Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 6, Number 12, 1 December 1989 — Pele spreads her mantle on the Big Island [ARTICLE]

Pele spreads her mantle on the Big Island

By Deborah Lee Ward Editor, Ka Wai Oia O OHA Working against time and the inexorable approach of advancing lava flows, federal and state archaeologists spent a feverish 17 days this summer to record, for posterity, archaeological sites in the Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Findings resulting from this unusual collaboration in an emergency situation are to be pubHshed soon, according to the National Park Service archaeologists Laura Carter" and Gary Somers. They noted the collaboration the park service received from state archaeologist Bruce Masse in the race against Pele's march to the sea. The team of 13 archaeologists concentrated on surveying known archaeological sites in the vicinity of Wahaula Heiau, located within the park in the Puna district of the island of Hawai'i. Lava flows from active vents, over several years, have reached the coast destroying homes in the Royal Gardens subdivision outside the park and covering known prehistorical sites such as the famed Queen's Bath, formerly called Pu'uloa. In June the flows reached and covered portions of the Wahaula Heiau and visitor complex and an emergency team of archaeologists was pulled together to go in and record sites before they were engulfed by the lava. In addition to work around Wahaula Heiau they concentrated on features known to exist along parts of two ancient trails — the Kalapana-Volcano trail and the Puna-Ka'u trail. On the second day of the project, June 21, 1989, the lava had reached the Wahaula visitor center and within hours, after staff had removed whatever they could from the building, it caught fire, and was engulfed. Today all that remains are a few charred metal frames amid a glossy black sea of lava. At the heiau itself, of five walled structures, one

was completely buried, three were partly buried, and one still remains. Park archaeologists do not consider the sites destroyed in the usual sense since they are still "preserved" under the lava. Before and after pictures of survey locations covered by lava show shocking changes. At Kamoamoa, the site of an ancient village, steep volcanic cliffs are buried under a broad black sand beach formed from cinder 20 feet deep whieh washed ashore from still active undersea vents a mile or more away. The nearby Kailiili coastal village site was covered in a few days. A coastal trail was obliterated. Also lost to the lava was one of the last remaining stands of coastal dryland forest, home of the uncommonly found lama hardwood tree. Carter notes that while we stand in awe of the forces of nature today, ancient Hawaiians were also well acquainted with the power of the volcano goddess Pele in their own time. Legends kept to this day tell of villages covered by her fiery advances. As analysis of the recovered data continues, park officials await dating of a large number of charcoal samples found. Somers, who heads the NPS Pacific area office, said they hope these samples will show the age of settlements in the area, and that they may corroborate legends of Wahaula heiau and the district. He said artifacts found and recovered will be curated in the park. The emergency recōrding project was part of an extensive survey of archaeological resources in the Hawaii VoIcanoes Nahonal Park that is now in its second year. In January 1989 Carter did a seven-week recovery progrēim of features previously identified by Bishop Museum archaeologist Kenneth Emory that were in the path of the active lava flow at Kamoamoa and at Kupapa'u Point. Among the features located and surveyed were the Moa heiau at Kamoamoa, and the Pu'uloa petro-

glyph field near the Chain of Craters road. There were also agricultural pits hacked out oi the seamless pahoehoe layer whieh, when enriched with muleh, were used as planting pits in ancient times. Just identified in the past two years were volcanic glass quarries amid the pahoehoe, from whieh sharp-edged stone not unlike obsidian was taken for cutting tools. Other coastal trails remain intact. Some consisted of small smooth pebbles or of large, smooth, water-worn stones placed as stepping stones across an a'a lava field. Along the basalt coastline, eanoe mooring holes are still found where fishermen launched and hoisted up their canoes along the cliffs. Bait cups hollowed out of the lava tell of the men who used them to prepare for fishing. In an area appearing desolate and barren there are water caves, perhaps 20-40 feet underground, whieh were sources of fresh water for ancient Hawaiians. At other sites are water pockets, obviously known and onee used, with custom-made caprocks to protect them. A possibly new kind of artifact found on these surveys has been hammerstones of dense coastal basalt, weighing about 20 pounds. These watersmooth stones were secured with ropes and used to crack open pahoehoe for planting pits, archaeologists beHeve. A surprising find at a 19th century house site was a eolleehon of bone fish hooks and lures that may date back to the 13th century. The team was also surprised to find, below the house site, a tattoo needle made of bone. Gary Somers of the National Park Service regional office said the park anticipates getting funding for two future projects this year, to continue the survey of archaeological sites in the Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park, and to analyze the data gathered during the summer special recovery project.