Makauwahi Cave
The Makauwahi Cave (“fear, break through”) is the small portion of the largest limestone cave found in Hawaii.
It lies on the south coast of the island of Kauai, in the Māhāʻulepū Valley close to Māhāʻulepū Beach, and is important for its paleoecological and archaeological values.
It is reached via a sinkhole and has been described as “…maybe the richest fossil site in the Hawaiian Islands, perhaps in the entire Pacific Island region”.
The pale rock ridge that houses the sinkhole started as a field of sand dunes.
Over time, rainwater seeped through the sand, converting it chemically into limestone rock.
Underground water ate away at the lower parts of the limestone, forming an extensive complex of caves, and finally one large section of cave roof collapsed, creating a feature known as a sinkhole.
The feature is as much as 100 yards long from the entrance to the most distant known cave, and as much as 40 yards wide, but it may contain other caverns whose entrances are buried.
Paleoecological and archaeological excavations of the sediment that has filled the pond in the sinkhole put its age at some 10,000 years.
More importantly, the findings show how the first humans that inhabited Kauai affected the pre-human natural environment.
It is one of only a handful of sites in the world that show such impact.
Before the first Polynesian settlers set foot on Kauai, Hawai‘i was a strange Eden, empty of mammals, reptiles, and amphibians, because none had ever made it across the vastness of the Pacific to these remote islands.
The sinkhole contains nearly 10,000-years of sedimentary record; since the discovery of Makauwahi as a fossil site, excavations have found pollen, seeds, invertebrate shells and Polynesian artifacts, as well as thousands of bird and fish bones.
An array of native birds that had evolved in splendid isolation filled every kind of niche.
More than 40 species of extinct native bird fossils have been excavated from Makauwahi, including an odd long-legged owl, which specialized in hunting small forest birds, and a nocturnal duck with shrunken eyes.
Among the bones discovered at Makauwahi were those of one lumbering flightless duck with a heavy bill designed to graze like a tortoise on short, tough grass and vegetation from rocks.
Bones of the endangered Hawaiian hawk and Laysan duck have also been discovered at the sinkhole. Today, these two species survive on single islands distant from Kauai, but the fossil discoveries suggest they were once more widespread throughout Hawaii.
Evidence from a full millennium of human activity chronicles the details of life nearby and its considerable impact on the island environment.
The Makauwahi Cave site provides a rich record of life before and after human arrival, and preserves many artifacts and food remains, including perishable cultural items.
Oral traditions said to extend back as far as the fourteenth century in some cases show good agreement with the archaeological and paleoecological record.
Following European contact, additional environmental impacts, including a drastic increase in erosion and many additional biological invasions, are documented from the site.
Paleoecologist David Burney and his wife Lida Pigott Burney, with help from hundreds of local volunteers, has found 10,000-year-old buried treasure in the Makauwahi Cave and wrote a book on the subject, Back to the Future in the Caves of Kauai, A Scientist’s Adventures in the Dark.
Makauwahi Cave is one of the Points of Interest in the Holo Holo Kōloa Scenic Byway. We assisted Mālama Kōloa and Kōloa Community Association with the preparation of the Corridor Management Plan for the Scenic Byway.
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Kōloa Field System
One of the great achievements of the ancient Hawaiians in this region is evidenced in the agricultural Kōloa Field System on the South Shore of Kauai.
Evidence indicates the Kōloa area was forested to the shore before the arrival of the first Polynesians. When they started to settle in this area, they cleared the land for agriculture by burning.
Because rainfall is low in this area, the early Hawaiians constructed sophisticated irrigation systems for growing taro and other crops. Ultimately, the Kōloa Field System of agriculture was established with formal growing areas and irrigation system tapping off of Waikomo Stream.
Its elements include parallel and branching ʻauwai (irrigation ditches,) terraced loʻi (taro growing ponds,) and dryland plots. Later intensification includes aqueducted ʻauwai, irrigated mound fields, and subdivision of lo’i and kula plots.
Beginning possibly as early as 1450, the Kōloa Field System was planned and built on the shallow lava soils to the east and west of Waikomo Stream.
