredwith this fe2ture include a poi pounder fragment,2 fishing sinkers, 8 basalr awls, 15 hammersrones,13 whetsrones and/or grindstones, quantities ofadu manufacturing debris including blanks andpreforms, and fragments of polished adzes. Exam-ination of the polished adu fragments indicatesthat one activity the occupants wete engaged inwas the conservarion of adze quality basalt, by re-working large broken adre fragment5 into smalletadzes. Because all of the objects recovered here aremoughr ro be from male-rdated activities, it hasbeen suggested that this fearure may be the re-mains of a hak mua, or men's house (P: McCoy,pers. com.).

On June 14, 1982, the amhor excavated an ap-prox.imately 1 x 2 m rest trench across the west-ern wall of this fearure, near the north end. Thiswas done in an effort to learn more about the na-ture of cOllsuuction of rhe fearure, and to discov-er the boundaries of the sediment in which thewaterlogged organic materials had been discov-ered.

The excavation showed that the dark sedimentwas confined to the- interior of the feature, withonly sterile beach sand being found on the wesr~ern side. It appears thar the foundarion StOnes of[his structure were placed e-irherdirecdy on top ofme Aar algal reef material, or on only a very thinlayer of sand overlying the reef The Aoor of mesuucrure was covered with a layer of sand, andpossibly pandanus matting (suggested by the sal-vaged ware-dogged pandanus), It seems likely matthis feature- was destroyed and buried in a rela-tively shorr period of time, and that the rapidburial, coupled with freshwarer springs in thearea, produced the conditions necessary [Q pre-serve the organic marerials. Radiocarbon daringof some of the wood from this site has recentlyprovided a IlCJ14C adjusred age of 70 ± 60 yearsB. P. (A.D. 1675-1775 or 1790-1840 using theKlein et aI. calibration) (Manhew Spriggs, pers.com.).

65

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Summary and Conclusions

While a great deal of archaeological work remainsto be done at Kualoa Park, we now have a tenta-tive time sequence, and insight intO the area'splace in pre- and protohistoric Hawaiian socialand economic spheres.

Kualoa Sequence While dates are presently notavailable for the very earliest pOHion of theKualaa sequence, I have applied an arbitrarystarring date of A.D. 1\ 00, based on what ispmemly known abom me physical developmentof the Kualoa coasdine. and on what seems tohave been happening in orner areas of the islandsat the same time. The dearly defined Hawaiian

cultural sequence in the Kualoa Park area present-ly spans a period of time belWeen roughly A.D.1400 and [850. This Kualoa sequence fits re-markably well with me later phases of a proposedHawaiian cultural sequence by Kirch{l985:298~308), which has recently been refinedby Spriggs (1986:2-9).

Kirch proposed a 4 phase sequence: ColonizarionPeriod (A.D. 300-600), Deve10pmemal Period(A.D. 600~ll00), Expansion Period (A.D.1100-1650), and Protohistoric Period (A.D.1650-1795). While drawing heavily on Kirch'ssequence, Spriggs chose to divide the Hawaiiansequence imo 5 phases: Phase I-A.D. O-GOO(Colonization Period), Phase II-A.D. 600-1100(Developmenral Period), Phase Ill-A.D.1100-1400 (Early Expansion Period), Phase:TV-A.D. 1400-1600 (Late Expansion Period),and Phase V-A.D. 1600-1795 (Classic Period).It is Spriggs' Early and Late Expansion and Clas-sic Periods imo which the Kualoa sequence fulls.

A.D. 1100-1400. During this period the Kualoacoasdinelbeach consisted of a widening sand spitdeveloping at the base of the ridgeline that nowseparates Kualoa from Hakipu'u, forming a smallembayment on the Hakipu'u side. The colluvialslopes and back-beach area may have been usedfor non-imensive agricuhure.

