Anais Ford
Throughout this experience I have learned a lot more than I ever thought I would know about the ahupua’a in the kahalu’u area. Ancient Hawaiians had so many astonishing ways of doing things and living life. They were incredibly in touch with the land, the ocean, with their surroundings and with all nature that they had access to. The ancient ways like tracking the sun known as haoaiali’I, they knew when the summer solstice would hit, the sun would set on the northwest corner of the horizon the longest day of the year fallowed by short nights. The summer solstice is known as kealanui polohiwa a kane. When the winter solstice hits the sun sets on the southwest corner of the horizon shortest day of fallowed by the year’s longest nights the winter solstice is known as ke alanui polohiwa a kanaloa. Tracking the sun served a big purpose in life for the Hawaiians it would help with agriculture and what would grow best during the winter and summer. This is known as the equinox it happens once a year. I never knew how to track the sun so this is something I learned and found very educating and gained knowledge off of.
The Hawaiians also had cardinal points to determine north from west and south from east. North is known as akau, east is known as hikina, south is known as hema, and west is now as komohana . having cardinal points help with derection knowing different parts of the island and being able to tell them apart. This made it easier to be able to know the island and give directions. I felt that I learned a lot of Hawaiians terms as well. I will take this experience with me for the rest of my life and know that the ancient Hawaiian are well respected people who value what they have and make use of what the island provides.
Carbon 14 Dating and the Age of the Heiau By: Anais Ford
My name is Anais Ford. I am a senior at Kealakehe High School. I have attended this school all 3 years and am finishing up my senior year. I am excited to graduate in May. I am in Mr. Lowery’s first period. It is a geometry concept class. We are a part of this plane table mapping project, Mr. Lowery has been a part of the mapping project for three years. When I first arrived at the site I was curious about a lot. The site holds such high energy and you can feel it. It’s a sacred feeling that this land once held high value and was worshipped. Many years ago this was a spot that was picked by ancient Hawaiians. The ancient heiau are finally being restored. We are one of the helping steps to get there. Mr. Lowery’s first period class has been mapping all that is still standing of the heiau. Bishop Holding/Kamehameha Schools are planning to someday to have all the heiau back up like the village there once was. Carbon 14 helped find the age of the heiau. Keone Kalawe, who is the professional archaeologist on the site, found an ash sample and sent it to a lab in Australia. When the sample was returned the year was 1450 AD, some 560 years ago wow! Here is a little information on how carbon 14 works and the stages that occur.
The most abundant form of carbon is carbon 12. Carbon 12 is a stable isotope, that is, it doesn’t decay naturally. Carbon 14, on the other hand, is an unstable isotope that decays naturally over time. It is produced naturally in the atmosphere and mixes with carbon 12 becoming part of our planets biosphere. Carbon 12 is by far the most common isotope, while only about one in a trillion carbon atoms is carbon 14. Carbon 14 is produced in the upper atmosphere when nitrogen 14 is changed by cosmic radiation bombardment (a proton is displaced by a neutron). The isotope created is called “radiocarbon”. It is naturally unstable and as such, will gradually and spontaneously decay back in to nitrogen 14 after a period of time. It takes about 5,700 years for half of a sample of radiocarbon to decay. It takes another 5,700 for half of the remainder to decay and then another 5,700 for half of what’s left then to decay. The period of time that it takes for half of a sample to decay is called a half-life. After about ten half-lives the amount of carbon 14 remaining becomes to small to measure. Thus, this technique is not useful for dating specimens which are more than 50 or 60 thousand years old. This technique can only be applied to organic material such as bone, flesh or wood. It can’t be used to date rocks directly. Carbon dating is a technique based upon three things: the rate which the unstable radioactive carbon 14 isotope decays into stable nitrogen 14, the ratio of carbon 12 to carbon 14 found in a given sample, and the ratio of carbon12 to carbon 14 found in the atmosphere at the time the sample died.All and all carbon 14 is an efficient method for dating prehistoric artifacts, thereby filling the world in with more knowledge. The stages are unique in Mother Nature. Carbon dating helps trace change but also makes change happen. Doing this project has taught me a lot about change. I am amazed that you can get a actual age of something that lived so long ago. I am happy to be a part of this project and I have gained so much knowledge about this interesting subject and I look forward to learning more. I know that being on the site and actually walking around the heiau and the other structures that are there made me curious about their ages and it is extremely cool to know how old they actually are. I am happy to understand the very valuable technique of carbon dating.
