Geophysical Investigation For The Location Of A Historic Heiau Kawaihae, Hawaii

There currently is an awareness in Hawaii to preserve historic sites and the culture of ancient Hawaii.<br>One area of cultural significance, Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site, is located in Kawaihae on the<br>northwest coast of Hawaii (Figure 1). The site is administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior’s<br>National Park Service (NPS). A heiau is a massive stone structure which was used as a temple by the ancient<br>Hawaiians.<br>The Pu’ukohola Heiau is the primary structure associated with the founding of the Kingdom of Hawaii.<br>The last major heiau was built in 1791 by Kamehameha the Great to honor, regain the favor, and enlist the<br>services of his family war-god, Ku-ka-ili-moku. An Englishman, John Young, reported that Kamehameha<br>offered 11 human sacrifices at the dedication of the heiau. The principal offering was the body of Keoua Kuahu’ula,<br>Kamehameha’s only serious rival for the control of the island of Hawaii. With his war temple built<br>and acceptable to the war-god, Kamehameha conquered Maui, Lanai, and Molokai islands in 1794 and Oahu in<br>1795. With the successful conquest of Oahu, Kamehameha founded the Kingdom of Hawaii. Kauai remained<br>independent until 1810, when it joined the Kingdom by mutual consent to forestall invasion by Kamehameha.<br>Following the death of Kamehameha in 1819, the traditional religion was abandoned. The carved<br>wooden images of Pu’ukohola Heiau were discarded and its thatched temple houses, prayer tower and altar<br>destroyed. Today, there are two intact stone structures, or heiaus, that can be visited at the Pu’ukohola Heiau<br>National Historic Site. One structure is about 200 ft long and 100 ft wide and the other about 275 ft long and<br>50 ft wide. A third, smaller structure, measuring approximately 10 ft by 10 ft, has historically been reported to<br>exist at the site but its exact location is unknown. Some local residents claim that the missing heiau is located<br>in the bay just a few tens of yards offshore from the site while others maintain that it is buried somewhere<br>onshore near the shoreline.<br>A geophysical investigation was performed at the Pu’ukohola Heiau National Historic Site during the<br>period 11-18 August 1993 in order to locate a purported “shark heiau” in the vicinity of the Kawaihae Boat<br>Harbor construction project, South Kohala, Island of Hawaii. This was performed as part of Section 106,<br>National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, as amended, compliance, pursuant to implementing regulations<br>contained in 36 CFR 800, for the proposed construction at Kawaihae Harbor. NPS persoMe desired to noninvasively<br>determine the location of the shark heiau; the heiau will then presumably be investigated and<br>protected. The geophysical investigation was conducted by personnel of the U.S. Army Engineer Waterways<br>Experiment Station (WES) at the request of the U.S. Army Engineer Division, Pacific Ocean.