Fishpond conslruction may have commenced bylate in this period, with a fishpond wall con-struCled across the growing embaymem on thewestern side of the sand spit. This may have beenMoli'i Pond. Such construction would impedethe natural Aow of offshore and longshore cur-rents and thus alter the rate and shape of develop-ment of the sand spit, forming successive "lobes"on the southea.m·rn portion of the sand spit withcorresponding additional areas of embayment tothe west or southwest. Through time additionalponds were conStructed as the increasingly largersize of these ~Iobes" on the poim/peninsula al-lowed incorporation of larger areas of embay-ment.

A large mammal bone-tematively identified aswhale bone-was recovered from (culturally ster-ile) sand deposits inland of the beach sites, indi-cating that from this period the beach may havebeen a source of scavenged whale ivory washedashore as paft of the depositional process. Suchwhale ivory was a resource for which the area waslater famous. l

A.D. 1400-1600. It is from A.D. 1400 that ar-chaeological data begins to provide a dearer pic-ture of prehistoric use of the Kualoa Park area. Itseems likely that M6li'i Fishpond, in its presemconfiguration, was constructed in the beginningyears of this period. Such an undenaking wouldhave required extensive manpower and resources,suggesting that O'ahu was at that time under thecontrol of a paramount chief capable of control~ling extensive corvee labor. Spriggs, in discussionof his proposed Late Expansion Period, stares thatthe first paramount chief of O'ahu was said to beKapaealakone, who should date ro about A.D.1400 (1986,7).

Addilional evidence of this time period. at Kualoais found in a thin, and sometimes intermitrent,light gray loamy sand layer in the eastern andsouthern beach areas. The layer comams humanburials, and a few scattered fireplaces and pits,and fishing gear-attesting to recurring tempo-rary occupation of the beach and reef area forfishing and food collecting, and as a convenientplace for burial of the dead.

66hawaiian archaeology

The eastern beach seems 10 have been used as aburial ground, perhaps primarily for women andchildren throughout this period. Evidence fromsome of these burials also points ro grave distur-banet' occurring, possibly to supply bone for /ish-hook manurncture.

Preliminary finds ITom excavauons in the north-west corner of the park-where hillside erosion isindicated-suggese char agriculruf<ll use of thelower colluvial slopes and backbeach area (theponion of the beach abuning the colluvial slopes)may also have inrensified.

Based on suatigraphic <l5soc'iarions, the embay-menr forming 'Apua Pond was walled ofT no huecthan A.D. 1600.

A.D. /600-1795. The period A.D. 1600-1795 ismarked at Kualaa by a 20 ro 50 em thick suati-graphic layer of black loamy sand found early[hroughom rhe park area {labelled Layer JIb in[he Site 28-1 excavations). This layer containslarge numbers of features including ;mu, fire pitsand fire places, dIe pig burial in Sire lA-2, POstmolds, and miscellaneous pirs; and an extraordi-nary large numbers of M6li'i Pond and thefntluka side of 'Apua Pond, to the eastern beachedge and reef including Mokoti'i [sland. Interest-ingly, no hllman burials have been directly associ-ated with this period and it appears that use ofthe sandy peninsula for burial was not allowedduring this period.

Construction of me fishpond off Kualoa Poim atsome time during this period marked the eastern-most developmem of, and probably temporarystabilizarion of me beach, roughly 250 m seawardof the present e35tern beach edge.5

The general picture of the Kualoa Park area [hatemerges from roughly A.D. 1600 is that of achiefly "playground," and a kind of early "indus-trial park," with a community of resident craftspecialists living in pole and thatch houses, cook-ing in earrh ovens Urnu), and carrying on activi-ties related ro their particular skills, includingwoodworking, adze and other stone tool manu-facruring. processing of waukl' (Broussofll'tia pa-pyri/aa) for tapa and pandanus for plaiting

and/or mat making, and fishing. These specialistswere probably overseen by a resident chief orkonohiki who reported to the paramount chief.

