By: Ryan Pilanca
Have you ever wondered how the ancient Hawaiians built a heiau? Well in this project we found out just how they did it. Hui Kaha Pohaku is our group name, in Hawaiian it means ‘’group that maps the placement of stones.’’ Our purpose was to go out and remap the heiau that had been destroyed over time, by nature. When we got onto the site we did physical labor along with taking copious notes in our outdoor classroom. We measured out the whole area using the plane table mapping technique.
I went on four field trips aside from the orientation. Overall it was a great experience. The boys went to a site called pao’umi heiau and the girls went to another site called keikiho’okama. When on the site we put flags on the main stones and ridges so that we could see where the wall was. After flagging the whole area we set up the plane tables and mapped every flag and its distance. When all the mapping was done we started drawing the maps out. The final part was drawing all the details such as the distance, the direction and the legend.
After all this was done I looked back and I am proud to have worked on the site. It will be there when I’m gone and my children will know that I helped rebuild that heiau
I would recommend the project to the up and coming underclassmen.
How to Set Up a Plane Table
By: Ryan Pilanca
First you have to get all your supplies together. Then you start off by setting up the tripod on a flat surface. When you do that, you get the plane table and put it on the tripod and level it. Once you level it you tighten the board with the big wing nut. You then put a drawing paper on the board. Then you pull out the compass and track north and mark on the top left corner. Once that’s done you have to take out the brass piece called a plum bob and mark the reference point at the bottom middle of the paper. Where you mark it on the paper is where you put the flag on the ground exactly. Once you’ve set everything up you can’t move the R.P flag.
Inquiry Questions
By: Ryan Pilanca
Imagine an ancient Hawaiian watching you while you work on the site. What do you think they would be thinking?
A: I think he would be disappointed, not that I was doing a bad job, but because he wouldn’t know who I was and why I’m doing it. Back in the days they had very strict rules on who would be permitted to go onto the heiau. I’m not royalty or a descendant from a king or queen so I would have no right to be there in the olden days. But I think if they had seen the work after I was finished they’d be happy with it. They would realize that nature had broken down their work and I was just trying to help. I would show as much respect possible by not horse playing, by keeping myself busy with real work , and by doing the chants I know before and after I got on the heiau. I would make sure that I pronounced the words correctly and said the chant with a lot of energy.A tourist asks you about the site and what you are doing, they also ask you if they can go onto the heiau what do you tell them?
A: If a tourist asked me I would tell them that this site was here hundreds of years ago and it was originally built by the Hawaiians. These are called heiau. These stone structures were used for many different things. Some of these uses were calendars, sacrifice, and just residence. The reason why we are working on them is because over time the structures got beat up and damaged from nature. We are there to help rebuild and restore it back to how it was before. I wouldn’t let them go onto the heiau because it would be disrespectful for an outsider to go onto it because they don’t know any tradition or value of the Hawaiian culture.
Rico, what a great teammate.
You were always positive and happy and a pleasure to work with.
You are the resident expert on plate tectonics.
Think about this:
if the hot spot was still here and there was no movement of the Pacific plate,
what would the Hawaiian Island (hint) look like?
