Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 9, Number 2, 1 February 1992 — Archaeoiogical dig uncovers a [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Archaeoiogical dig uncovers a

by Christina Zarobe The course of Hawaiian history took a sharp turn at Nimitz, Bethel, Merchant and Fort Streets. Beneath the soil at the one and a half acre parcel are fragments of Native Hawaiian culture and how it changed when the Western world sailed into Honolulu Harbor.

"This is a time of very rapid change for Hawaiians," says Tom Dye, O'ahu Island archaeologist for the state Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources. "For us, we viewed it as a tremendous opportunity to investigate a pivotal time in Hawaiian history." The site is currently under construction for a high-rise complex of office, residential, and retail space with public parking and a restaurant by Harbor Court Developers. The development is expected to be completed in 1994.

Less than a year ago, the city and countyowned property was a parking lot. Today, with the excavation complete and the analysis of what was uncovered still to eome, experts are calling the parcel a significant archaeological find. The project, however, actually started two years ago and has involved archaelogists with the state, Bishop Museum, and Paul H. Rosenthal, ine., a contract archaeology company in Hilo. Initially, the undertaking began with a historic literature search whieh establishes the history of a parcel, who the land was awarded to in the Great Mahele, according to Dye. Research determined that the compound of Kamehameha the Great was located nearby.

Then, during the demolition of the parking lot last summer, Bishop Museum officials conducted an inventory search and uncovered well-pre-served artifacts. After determining the site was not appropriate for an interpretive display, the decision was made to begin excavating. Working alongside construction workers, the excavating was underway. Two weeks later, arachaeologists realized the area was mueh "deeper and extensive" than was originally thought and excavation work would have to eontinue, according to Dye. Harbor Court Developers decided to contract with archaeologists at Paul H. Rosenthal, ine. for the second part of the project.

"I found the site almost inspiring. It felt like a good plaee and it had a lot to tell us," says Jane Allen, the principal investigator on the Kaahumanu project. "In my opinion, this site was probably one of two or three important sites that I have worked at." The two weeks involved exhausting work for the team of 18 archaeologists from the Bishop Museum. Work stretched to 10 hours a day, six days a week, Allen remembers, with little relief from the heat.

Yet with eaeh new discovery of an artifact or deposit the excitement grew among the archaeologists. "We were struck by how mueh the crew cared about the site. Everybody really enjoyed the project." Months of research revealed the loeahon as a hub of activity. As Amenean and European ships began pulling into Honolulu Harbor, Kamehameha decided in 1809 to move his eompound from Waikiki to the area. He spent the next three years there. "The populahon went from a hundred or so to

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Tom Dye, O'ahu lsland archaeologist for the state Historic Preservation Division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, confers with archaeologists.

a eouple thousand or so very, very quickly because of Kamehameha and the birth of mod-ern-day Honolulu really dates to that time," says Dye during a recent interview at his King Street office. "The significance of that plaee is not only its association with Kamehameha but the fact that it was associated with an event whieh is the birth of Honolulu."

Backhoes dug trenches and under the layers of dirt archaeologists uncovered a variety of fascinating artifacts. In the mauka, Diamond Head corner archaeologists from Paul Rosenthal found post holes patterned one after the other. "There was a very substantial palisade and directly outside there were two pits, quite large ones that the archaeologists think were sockets or holes to hold images, ki'i," Dye explains. Archeologists estimate the ki'i could have stood from six to seven feet tall. One contained a long, slender water-worn rock believed to be an akua, or god, stone often found in fishing shrines.

Excavation also uncovered dozens of firepits with fire-cracked rocks where food had been cooked in traditional Hawaiian style in imu, ovens, of various sizes, recalls Dye. Pinpointing the location of Kamehameha's compound, however, is complex. The only map of the period comes from "Fragments of Hawaiian History" as told by John Papa Ii. Born in Waipio, O'ahu, Ii eame to Honolulu in 1810 to live with his unele who was a kahu, attendant, of Kamehameha. In the book, a map by Paul Rockwood depicts the area from Nuuanu Stream to Kuloloia Beach as described by Ii.

The map shows an area where chief's houses were located. Dye surmizes that could have been the location of the image holes. "There is really practically no way for us to tell. "Kamehameha was there for three years whieh for an archaeologist is such a brief period of time. That time period is just a blink of the eye really in the 1,500 years of time that archaeologists are looking at," says Dye. Since 1981, Jane Allen has worked with the Bishop Museum. She talks about the site with

zeal as if it was her first archaeology project. Among the artifacts she found particularly important were a bird feather and a shell ring that could have adorned a kahili staff. "It's all just talking story. This is only a tentative study. We're still analyzing everything," she points out. "But tentatively, in the field, we all got excited." There were also Russian artifacts excavated. Russians were on the Hawaiian islands from 1815-1817, yet the discovery was the first time Russian ceramics had been found at a site in Hawai'i, Allen says.

Also uncovered were "free-blown bottles," unlike those made from a mold or a maehine, dating back to the end of the 18th century. The bottles were brought by Westerners when they traveled to the islands yet it's unknown how long the bottles were onboard ships. And an adobe floor of an old commercial building could have been part of Skinner's Auction House from the late 1820s.

But for experts it s the broad hme penod trom whieh artifacts have been found that has made the site a valuable archaeological discovery. From the village of Kou to Kamehameha's eompound through to modern Honolulu, the story of Hawaii's largest city begins to unfold. "The Hawaiian village Kou — what happened to it? Here we have a ehanee to look at a change in a Hawaiian village over a long hme," asks Allen clearly intrigued by the site where she worked with Gwen Hurst, project director from the Bishop Museum.

Allen, who received a master's degree and a doctorate in anthropology from the University of Hawai'i, admits that the time-consuming work of an archaeologist requires "a lot of searching and poking." "It's like doing puzzles all the time," she says simply. Excitement over the wealth of discoveries at the site has even spread to officials with Harbor Court Developers. Project development manager Scott McCormack's family have been residents of Hawai'i for four generations.

"We have seen a lot of history here and we

A view from Nimitz Highway near Honolulu Harbo