To date, no structural remains in the park areahave been specifically identified as "chiefly resi-dence," but based on other archaeological evi-dence it seems sOlfe to assume the a[ leastoccasional residence of ali'i here. Perhaps themosr persuasive argument for their presence ismade using [he ornaments [hat have been recov-ered from the park area. &i niho palmJa, and ki'opuu, in particular, have been recorded 35 beingfor rhe exclusive use of chiefs (Cox 1967:421).Possession and use of such items as boar tuskbracelets was probably also generally confined to[he ali'; (Kirch 1985:306). Such may also havebeen the case of the drilled dog teeth, which werestrung together to make necklaces and bracelets,and were fastened in large numbers to leggingsworn by male dancers of the hula (Buck1967:553). (Hula,performed by both male andfemale dancers was an entertainment much ap-preciated by the alti.)

A further argument for [he presence of Illi'jha5 todo with the 88 'alu maika, 2 quoil:S,and 44 sling-stOnes that have been recorded co date from thepark area-most of them recovered (prior to1983) from along the eroding eastern beach, andrhe reef paralleling the beach. The presence ofsuch large numbers of 'ulu mllika and slingstoneshere is best explained by the existence during misperiod of a recognized and bounded playingfield,6 and the presence of a chiefly ~Ieisurenclass,who are ethnohistorically recorded 35 having de-VOtedmuch of [heir energies to games and sports.

Ritual practices discussed in me traditional l.itera-rure also suggest the presence of a priesthood classhere during this period. As mentioned earliet,Malo recorded that Kualoa was me seat of theLano priesthood "Mo'o-kuauhau-o-[ono, or ge-nealogical-line-of-Lono .... Also said to be of theorder of Paliku" (1951: 159). While acchaeologicalevidence for [his claim is presently on unsureground, there is ar leas[ a basis for speculationconcerning such a presence during this period.

67

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Oral traditions tell us that Kualoa was a very sa~cred place; and 2 h~il1l1are recorded to have beenlocated here. One of these hril1lt, ~Nitlola'a," waslocated just ro the east of the northeastern cornerof Moli'i Fishpond-the eastern side of whichforms parr of the Kualoa/Hakipu'u boundary-and in this location would have been adjacent tothe path leading into and our of the (Jhupuaa.Neither of the recorded hriau are reported to havebeen of exceptional size which suggestS that theywere of [he Lono class, or Hale-a-Lono.

Lono was the ancient Hawaiian god of agricul-rure, rain and stOrms, and medicine. Pigs played asignificant role as rirua! offerings and sacrifices inthe ownership of Lono (unlike the worship of Ku,the god of war, who re<Juiredhuman sacrifice).

Pig skeletons have been found in 2 separate ex-cavations in Kualoa Park which have every indi-cation of being sacrificial offerings. Both,significantly, are also located on, or just adjacent[0, the KualoalHakipu'u boundary. In rhe case ofthe first, (he intact pig skeleton found in Site lA-2, pOSt molds recorded around the fearure indi-cate a Structural "marking off"" of the site. Thesecond, located in Site IB, Feature 29, jll5t acrossthe park road from the first, consists of the panialskeletal remains of a pig {this one cooked}, de-posited in a pit in what is presently believed to bea low platform consuucred with a basalt rock faceand coral rubble fill.

While the above facts hardly provide firm evi-dence for claiming the presence of Lono priests,they do provide a stepping stone for further re-search on the subject.

A.D. 1795-Historic Period. Although 1778 wasthe year of Cook's discovery of the Hawaiian Is-lands, I have used the year 1795 ro mark the be-ginning of the historic period. This follows Kirch,who chose to end his Proto-Historic Period at1795 because it

mark KamehamehaJ conq/lest ofOithu Island andthe rod of the old poli,ical order with its competingindependmr chiefdoms; and ... it was not until thefinal yrars of the eighumth cmtury ,hat Europeanships began to caU with regularfteq/leney in 'hE"Is-

lands, and that fOreign goods and idem began 10makr urious inroads in the native culture

While some of the activiries described in the pre-vious period may have conrinued at KuaJoa for ashon time after 1795, this date marks an eumo-historically recorded additional use of the area.

