PU'UKOHOLA HEIAU NHS • KALOKO-HONOKOHAU NHP • PU'UHONUA O HONAUNAU NHP A Cultural History of Three Traditional Hawaiian Sites on the West Coast of Hawai'i Island

CHAPTER IX:
PU'UHONUA O HONAUNAU NATIONAL HISTORICAL PARK

J. Management Recommendations

1. Further Archeological Surveys

No further archeological surveys appear to be needed in this park. Any new site features found, of course, need to be recorded (such as locations of new konane, papamu, etc.) Petroglyphs should be noted also to further document this resource in this part of Hawai'i Island. So far, the dominant motif in the park is a human figure with widespread arms and legs. Interpreted originally as aboriginal boundary markers, all petroglyph locations need to be noted to determine if this holds true. The further study of these is also important in comparing intra- and interisland design elements.

2. Treatment of Resources

The heiau in the park need no further stabilization at this time, but the NPS should institute a program of periodic checks to ensure there is no slumping of walls and to monitor the regrowth of vegetation. If sites are kept clear of vegetation, future stabilization needs will be minimal. Preservation at Ki'ilae Village should consist of monitoring vegetation growth and stabilizing weakened walls. Identification, plotting, measuring, and recording of intact areas at Ki'ilae Village has been accomplished, along with some stabilization. This type of detailed mapping and photographing to identify weaknesses, broken areas, and preservation treatment has been accomplished at many areas in the park.

Proposals have been made to restore and reconstruct such resources as the holua track and the chief's house complex as well as Alahaka Heiau. It has been assumed that a detailed study of alignments and original surface pavements would enable a reasonably good restoration. The suggestion has been made for a partial or full restoration of the slide nearest the visitor center to illustrate the royal sport of sledding. Because this is thought to have been only a practice slide, improving it might be contrary to its original appearance. The NPS should consider only performing preservation treatment through stabilization and repair, using interpretive devices in the visitor center to explain this sport. The park's Statement for Management says that "partial or full restoration of the slide nearest visitors to explain this unique and dangerous sport may need to be done in the future to satisfy interpretive needs." [265] Interpretive needs, however, may be addressed satisfactorily through visual or other means in the visitor center or on site without impacting the resource's integrity.

Preservation and stabilization of ruins rather than restoration or further reconstruction should be stressed. Preservation combined with imaginative interpretation and limited development will not only protect resource integrity but will provide for enhanced visitor enjoyment of the ancient structures in the park. Appropriate literature, guide service, and museum presentations can do much to enhance the pre-historic and historical values of the site.

3. Preservation of Resources Outside Park Boundary

The NPS is exploring the realignment of boundaries in an effort to adequately preserve and protect the highly significant cultural and scenic values found in a wide area around the park. Future preservation hopes include acquiring (possibly by lease) lands east of the park for an entrance road and parking and for administrative, interpretive, and sanitary facilities. The administration/maintenance complex now rests on prime historical lands and should be relocated. The NPS also needs to look at the area around Honaunau Bay that supported the residences of the court, lesser chiefs, and common people when this was a large cultural, religious and political center. Additional lands to the south around Ki'ilae Village need preservation in order to retain intact the story of this settlement's transition from early to modern times. All these sites are related to the pu'uhonua as part of a complete Hawaiian cultural center. [266]

The 1977 Master Plan for the park proposed a boundary expansion of 204 acres of land and 112 acres of intertidal and water area. These 204 acres included the 61 acres between Honaunau Bay and Highway 160, north of the present park boundary, containing important Hawaiian cultural sites, including those comprising the support village for the palace grounds and the pu'uhonua. Lloyd J. Soehren of the Bishop Museum, while studying that area for the state in 1967, found it contained archeological features and historical associations comparable to those on the south shore of the bay included within the national park. It has been estimated that the northern shore of Honaunau Bay comprises about one-third of the total complex of the ancient village of Honaunau. The inclusion of the seashore lands on both ends of Honaunau Bay would create a self-contained physical entity that could be more easily protected from adverse uses on adjacent land and water areas and from the changes current residents are making on the land. An NPS study is currently ongoing to analyze the feasibility of protection of these adjacent lands by lease or cooperative agreement to protect them and to provide a buffer for the land and resources within the park.

A portion of the ahupua'a lands east of the pu'uhonua also need to be protected in order to preserve a variety of resources, including grave sites, house sites, walls, the upper reaches of two of the holua, possible prehistoric subsistence gardens, and other features not yet mapped or studied. [267] An area of twenty-five acres adjacent to the southern boundary includes the site of the home of Queen Emma's mother (John Young's daughter), the spring used by villagers of Ki'ilae, two heiau, and a cave system used by the Ki'ilae villagers. All these features are on land owned by the McCandless Ranch. [268]

Most of these lands remain relatively undisturbed by modern development. Individually none of their resources is as outstanding as the Great Wall or the Hale-o-Keawe, but collectively they would be invaluable in the overall interpretation of the cultural history of the Honaunau area. Their importance also lies in their potential for adding to our research knowledge of the prehistory of the Kona area. [269]