Adze | Images of Old Hawaiʻi

March 12, 2016 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Kaluakoʻi

It was “a desolate land, a land of famine.” (Kamakau)

Aia ke ana ko‘i i Kaluako‘i
At Kaluako‘i is an adze quarry (Gon)

Kaluakoʻi (the adze pit) is the largest ahupuaʻa on Molokai, containing an area of 46,500 acres. It’s on the western portion of island.

It’s in the rain shadow of east Molokai making the area very arid (thus the first line.) The upland of Kaluakoʻi was well known for the fine grained basalts used for adze manufacture (thus the latter.)

“Kaluakoʻi was probably permanently occupied late in prehistory, and that its access to fishing grounds and adze quarries meant that it was integrated into island-wide society …”

“Presence of extensive occupations in the uplands and of major specialized features such as heiau (temples) and holua (sledding courses) in the lowlands holua provide evidence that the Kaluakoʻi area had permanent, perhaps socially stratified, occupants.”

“Traditional wisdom among archaeologist has also concluded that this region would have been settled only after sweet potato was available, and after population densities had risen in the wetter areas, probably no earlier than about ad 1500.” Cultivation of ʻuala (sweet potato) and offshore and deep sea fishing provided the primary sustenance. (Dye)

Kaluakoʻi was returned and retained by the Government at the Māhele. (Ulukau) Then, “Minister Gibson, read memorando from the records regarding the sale of certain lands in 1874-5, and that the sales had been made to meet current expenses of Government.”

“On March 5, 1874, there was a deficiency, and it was proposed to borrow $47,000. On May 15, 1874, it was proposed to meet the deficiency by selling the land of Kaluakoʻi, on Molokai. A resolution, however, was adopted, which read: ‘Resolved, Not to sell the land of Kaluakoʻi to Mr. Bishop at present.’”

“On May 26, 1874, the Cabinet approved of selling Kaluakoʻi to Mr. Bishop for $5,000, the King withholding his decision till next day.” The 46,500 acres was sold to Bishop, on January 26, 1875, by Royal patent 3,146. (Report of Hawaiian Legislative Assembly, 1886)

Bishop ranched the land; then in 1893, all the land, leaseholds and livestock were transferred by Charles Bishop to the Trustees of the Bernice P Bishop Estate and in 1897 Molokai Ranch was formed and bought Kaluakoʻi from the Estate.

Maunaloa is a former pineapple plantation town built in 1923 by Libby, McNeill and Libby (later a Dole corporation). After pineapple operations ended in 1976, the former pineapple fields surrounding the town became grazing land for Molokai ranch. (Dye)

In 1977, Molokai tourism was enhanced with the opening of the 198-room Kaluakoʻi Resort and condo complex on the West End. However, by the early 1980s it was virtually abandoned. (Brady)

Many hoped that the opening of the Beach Village in 1996 and the Lodge in 1999 would resuscitate Kaluakoʻi, attracting tourists and adding jobs. Later announcements of renovations provided further hope. (Brady)

The hotel and the golf course were permanently closed in January of 2001; the 149 privately owned condominium units continued to operate, some of them under the “The Villas” rental group and some rented by the individual owners.

In 2006, the company announced that it would renovate the hotel as part of a master development plan that included the sale of 200 homesites (at $600,000 each) along Laʻau Point on the southwestern tip.

Local reaction was negative, forceful, and immediate. The most visible display of residents’ opposition to the plan was the hand-painted signs reading ‘Save Laʻau’ that were posted across the Island. (Brady)

With that project failure, in May 2008, the Ranch reduced its operations on the island. Today, Molokaʻi Ranch encompasses about 53,000-acres which is roughly one-third of the island.

In 2012, under new management, Molokai Ranch announced plans to develop a new strategy focusing on four strategies: animal husbandry, sustainable agriculture, renewable energy and green improvements to existing infrastructure.