Kamakau (1964;19-20) records that the bound-ary berween Kualoa and Ka'a'awa was the endingpoint for the makahiki processions around O'ahu,which Kamehameha 1 commenced after conquer-ing the island in 1795. The following quorationprovides significant insight concerning this periodat Kualoa:

Whm the Makahiki was ended, the akua pi/ani, thegod of play, camr fOrth. His work was to promote thestrengthening of the body. A piace had been madereddy before the akua pii Imi Cdme, dlUi 'he maikdsiter and kveJ plam (pu'uholllla) werefilII of peoplein readinessfOr comprtitive sports (hakakii Ie'ak'a)(lb;d.20).

It would seem mat the Kualoa park area, panicu-larly the eastern beach was such a place for thefew years (hat the makahiki circuir actually oc-curred. The use of this area for the makahikigames was a natural extension of irs use as achiefly ~playground" in the previous period. Ad-ditionally, if Kl.laloa had been the historic seat ofthe Lono priesthood, this would provide an ex-planation for its choice as the end point of themakahiki circuit, and the location of me mokahi-ki festivities which were dedicated to Lona.

Archaeological research indicates that the stormdeposit recorded as Layet [I in Site 2B-1, occur-ring eircd A.D. 1800, probably marks rhe time[hat me fishpond wall off Kualoa Point was de-Stroyed. This in turn destabilized the beach, andbegan the continuing and increasingly rapid fateof erosion at rhe point and along the easternbeach that we see today. By chance, this eventalso marks the end of pre- Wesrern-influencedHawaiian culture in [he Kualoa area.

The upper proveniences of [he field school sire(post-dating the storm deposit) provide marerial

68hawaiian archaeology

evidence of the early historic period in [he KualoaPark area in [he form of hand-made bone but-tons, gunflinrs, glass beam, a Spanish coin, ce-ramic frngmenrs, and a fragment of a clay pipestem. Nearly all of rnese irems indicate the pres-ence of [he house sites recorded in the LandCommission Survey of 1850.

Comparing archaeological records of cenain fea-tures discovered in me field school sire wim de-scriptions from the land surveyor's notes, we maynow even be able to pinpoint some named indi-vidual's house sites.

Kualoa was sold by Kamehameha III to G. P.Judd in 1850, sening the stage for the subsequemhistoric changes described earlier in this paper.Soon after 1850, Kualoa began to find its wayinto written versions of oral tradition, telling ofirs importance in pre-European Society.

Oral Traditions and Archaeological FindingsAn interesting ourcome of rhe work at KualoaPark has been the apparent discovery that a con-nection can be shown between some of the oraltraditions relaring [Q the Kualoa area, and the ar-chaeological data recovered [Q date. It seems likely[hat legends of early gods and goddesses rebtingto Kualaa reflect in part the early Hawaiianrecognition of the ongoing geomorphological de-velopment of Kualoa, and various "acts of god"which are recorded in the archaeological record.It is interesting that the earliest StOry of the areatells of Haumea and Wakea living on the cliffs of"Paliki!." Ir was not uncil the next generation tharHi'iaka created the foothills and lowlands ofKualoa.

Occasional tsunami or very large storm surfseems also to have made enough of an impressionto be incorporated into oral traditions. Haumeaand Wakea were washed OUt [0 sea by a hugewave. And the Story of the shark demi-god andthe pond at Kualoa Point which was destroyed by"a great tidal wave" both teflect this fact. This laststory is also almost certainly a Hawaiian explana-tion for the archaeologically recorded pond wallruins off the point.

Oral tradition tells us thar Kualoa was importantfor the whale ivory that washed onto its shores.

