GARY T. KUBOTA / GKUBOTA@STARBULLETIN.COM Archaeologist Amy Buffum explored last month the layers of sediment at a settlement in Kula, Maui dating back as far as 1200. Native Hawaiians are planning to resettle the area under a state Hawaiian Homes program.

Historic site may
alter home plans

A Hawaiian Homes project
may change to preserve
ancient ruins

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By Gary T. Kubota
gkubota@starbulletin.com

KULA, Maui >> The discovery of an ancient Hawaiian community may alter plans for some native Hawaiian settlers in a mountainous Maui region.

State Hawaiian Homes officials had planned to move native families onto 71 2-acre agricultural lots in Keokea, makai of the K.S. Ching Store. But in the course of conducting an archaeological survey during several years, officials have uncovered a settlement dating as far back as 1200 and possibly earlier.

"It's very exciting for us to discover this grandiose cluster of habitation. For us it's a responsibility to be pono, to do what is right for not only us, but also our children," said Catherine Kekoa Enomoto, secretary for the settlers' group, Keokea Hawaiian Homes Farmers Association. "Our association has a very important decision to make."

Enomoto said she believes at least seven lots are affected by the discovery. She said she has been in contact with about two-thirds of the settlers, many of whom live on Oahu, and wants to reach the rest of them to develop a consensus about adjusting the plan to the archaeological discovery.

Native Hawaiians have been waiting for the county and state to develop water, roads and electricity at the Keokea homestead since the mid-1980s, when they were awarded the lots in an accelerated program under Gov. John Waihee's administration. The archaeological survey is part of the final stage in planning.

The land is part of more than 200,000 acres authorized by Congress under the Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920, in response to worries about the survival of native Hawaiians in a Western society.

Under the act, people with 50 percent or more native Hawaiian blood may qualify for land leases up to 99 years, with an option for another 100 years. The leases require a nominal annual payment of $1.

Like the Kula parcels, most of the commission lands were on the leeward side of the islands, where there was less rain and no cultivation of sugar cane by large agricultural corporations.

The Keokea land lies on the rocky slopes of Mount Haleakala between the 2,400- and 3,000-foot level, where rolling fog occasionally obscures the landscape.

Once a dry-land forest of koa and sandalwood trees and tall grasses, the region is now covered with alien plants, including banana poka and wattle.

Residents say they were aware that Chinese cultivated potatoes on Kula land during the California gold rush of the late 1800s but did not know the region was once the site of a large Hawaiian settlement.

Archaeologist John Zachman, field director with Scientific Consultant Services Inc., said he is excited about the work of uncovering the settlement because the house sites are relatively intact, with lava rocks piled into walls to serve as a base for supporting the house poles.

There are also a few religious structures, including the 1,968-square-foot Molohai Heiau, used for agricultural rites.

Hawaiians grew sweet potato, and the bones of dogs and pigs have been found, along with stones used as adzes and files.

Zachman said he believes Hawaiians used a system to capture rainwater and dew, and the ravines indicate rainfall may have been heavier in earlier times, perhaps during the period of a dry-land forest in Kula and Kahoolawe.

Archaeologists say the heiau, along with nearby house sites with terraces, shows how common native Hawaiians and lower chiefs lived in upland areas before Western arrival.

"It's important that we get some of it preserved," said Ross Cordy, a State Historic Preservation Division official. Cordy said the idea is to set aside the heiau and enough house sites so they can serve as examples at Keokea.

Department spokesman Francis Apoliona said if the project is reconfigured, the cost may rise. He said the department plans to meet with the families to decide what settlement sites should be saved.

"The community will have to make a decision with us," he said. "It's going to be something we work out with the community, nothing unilateral."