In a statement related to this, a Ranch representative noted, “Our focus is currently on ensuring the success of our newly re-launched ranching operations and our efforts to re-open existing facilities, such as the Maunaloa Lodge, in an effort to create opportunities for the island.”

Their website notes, “Molokai Ranch is working toward responsible tourism, creating an authentic cultural experience of Molokai and building the foundation for a thriving local economy.”

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July 26, 2015 by Peter T Young 2 Comments

Beyond the Boundaries

In ancient Hawai‘i, most of the makaʻāinana (‘common people’) were farmers, a few were fishermen. Tenants cultivated smaller crops for family consumption, to supply the needs of chiefs and provide tributes.

Access to resources was tied to residency and earned as a result of taking responsibility to steward the environment and supply the needs of aliʻi. The social structure reinforced land management – the primary land unit was the ahupuaʻa.

Resources not only sustained the occupants, they were also used to pay tributes to the King. Missionary Samuel Ruggles noted in his journal (June 17, 1820:) “The King’s rent has been brought in from all parts of the Island and from Onehow (Niʻihau) a small Island about 15 miles to the westward.”

“It consisted of hogs, dogs, mats, tappers, feathers, pearl fishhooks, calabashes and paddles. This rent is to go to Owhyhee (Hawaiʻi) as a present to the young King.”

“It was interesting to see the natives come, sometimes more than a hundred at a time, with their loads on their backs and lay down their offerings at the feet of their great and good Chief as they call him.” (Ruggles)

A typical ahupuaʻa was a long strip of land, narrow at its mountain summit top and becoming wider as it ran down a valley into the sea to the outer edge of the reef. If there was no reef then the sea boundary would be about one mile from the shore.

Shaped by island geography, ahupuaʻa varied in shape and size (from as little as 100-acres to more than 100,000-acres.) Each ahupuaʻa had its own name and boundary lines. Often the boundary markers were natural features such as a large rock or a line of trees or even the home of a certain bird. A valley ahupuaʻa usually used its ridges and peaks as boundaries.

The traditional land tenure system in ancient Hawaiʻi had at its core the presence of water (however, some ahupuaʻa did not have perennial streams or springs.) Although of many shapes and sizes, the typical ahupuaʻa consisted of three area types: mountain, plain and sea. Ahupuaʻa contained nearly all the resources Hawaiians required for survival.

In ancient Hawaiian times, relatives and friends exchanged products. The upland dwellers brought poi, taro and other foods to the shore to give to kinsmen there. The shore dweller gave fish and other seafood.

The emphasis on economic self-sufficiency in Hawaiian ahupua‘a resonates in our modern world with concerns for environmental and economic sustainability.

But the general perception of ahupua‘a self-sufficiency is quite different from demonstrated large scale movement of basalt and volcanic glass artifacts between island districts and sometimes between islands. (Mills)

Although control over agricultural production was doubtless central to the Hawaiian political economy, to this we can add a significant role of an exchange economy based on the control and distribution of other kinds of goods and resources.

One such resource, which fortunately is well represented in the archaeological record, consists of high-quality, fine-grained volcanic rock. (Kirch)

Many sources of stone within most ahupua‘a could have been used to make adzes (albeit of lesser quality.) It was the structure of ancient Hawaiian culture that led to the development of preferred sources outside of the ahupua‘a being used.

The ahupuaʻa of Kaʻohe in the Hāmākua district of Hawaiʻi Island, and its rich resource of basalt for adze making, helps illustrate this.

Kaʻohe is an irregular ahupua‘a because it only occupies a narrow (and relatively resource-poor) band along the coast where most of the residents would have lived.

But as Kaʻohe ascends the eastern slope of Mauna Kea and emerges above the forest near 6,000-ft in elevation, it expands to occupy the entire summit region.

The uplands of Kaʻohe would have contained few food resources beyond ground-nesting birds. The primary evidence of pre-contact human utilization of Kaʻohe’s vast mountain region is the adze quarry, which would have provided Kaʻohe with a valuable resource to exchange with other ahupua‘a. (Mills)

Likewise, Kahikinui on Maui, shows that, although the district’s residents exploited local stone sources for the majority of their tool production, they nonetheless imported slightly more than one-quarter of their lithic resources from outside of their own political district.

