Hui Kaha Pohaku

That is Hawaiian for "the group that maps the placement of stones". And that is who we are. We went on 9 field trips to the Kahalu'u area on the Kona coast of the Big Island of Hawaii and, together with Hawaiian Studies students and a local archaeologist, Keone Kalawe, we used plane tables to map the ruins of several Hawaiian structures. We did this as this first step in the eventual restoration of these structures. We feel that this is extremely important work and we would like to share some of our experiences and insights with you. Mahalo.







Wednesday, May 5, 2010




By Michael Schloffel


In the past couple of weeks, I have been going on Hui Kaha Pohaku (plane table mapping) field trips. I have learned so much about a few heiau in the Kahalu’u area. I think the most important heiau that I have learned about is known as the Hawaiian calendar, or Hapai Ali’i Heiau. This formation of stones is significant because it can be used to tell which season it is. It is incredibly accurate as well, you will know the very day the season changes, just by looking at it.


Hapai Ali’i Heiau is even simple to use, it is rectangular in shape, and has stones on top of the west wall that were placed in geographic points. The stones line up directly with the sun on the day the season changes. To read the season, you simply stand around 100 meters back from the East (Hikina) wall, and look at the three stones placed on the center of the West (Komohana) wall. If the sun is on the North (Akau) side, than it is summer, Kealapolohiwa’akane, or the season of Ku’u. if the sun is on the South (Hema) side, than it is winter, Kealapolohiwa’akanaloa, or the season of Lono. When the sun is directly over the middle stone, it is the equinox, or Kealapiko’owakea.


This Heiau is a very useful tool. About 600 years ago, the Hawaiians would look to it to find out the au, or current time. John Stokes measured it in 1906, he found that it was exactly 100ft by 150ft. Henry Kekahuna measured it once again in 1952. I learned that the stones from the heiau were dated back to 1411-1465. They found this out by carbon dating.


It took over 600-800 men and about three years to produce. They built it directly in front of a small pond. They knew that putting it in front of the pond would help push back the force of the ocean, making it last longer. The pond actually takes energy from the wave before it would hit the stones. There were massive waves as well back then, so they could only build during low tide. Another thing was they built they walls at a slant. This building technique makes it even stronger and more likely to withstand the brutality of the open ocean. Hapai Ali’i has a PaePae open court built into it. I think it is amazing how the Hawaiian’s figured out how to build it corresponding with the time changes on the Earth. It must have taken lots of hard work making it accurate, and only constructing it during low tide.




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