It is characterized as a network of fields of both irrigated and dryland crops, built mainly upon one stream system. Waikomo Stream was adapted into an inverted tree model with smaller branches leading off larger branches.
The associated dispersed housing and field shelters were located among the fields, particularly at junctions of the irrigation ditches (ʻauwai).
In this way, the whole of the field system was contained within the entire makai (seaward) portion of the ahupuaʻa of Kōloa stretching east and west to the ahupuaʻa boundaries.
The field system, with associated clusters of permanent extended family habitations, was in place by the middle of the 16th century and was certainly expanded and intensified continuously from that time.
Long ʻauwai were constructed along the tops of topographic high points formed by northeast to southwest oriented Kōloa lava flows. These ʻauwai extended all the way to the sea.
Habitation sites, including small house platforms, enclosures and L-shaped shelters were built in rocky bluff areas which occupied high points in the landscape and were therefore close to ʻauwai, which typically ran along the side of these bluffs.
From A.D. 1650-1795, the Hawaiian Islands were typified by the development of large communal residences, religious structures and an intensification of agriculture.
The Kōloa Field System is unique in a number of ways; its makeup and design tells us much of the pre-contact world and the ingenuity of the ancients with respect to planning, architecture, agriculture and social system.
A complex of wet and dryland agricultural fields and associated habitation sites occur in the lava tablelands of the makai portion of Kōloa ahupua’a on the south coast of Kauai. Although soil deposits are thin and the land is rocky, plentiful irrigation water was available.
This agricultural system which at its peak covered over 1,000 acres extends from the present Kōloa town to the shoreline and includes a complex of wet and dryland agricultural fields and associated habitation sites.
The Kōloa System, at its apex in the early 19th century (probably due to the opportunity for provisioning of the whaling ships,) represents one of the most intensive cultural landscapes in Hawaiʻi.
Kōloa Field System was in use through 1850 AD. Remnants of this field system still remain in parts of the region.
The Koloa Field System is a significant Point of Interest in the Holo Holo Kōloa Scenic Byway. We worked with the Kōloa community in preparing the Corridor Management Plan for this project; one of our recommendations is to restore a portion of the field system.
A special thanks to Hal Hammatt and Cultural Surveys for information and images used here that is based on their extensive research in this area.
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Kāneiolouma
If there are sites across the state that are worthy of restoration, Kāneiolouma would be on the short list for most (and probably at the top.)
As noted by Henry Kekahuna in the late-1950s, “No such thing as a real, truly authentic Hawaiian village of ancient type exists anywhere in the Hawaiian Islands today. All attempts to produce anything of the kind have been merely superficial.”
“The island of Kauai should receive the honor of being the very first to produce the only true Hawaiian village of ancient character in the world … Such a project would keep old Hawai‘i, not only in inanimate form as at present, but as living reality.”
The “Po‘ipu Beach Park Mauka Preserve,” covering 11.04 acres, was created by the county in recognition of Kāneiolouma’s archaeological, historical and cultural significance to Kauai.
Kane-i-olo-u-ma translates as Kane-who-drove-and-pushed. Kāne is a principal god and associated with fresh water and it is his relationship with the other gods that brings forth life.
Lono, the god of agriculture, along with Kāne’s help, insures a life cycle and abundance to all animal husbandry and crops. Kanaloa, the god of the sea, also needs Kāne’s help in order to insure a life cycle for the fish. This is significant as these three components are represented at Kāneiolouma.
“The heiau was the principle medium through which all religious activities were manifested, and was therefore the most important representative of religion collectively in ancient Hawai‘i,” said Henry Kekahuna, a surveyor with more than 68 heiau to his credit, and a kahuna of note, in his presentation to the Kauai Historical Society in 1957.
“Such was the fundamental philosophy of the Hawaiians. All principle activities of their lives were necessarily parts of a whole, that whole being perfected in and through the heiau. Not merely was the heiau a place of worship. In the lives of the people, it also functioned as a mighty powerhouse of all spiritual life, human and non-human.”
As noted by Henry Kekahuna in his 1959 mapping of the Kāneiolouma complex, the Kāneiolouma heiau at Po‘ipu had three main sections (religion, agriculture and aquaculture (fish ponds.))
