Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 13, Number 1, 1 January 1996 — Marines to announee recipients of windward Oʻahu remains [ARTICLE]

Marines to announee recipients of windward Oʻahu remains

The remains of Hawaiians formerly buried in the dunes of Mōkapu and Heleloa will soon be able to rest in peaee. The Marines announced last month that they will soon be naming the recipients of the remains, most of whieh have been outside their Windward O'ahu graves for more than 50 years. The recipients will be responsible for the proper repatriation and reinterment of the remains. The majority of the more than 1000 pre-contact remains were uncovered in the 1930s when the Marines were building the U.S. Navy's Kāne'ohe Marine Corps Air Station. The bones have been curated at the Bishop Museum since that time and the Marines have not allowed them to be reinterred at the Mōkapu site. However, under the terms of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act (NAGPRA) passed in 1990 the Marines were required to publish a legal notice requesting formal claimants to the remains. Fourteen claimants eame forward including the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Native Hawaiian Historic Preservation Council, Hui Mālama I Nā Kūpuna O Hawai'i Nei and Ka Lāhui. Ten of the fourteen - including OHA - consolidated their elaim and presented it to the Marines. The consolidated group is seeking to have the remains reinterred at the burial site and ensure appropriate access. OHA Land and Natural Resources Officer Linda Delaney said that in coming together the different groups were acknowledging eaeh other's ability to treat the remains appropriately. She expects the Marines to accept their elaim. "My guess is that they will abide by what we've requested." Delaney says funding for the repatriation and interment will eome from the federal Legacy Program whieh provides funding for treatment of cultural artifacts on federal lands. Mōkapu was onee the site of several Hawaiian villages, large fishponds, heiau, salt pans and marine shrines. It is also one of the largest known - and most disturbed - ' burial areas in Hawai'i. Its name was originally Mōku-kapu, meaning sacred island.