What is tentatively identified as a whale bone wasdiscovered in prehistoric beach deposits, in whatis believed to be a namrally deposited context.While firm identification of the bone has not yetbeen made, there seems to be little reason whywhale bone should nor have washed ashore onwhat was a prograding sand spiro

Kualoa is also said to have been a residence ofchiefs and training ground for the children ofchiefs. Archaeological evidence has shown thatKualoa was indeed at least the pan-rime residenceand "playground'" of chiefs. As such it would nat-urally have been a training ground for the chil-dren of chic·fs. However, 2 questions thai deserveconsideration here are that of the rank of skilledartisans such as stOne and woodworkers and tapamakers, and Ihe possibility that such artisansmight have been reaching their skills at Kualoa. Itis possible that laboratory analysis of lithic mate-rials could resolve some of the second question, asit did in relarion to Mauna Kea (Cleghorn 1982).

Kualo:! is described by Kamakau as being "a sa-cred land and a true pu'uhonua, where personsmarked for death were saved if they enrered it"(1964: 18). He also said that the ahuplla'a ofKualo:! had been such a place since "ancien[times" (Ibid). Kamakau explains a PU'UhOfllla,orplace of refuge, as

a plaCt to which ont couid tscapt and ht Jaued.fromhting rakm c(Jpfivt or .from heing Pllt 10 dtath ..Tht king WaJ calkd a pll 'uhonlUlbt'came a ptnonahollt to dit cOll1drun to him and he JPIJtd;JO alsowtTt calltd hiJ qutm (ka Mo'iwahint) and hiJ god.Thry wtTt JilCTOJilnCl,and thuifore thnr lanm wtrt'sacrosanct, and wtrt 'aina pu'uhonua, lanm of".!Ug" I 964" 7).

Kualoa was certainly a special place. It was obvi-ously sel apan for, and dedicated to, specific peo-ple and purposes. And the uses to which the areawas put were nearly all, in one way or another,subject to prohibitions. These include: the tradi-tional highly kapu or sacred narure of chiefs andchiefly residences; the kapu associated with fish-ponds, and those undoubtedly associated wilhspecialized cnftwork; the appearance on thebeach of highly prized whale ivory-said to be

69

gunness

for the exclusive use of nli'i, and the likelihoodthat the area was the seat of the Lono priesthood.with all the attendant kapu that such a possibiliryimplies. Taken rogether it is easy [0 see howKualaa would be considered "very sacred, ~ andthus, usually forbidden to the general populace.There would, then, have had to be an exceptionto this rule for persons seeking refuge here ifKualaa was a true pu'uhonuil. Evidence for thisbeing the case seems convincing. Using Kama-bu's aplanalion of a pu 'uhonus, Kualoa wouldhave been a pu'uhonua by reason of a kiog's !para-mount chiefs]' or his dedication to the god Lo-nOj even if nor by some orner official designation.

Final Comments

When archaeological work was starred at KualaaRegional Park, it was fairly well assumed that lit-tle worthwhile archaeological information couldbe gained from the area. h was believed that theintensive historic modifications that had beenmade to the area, some of which were describedabove, would have destroyed any very useful ar-chaeological record of aboriginal occupation. Theresults to date have shown tlla[ such thinkingshould be used with a certain amount of caution.The archaeological work conducted at KualoaPark and briefly described above has provided im-portant information bearing on Hawaiian prehis-lOry. However, I muSt point out that theabove-described tour of Kualoa archaeology hasunderemphasized what may prove to be some ofthe most important information left to us by thearea's early occupantS. That is an extraordinarilylarge collection of arrifaclS (see Gunness1987:205-234). Much of this collenion lacks theprecise provenience information that good ar-chaeologists should demand, because the artifacrshave been recovered either a.'i a result of beacherosion, or from plowed or bulldozed areas.Through the years Park developers, and somelocal archaeologists alike have questioned the use-fulness of colleering these unprovenienced items.It rums out, however, that the collection is solarge (4,000+ "real artifaCts," and roughly 14,000

basalt Rakes, mostly produced in the process ofadze manufacturing/finishing) that furure analy-ses of these artifacts, including materials sourcing,production and manufacturing srudies, typologi-cal studies, will ptovide considerably more socialand economic information about the prehistoricoccupants of the Kualoa area than otherwise hasbeen gained to date. There may be a lesson to belearned here.