On the East side, there is a large sports arena where Hawaiian games such as forearm wrestling, or uma, wrestling, or hakoko, and deadly grappling, or lua, were carried on.
On the South side, there is a large fishpond where special fish intended only for the ali‘i were raised. The Waiohai spring is the center of this fishpond.
Extensive walled enclosures, alters, numerous bases for temple images, shrines, taro patches, irrigation ditches, a series of large fishponds, house platforms, extensive cooking areas, and terracing throughout make this complex ideal for rehabilitation.
Kāneiolouma is wahi pana, a storied place. It is considered sacred to the Hawaiian culture, as well as an important historic landmark for the residents of Kauai.
Within the complex, an intricate system of walls and terraces trace the architecture of an ancient way of life. Near its center, the complex contains what may be the only intact Makahiki sporting arena in the state.
The amount of monumental Hawaiian architecture represented here has the potential of yielding important information regarding ancient temple religion, agriculture and fishpond management.
The Kāneiolouma and agricultural site complex is part of a huge complex of agricultural and habitation sites ranging from Kōloa town to the coast of Poʻipū and ranging from the Weliweli area westward to Kukui‘ula Bay and the Kōloa Field System.
This site complex offers the only archaeological area that is not on private land. Eventually, this complex may be the only such accessible complex on the entire south shore of the Kōloa District.
Culturally, the heiau and agricultural site area could become a heritage place, a marker for the Native Hawaiians to identify with their prehistory and their ancestry; with clearing, preservation, restoration and maintenance it can serve as an interpretive park.
For more than a decade, Kauai locals have been working on stabilizing the Kāneiolouma complex. In 2009 they founded Hui Mālama O Kāneiolouma, an independent 501(c)3 non-profit organization.
In July 2010 a landmark agreement with the Kauai County Council and Mayor Bernard Carvalho formally granted stewardship of Kāneiolouma Heiau Complex to the Hui under the County’s Adopt-a-Park program.
The agreement acknowledges the role of the Hui in the preservation, protection and enhancement of the complex, and for future development of the complex as an educational center for Kauai residents and the world.
Kāneiolouma is one of the featured Points of Interest on the Holo Holo Kōloa Scenic Byway and is an important part of the Byway’s Corridor Management Plan. We prepared the Byway’s Plan.
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Kauai’s South Shore
“The history of Koloa is in many ways Hawai‘i’s history in microcosm.” (Wilcox) The focus of interest is the region‘s history and the role this area played in helping to shape Hawaiʻi‘s socio-economic past, present and future.
The South Shore of the island of Kauai has many scenic, natural and recreational qualities that travelers may experience and enjoy. Along the coastal area of Poʻipu there are popular beaches for swimming, surfing, snorkeling, scuba or sunset watching.
You enter the historic Old Koloa Town and Poʻipu Beach, Kaua‘i’s premier resort destination, through a tree-formed tunnel. The native Hawaiian history, archaeology and culture can be seen throughout the area and are the foundation of the historic events that followed.
Scattered throughout the area are remnants of pre-contact ancient Hawaiʻi life in the forms of heiau (Hawaiian temples) the Koloa Field System (agricultural) and culturally-significant natural geologic features in the forms of peaks, hills, streams, caves, bays and coastal features.
The native Hawaiians along the Koloa shore were the first to see the white man in Hawaiʻi. It was in 1778, along Kaua‘i’s South Shore, that Captain James Cook first traveled, landed and made “contact”, introducing Hawaiʻi to the rest of the world. His arrival was the beginning of multiple changes in Hawai‘i’s socio-economic framework.
Koloa Landing at Hanakaʻape Bay (the Kingdom’s first Royal Port of Entry) became the favored and major port of call on the island – because of the ability to maneuver in and out of the anchorage – whatever the wind direction, and the region had ample water and food crops to provision the ships. This led to a series of economic activities that shaped the history of the islands.
One of the first exports from Hawaiʻi was sandalwood trees that grew throughout the islands; exported primarily to China. Sandalwood was a desirable cash crop in Hawaiʻi because it could be harvested year round and did not have to be irrigated or cultivated.
