(Please push F11 and click on slideshow to see these pictures full screen.) Here's the archeology site called (Pu'uhonua o Honaunau). This has three components: 1. sanctuary (that's what Pu'uhonua means), 2. Some reconstructed buildings typical of what Hawaiian kings would live in before their unfortunate westernization and 3. a temple/mausoleum for royalty. This is at Honaunau Bay--a great beach and snorkeling location. If you're into that, get details at http://www.snorkeling-hawaii-insiders-guide.com/city_of_refuge_snorkeling.html
Let's start with the king's residence area: The royalty (called Ali'i) would live in compounds with several huts like this one. Before the Europeans arrived, Hawaiians had no nails (or really any metal) and so even kings lived in thatched huts. The supports were wood from the very common 'ohi'a tree tied together with coconut fiber.
Hanging from the rafters is a fishing net. We'll talk about how that's used on the next slide. The Hawaiians divided their land from mountain peak to shore into narrow pie slices called "ahupua'a." Typically this division would be organized around the river valley leading from the mountain to the sea. All members would barter their resources as needed. Therefore people could spread out and not compete for fishing rights, arable land, etc. Those who fished would trade with those higher up the slopes in their ahupua'a for agricultural products. This system was good for the land and the people. Many Hawaiian towns today retain the name of their original ahupua'a.
To harvest fish, the women would throw these streamers into the fish pond and pull them toward shore, forcing any fish in their wake into the shallows. This method is called hukilau (Huki means "pull" and lau means leaves. .
Here's a Helepalala -- a fish pond. Despite the fact that the Polynesians who settled Hawaii brought pigs, fish were the protein mainstay of their diet. Early engineers created the rock walls to hold in a mixture of springwater and saltwater.
In the days before Game Boys, Hawaiians entertained themselves with a checker-like game called Konane. Pebbles are placed on this stone (called a papamu). The last one to be able to move wins. This was not always a leisure activity: rival kings may play the game to decide a dispute, rather than going to war. The greatest chief of the Hawaiians, Kamehameha I, was supposedly unbeatable at this game. No talking is allowed during the game which may have appealed to him as his name means "the lonely one" in Hawaiian.
This is a Kanoa -- a bowl carved into the rock and used for a variety of domestic purposes such as evaporating sea water to get salt or pounding roots to make drinks.
We are now at the second part of the archeology complex -- the temple/mausoleums. This is called Hale O Keawe Heiau. (Heiau is a temple, Hale is a house, and Keawe was the most important Hawaiian king to be interred here. Probably 23 royalty were laid to rest here, possibly including Captain Cook who was killed in a scuffle nearby.
In the foreground is a wooden image called a Ki'i and the tower, where offerings were presented, is called a lele.
Several Ki'i guard the temple, typically facing the sea from where attackers would most likely strike. Hawaiian society was divided rigidly into 4 castes. At top were the ali'i, the kings. Kings owned all of the land and let the commoners use it in exchange for shares of its output. Kings reported to other kings in a feudal-like economic system. Next were their advisers, the kahuna. (Like Americans, the Hawaiians were smart enough not to let the intelligentsia have power, but they hadn't invented universities to contain them. Only the kahuna and very high ranking ali'i could go into the temples (or make Gidget films).
Look closely on the right and you can see a famous Hawaiian queen, Hanea. After the kingly ali'i and the intelligentsia kahunas were the common people (Makaʻāinana) and the slaves (Kauwa). Slaves were typically war captives (or their descendants). When it was time for human sacrifice, they were used if the king had run out of kapu violators or political opponents.
This canal is the landing area for the royalty and forbidden (kapu) for commoners. The Ki'i icons here warn them to keep away. The penalty for violating kapu (taboo) was death, probably without a lot of supreme court review.
The royal landing spot today is filled with green turtles looking for seaweed and totally oblivious to kapu. The are called "green" because of their meat (which is greenish in color because of their seaweed diet.) They are a threatened species and signs here warn to leave them be. Is ecology the new kapu?
Stands of Ki'i protecting the Heiau (temple). Most Heiaus disappeared when Kamehameha II ended the Kapu system in 1819. Colonial planters found them to make good gound for their sugar plantations.
The third part of the site is the sanctuary. Here's the wall (all stone, no mortar, of course) that separates the Pu'uhonua from the rest of the royal grounds. If a violator of kapu could make it over this wall, kahunas inside would perform rites so that his sin was forgiven. If he couldn't make it here, he would be put to death. You could break kapu by eating with a member of the opposite sex or allowing your shadow to fall on a king. Today visitors gain entrance through an opening; in ancient times there was no opening in this 17' thick and 10' high wall. You had to swim through surf-smashed jagged lava rocks to gain entrance.
The stone structures are fragile as no mortar holds them in place. The sanctuary (Pu'uhonua) comes from the mana or spiritual power of the ali'i whose bones rest nearby. No blood could be shed behind these walls. Since there were no prisoners of war (the purpose of Hawaiian war was to kill ALL of the enemy), defeated combatants could be spared if they could reach this place and stay here until the battles ended.
This platform was likely the base for the major temple within the sanctuary. Such a heiau would have had wooden statues (ki'i) and thatched huts and would be constructed in 7 stages.
Legend has it that Kamehamea I's favorite wife fled to this sanctuary after a marital spat and hid under this rock. But she brought her dog who barked, revealing her position. They patched things up. While Kamehameha was a strict ruler, he outlawed capital punishment. Charity begins at home.
Mark Twain claimed that this rock was the favorite resting place of Keoua, the high chef of Kona. If so, it wasn't the most comfortable throne we've seen. Supposedly the chief would recline here while his men fished. A depression at one end is where his head lay. Talk about a firm mattress!
At the sides of the Keoua Stone are six holes such as this one carved into the lava rock, probably to hold poles to elevate a canopy to keep the Hawaiian sun off the king. That rare Hawaiian alligator at upper left is my shoe.