Why is precision in measurement so important?By Anais Ford
It is important to be precise on your measurements is because it could affect the whole map and the whole project would be incorrect. We scale it down so it can fit on the board and be found when looking at the map. If you measured wrong then that point on the board is incorrect. If you keep that up then there is no point in doing the project because it’s false data and false data is worthless. One of the ways you can be more precise on your map that I found helpful was pulling the measuring tape tight close to the ground and checking it twice. The person marking the board looking through the alidade plotting points should make sure they can see the stadia rod at a clear view. We use the stadia rod to be able to see where the plotting point is located but holding the stadia rod up straight and right next to the spot is critical. There are ways to be more precise and I found them a big help.
Thinking and Comparing
By Anais Ford
How ancient Hawaiian heiau compare to other ancient stone structures around the world is an interesting topic. There is the Parthenon in Greece in the Athens region. The Parthenon was a temple built in 250 B.C by the Greeks to worship gods. The building structure was known as the golden rectangle, two walls measuring 1.0 and the other two measuring 1.61. Machu Picchu in Peru in the Andes Mountain Machu Picchu was a town built in 1470 A.D by the Incas. The structures were steep built up a side of a mountain known as terrace. The plumbing structures were carved into basalt rocks to bring fresh clean water to the bottom of the mountain, losing as little as possible. The Hawaiian heiau are in the Hawaiian island. They were built for residents and for worship they date from built in 1450 A.D by the Hawaiians. The Hawaiians stacked rocks then filled in the little cracks with smaller rocks. They also carved rocks similarly to how the Incas in Machu Picchu did for their water system to bring fresh water down the mountain. There were different heiau for different reasons. They had heiau for worshipping just like the Greeks did. I also found that all three of these ancient structures tracked the sun. All three ancient places were aware of the equinox that occurs twice a year. On the summer solstice the sun sets on the northwest corner with long days and short nights. On the winter solstice the sun sets on the southwest corner with short days and long nights. I am astonished by the different time periods and the knowledge they had the Parthenon being the oldest and the Hawaiian heiau being the newest. There is a wide gap in the ages, one being centuries old and the other being relatively new. Change occurs, but storing history and remembering what once was highly valued is so important.
If an ancient Hawaiian saw you working around the heiau project, what do you think that they would be thinking?
by Shannon Fisher
If an ancient Hawaiian saw me working around the heiau at Kahalu’u, I could imagine they would first notice the Outrigger hotel next to me. In my opinion, they would be confused how a white girl like me, could ever be allowed to work around such a sacred site. It’s most likely that they would be frustrated with that fact. But, as soon as they realize how hard working and determined I am to map the collapsed heiau, I believe they would rather admire my presence. Hopefully, they would accept the way I did the chants to enter and to gain knowledge during this field trip. I bet the native Hawaiians of that time wouldn’t understand the way I pronounced the Hawaiian language. They’d get a laugh out of that. I’m not particularly the best at speech, even when it comes to my own.
How has this plane table mapping project changed your relationship with the land?
By: Shannon Fisher
During this class mapping project we scaled down a huge heiau by converting meters into centimeters on a 1 to 100 scale, I’ve changed my perspective on my homeland of Hawaii. Although, this field trip was Geometry and we kept talking about math related topics, we then learned a lot of the terms of the Hawaiian language. Though this, I learned cultural facts and geometry, but that wasn’t what made me admire the land as much as I do now.
What really made me admire the land was the feeling I got when I first stepped on through that gate. When I passed through, I felt different. I mean, my whole being was changed to a calm and selfless awe. For some reason, all the problem and struggles that had been on my mind that day didn’t bother me anymore. It may be just a feeling, but it was the first to make me know, why the ancient Hawaiians had picked this spot. That day, even Mahaelani Pai had told the class that the Hawaiians didn’t just pick any old spot on the island to build a stone structure. They only chose areas where they felt had the most spiritual connection.Another event that happened while I worked on the site was on the last field trip day I went to Kahalu’u. That time we were saying the Eh Ho Mai (chant for the entering and to ask to gain knowledge) we had to repeat the chant. I suspect that Uncle Mahealani Pai didn’t make us repeat it because we weren’t being clear, because our attitude wasn’t right. That was the first chant I wasn’t fully serious in. First time I goofed off during a chant. Right when my respect on their words had slipped, he had realized it and made everyone chant it again. I didn’t hear anyone talking during it except for me. He had corrected what mistake I’d made. For his high honor on this historical land, I admire that feature by expressing it to the land myself. After these trips, I am considering learning how to write and speak the Hawaiian Language. I believe, that we should become close to our birthplace even though we aren’t necessarily that nationality.