Starting in 1790, trade in Hawaiian sandalwood became an important export item. As trade and shipping brought Hawaiʻi into contact with a wider world, it also enabled the acquisition of Western goods, including arms and ammunition, by the Hawaiian leaders.
However, by 1830, the trade in sandalwood had completely collapsed for two reasons: Hawaiian forests were exhausted and sandalwood from other areas drove down the price in China which made the Hawaiian trade unprofitable.
On October 23, 1819, the first group of missionaries from the northeastern United States set sail on the Thaddeus for the Sandwich Islands (now known as Hawai‘i.) There were seven couples sent by the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions to convert the Hawaiians to Christianity.
With them were four Hawaiian youths who had been students at the Foreign Mission School, including Prince Humehume (son of Kauai’s King Kaumuali‘i.) In modern times, three churches on Poʻipu Road all trace their roots to the same Christian denomination – Congregational.
Hawai‘i’s whaling era began in 1819 and replaced the sandalwood trade. At that time, whale oil was used for heating, lamps and in industrial machinery; whale bone was used in corsets, skirt hoops, umbrellas and buggy whips.
Whalers, seeking water and food supplies, called at Koloa Landing, the Island’s foremost port. Koloa was a center for agriculture and, as such, became the center of activity for Kauai. The whaling industry was the mainstay of the islands’ economy for about 40 years.
Sugar gradually replaced sandalwood and whaling in the mid-19th century and became the principal industry in the islands. The early Polynesian settlers to Hawaiʻi brought sugar cane with them and demonstrated that it could be grown successfully.
In 1835, the first commercially-viable sugar plantation was started in Hawaiʻi at Koloa. Other plantations soon followed. Sugar was the dominant economic force in Hawaiʻi for over a century. Several sites found in this area highlight the historic past of the sugar economy.
Koloa Plantation was the birthplace of the Hawaiian sugar industry. By 1883, more than 50 plantations were producing sugar on five islands.
However, during this growth, a shortage of laborers to work in the growing sugar plantations became a challenge; the only answer was imported labor. It is not likely anyone then foresaw the impact this would have on the cultural and social structure of the islands.
Starting in the 1850s, when the Hawaiian Legislature passed “An Act for the Governance of Masters and Servants,” labor shortages were eased by bringing in contract workers from Asia, Europe and North America.
There were three big waves of workforce immigration: Chinese (1850,) Japanese (1885) and Filipinos (1905.) Several smaller, but substantial, migrations also occurred: Portuguese (1877,) Norwegians (1880,) Germans (1881,) Puerto Ricans (1900,) Koreans (1902) and Spanish (1907.)
Sugar changed the social fabric of Hawai‘i. Of the nearly 385,000 workers that came, many thousands stayed to become a part of Hawai‘i’s unique ethnic mix. Hawai‘i continues to be one of the most culturally-diverse and racially-integrated places on the planet.
Old Koloa Town grew up around the Plantation industry. Plantation workers not only labored, lived and shopped on the plantation, they also received medical care. Koloa’s buildings housed plantation stores, services and churches for these people, including Kauai’s first hotel.
When Hawaiʻi became a US territory, at the turn of the century, it drew adventuresome cruise ship travelers in a tourism boom. Hotels blossomed.
1959 brought two significant actions that shaped the present day economic make-up of Hawai‘i, Statehood and jet-liner service between the mainland United States and Honolulu. These two events helped guide and expand the fledgling visitor industry.
Tourism is the activity most responsible for Hawaiʻi’s recent economic status and standard of living. Koloa-Poʻipu hosts an organized, supportive Poʻipu Beach Resort Association that organizes and promotes destination marketing and promotion of visitor accommodations/activities on behalf of its membership.
Poʻipu Beach coastal roads have visitor accommodations including hotels, condominium and vacation rental homes. The Visitor Industry remains the primary economic influence in the islands.
We prepared a corridor management plan for the Holo Holo Koloa Scenic Byway. We were honored and proud when the Plan received the Community-Based Planning Award from the American Planning Association‐Hawaiʻi Chapter and a Historic Preservation Commendation from Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation.
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