Clearly, even though they were capable of being self-sufficient in stone resources, they chose to import a significant quantity of high-quality volcanic rock, either as raw material or as finished adzes. (Kirch)

Moreover, archeologists have found disproportionately high frequency of fine-grained volcanic rock artifacts (from outside the specific ahupuaʻa) in high-status residence sites or ritual, temple complexes.

This strongly suggests that control over access to and distribution of these stone resources was controlled by aliʻi, who would likely have included the district chief (aliʻi ‘ai moku) and ahupua‘a-level sub-chiefs (aliʻi ‘ai ahupua‘a,) as well as the land managers (konohiki) and priests (kāhuna.) (Kirch)

Some early historical texts also hint at other kinds of exchange with others from other districts, including peddlers who traveled with goods between districts, regular exchange of foodstuffs, woods and fibers between moku, and even ‘fairs’ for barter between different districts. (Mills)

This exchange economy may also have consisted of perishable materials (ie, salt, fiber plants and cordage, lauhala matting, large hardwood logs for canoe hulls, and the red and yellow feathers of certain species of forest birds;) however, none of these preserve in most archaeological contexts. (Kirch)

Of course, following contact, the economic exchange of goods and services expanded – Sandalwood, supporting Whaling, Sugar, Pineapple, Visitor Industry etc. (Lots of information here is from Kirch and Mills.) (The image shows the adze maker in artwork by Herb Kane.)

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March 21, 2015 by Peter T Young 4 Comments

Kakoʻi

“I believe these were the largest workshops in the world for making of stone tools.” (Kenneth Emory)

“Dr Wm Hillebrand ascended to the summit of Mauna Kea … About 1,500 feet below the top, on the side of the mountain seldom visited by either foreigners or natives, they discovered an ancient manufactory of stone implements.”

“It consisted of a cave, in front of which was a pile of stone chips 25-feet high, which had evidently accumulated from the manufacture of stone adzes, maika balls, etc, etc, which lay scattered about in an unfinished state.”

“On reaching Mr Lyons’ residence, the discovery soon became noised abroad among the natives, who flocked to the mission premises to learn the truth of the report.”

“On inquiry among them, no person appears to ever to have heard of the existence of the manufactory, – even the oldest natives were ignorant of it. … (Hillebrand later learned) that that an old native … in his younger days had heard the place spoken of by his fathers, but nothing definite can be earned regarding it.” (Pacific Commercial Advertiser, October 23, 1862)

The quarry is an area of roughly 7 ½-square miles on the south slope of Mauna Kea. The main activity was concentrated in a zone that is 1-to-1 ½ miles wide between the 11,000 and 12,400 ft. elevation.

The landscape is dotted with numerous cinder cones, the principal one of which in the quarry area is Puʻu Koʻokoʻolau. The upper slopes of Mauna Kea have been described as a stony alpine desert. There is little vegetation and the ground surface has the appearance of a desert pavement.

The modern climate is both dry and cold. It is sufficiently cold that glacial features, such as patterned ground, are actively maintained. Evidence of formerly colder conditions can be seen in the summit region in the form of glacially scoured bedrock and surficial glacial drift deposits. (McCoy)

“Visiting this region in the summer of 1937, we located seven caves, and seven shelters formed by the overhanging of bluffs and protected from the wind by stone walls erected by the ancient Hawaiians.”

“The chips and unfinished adzes at this site cover an area of roughly fifty feet long by twenty feet broad, and the thickest part of the pile rises approximately ten feet above the sloping ground. Some of the other piles are nearly as large.” (Emory, 1937)

“Nowhere else in Polynesia are there such accumulations of chips and rejects. … Several hundred nearly finished adzes ranging from two to twelve inches in length, and a few chisels, lay on the pile of chips at Keanakakoʻi site.”