Finally, I would remind readers that Kualoa Re-gional Park encompasses only lA of the entireahllplla'a of Kualoa, of which oral traditionsspeak. The fact and nature of my employment bythe Departmem of Parks and Recreation has ofnecessiry forced me to confine archaeologicalwork wirhin the park boundaries. However, re-sults of that work would seem to suggest the pos-sibilities to be gained for Hawaiian prehistory ifthose horizons could be expanded.

Notes ,

I. Almpl<tla-"Land divi,ion usually extending from theuplands to rhe sea, so called because {he boundary waSn"lrh'{! by a heap (aim) of stone slirmollllled by an im3geof a pig (PI/fill), or because a pig or other {riblilCwas laid011the alter as tax to the chief" (Pukui and Elbert 1968).

2. I am indebled to the editor. for allowing me to makefairly major revisions and'additions [Q the original versionof this paper, which wa. wrirten in 1983-1984. Field andlaboratory work between 1984 and 1986 added so signifi-c:ll1llyto the archaeological knowledge of the Kualoa Parkare:l Lhat the original paper, if published, would have pro-vided a woefully inadequate picture of the archaeologicalfindings at publication da,,-. While containing a fewminor additions and corrections, this paper is now sub-slantially a conde~ version of my M.A. Thesis (Gun-ness 1987).

3. Mllltllhilti-"Ancient festival beginning about lhe mid-dle of October and lasting aboUT4 monlt.., with sportsand religious feslivities and taboo on warB (Pukui and El-bert 1986). An inlegraJ part of this season was the coHee--lion of ta.xesin the fonn of lapa dOlh, fea,hen, pigs, etc.,a, rh~ boundaries of each IJhupJUlQ..

4. [n 1980, Kualoa was remO"·edfrom rh" Slate ~sler ofHistoric PlaCQby the Historic Sites Rmew Board along

70

hawaiian archaeology

wilh approJ:imaldy 500 oth~r sites in the st:lte, as [hI' re-sult of a legalt«hnica.lity invQlving notification of $OmC' of

me sila' ["odowne"", It i5 hoped mat the proper paper-work can eventually be proceMed '0 pUt KualO<lPark backomo (he Sr.uC'Regis!er. In the mamime, Kualoa's listingon the National Register is supposo:! [0 provide il pCotC':'C-

lion under Federal and Sum: laws.

5. This figure is derived from a renr:ton: reo::onstru<:tionof.he bea"h edge 115ing the nonhem end of {he pond w.UJoff Kl..L:l!O<I Point as <I bas<'point, and. from the gene"" dis-,ribulion of anifxlli found On the ree£

6. Since about 1983, few of the;e atribUS havC'been re-covered from me beach, sUggt:I5,ingilial erosion CUI into,and has now washed away, the playing fidd boundaries.

References

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Barrera, W, Jr., 1974. Preliminary Archaeological Investi-gations at Kualoa, O'ahu. Submitted to the City andCOUntyof Honolulu, Office of Human Resources,

Ileckwirh, M., 1970. flalWliitill MyllJowgy, Univcrsiry ofHa""lii Press, Honolulu.

Cbrk, S, D. ~nd R. D. Connolly III, 1975. Progress Re-POrt of Archaeological Illvestigations at Kualoa RegionalPark, Isbnd of O'ahu. Submitted to the City and Counryof Honolulu, Depanmenr of Parks and Recrearion.

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Raphadson, R. D., 1925. TIK !Glm~""m,.ha Highway. 80Milts o/lWmJlrla. Perq> M. Pond, Honolulu.

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