“The ordinary discoidal hammer-stones, which we saw scattered about, were not more numerous than spherical stones of the same vesicular basalt, flattened slightly on one side. These spherical stones puzzled us until we discovered that a number of the rejected adzes had been smoothed and shaped by pecking so as to be gripped comfortably in the hand.”

“We figured that these shaped rejects must have been gripped in the left hand like a stone chisel, one end placed on a stone block to be chipped, and the other end struck a smart blow with the flat face of the spherical stone mallet held in the right hand.” (Emory)

“Such a method has not before been described but no other has been suggested which would explain these two tools certainly employed in the manufacture of the adzes. The use of the mallet-stone and of the chisel-stone, would be effective in the first rough chipping of a large block, but the discoidal hammer-stone would be necessary for the final chipping.”

“Large slabs and blocks of stone had been carried to the workshops from the quarries nearby. The quarries are simply places along the ledges of hard rock where quantities of slabs have been broken off by the scraping of the glacier which once covered Mauna Kea and by the freezing of water penetrating into cracks.”

“There is evidence that the Hawaiians broke some of the stone from the bluffs themselves but generally they simply broke loose slabs into pieces to be carried to the workshops.”

“Acres of ground are strewn with the dark blue, freshly broken rock contrasting with the dull grown surface of the weathered stone. In many places, the rock of the ledges is quite reddish, owing to the oxidation of its iron minerals, and this has led to the supposition that the Hawaiian built fires against the bluffs to split off the stone.”

“The floors of the caves and shelters contain grass-padding and some fragments of seashells, but no accumulation of shells or bones such as would indicate use as living quarters.”

“On calm nights the temperature drops well below freezing. On rainy and windy nights, water drips through the roofs of the caves. During the winter months, snow frequently covers the ground, and the bitterly cold winds sweeping over the workshops would be unendurable to the workers.” (Emory)

Most stages of adze manufacture (kakoʻi – to make adzes; adze maker) were carried out at these sites and that adze preforms or nearly finished but unpolished adzes were the actual products removed from the quarries. (Withrow)

The quantity of food that could be transported from the coast would have effectively limited the length of stay, unless, of course, there were other people who formed task groups responsible for supplying the craftsmen and also, for carrying down selected preforms for finishing by grinding and polishing.

The combination of these factors with archaeological reasoning based on excavated evidence suggests seasons no shorter than two to three weeks. (McCoy)

An adze is an ancient type of edge tool dating back to the Stone Age. Similar to an axe in shape, it was used for cutting, smoothing, and carving wood and other materials.

In the Hawaiian Islands, an adze blade was generally made out of basalt, a common volcanic rock formed by the rapid cooling of lava. Basalt was favored for tool making because of its hardness and ability to hold an edge. (NPS)

“The ax (adze) of the Hawaiians was of stone. The art of making it was handed down from remote ages. Ax-makers were a greatly esteemed class in Hawaii nei. Through their craft was obtained the means of felling trees and of cutting and hewing all kinds of timber used in every sort of wood-work.” (Malo)

The upper and lower sides of the adze blade were then tapered using a grinding stone sprinkled with sand and water. Once the sides had been ground down and the edge was sharpened, the blade was secured to a wooden handle with a fiber cord. The finished adze was then ready to be used or traded for other goods or services.

The Hawaiian adze was attached to a bent wooden handle that allowed the user to swing it in a downward cutting motion. Occasionally a small adze blade would be fastened to the tip of a stick, and when the stick end was hit with a stone it would act as a chisel.

The adze was one of the most important tools in the Hawaiian Islands and large adzes were used for cutting trees and shaping canoes while smaller ones were used to carve things such as furniture, bowls, weapons, idols and small tools. (NPS)

Some adzes were undoubtedly storied objects carrying great significance while others were more common domestic tools. Perhaps the adzes of greatest significance were quarried in relatively limited number and reserved for chiefs. (Mills) Mauna Kea Adz Quarry is a National Historical Landmark.

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