The Maui News
May 24, 1999
TIMOTHY HURLEY
Staff Writer
LAHAINA -- Archaeologists have launched a field survey that will help them map out the parameters of the sacred island of Moku`ula, the royal Hawaiian burial site situated below the fields of Malu-ulu-o-Lele Park.
Former Bishop Museum ethno-historian Paul Christaan Klieger and Susan Lebo of the University of Hawaii and Bishop Museum began the effort last week and plan to continue this week.
The scientists are using electromagnetometer equipment designed to detect changes in the soil beneath them, and then conducting several small excavations in a roughly one-acre area.
Lebo said Friday that she and Klieger are hoping to map out the walls and boundaries of the historic island that once was surrounded by a pond known as Loko o Mokuhinia.
The project is being financed by Friends of Moku`ula Inc. out of funds from a federal grant obtained from the Administration for Native Americans.
The project is described as Phase 2 of a three-part effort to come up with a plan to restore the area as a cultural park complete with the water that once surrounded the island.
Phase I included the 1995 study by Klieger that confirmed the historical significance of the site, and Phase 3 will include a much more comprehensive archaeological dig.
Moku`ula is described as the one-time center of the Hawaiian kingdom, the home of Kamehameha III and the site of a mausoleum containing the remains of members of the royal family.
The site, however, was abandoned and left in disrepair until the territory of Hawaii in 1913 filled it in. The county made it a public park in 1918.
A portion of the one-acre Moku`ula island extends into the park's makai ball field and up the third-base line.
Numerous royals are known to have been buried on the island, including Maui Chief Hoapili; Princess Nahienaena, the daughter of Kamehameha I; and Keopuolani, wife of Kamehameha I.
While some of the chiefs' remains were moved to the Wainee Church graveyard in the late 1800s, there is reason to believe many still are buried there, according to Klieger, who now works for the California Academy of Sciences.
Lebo said that based on last week's survey work, there may be more fishpond walls than previously believed, underscoring the need to continue gathering historic information and archaeological data to create a better understanding of Moku`ula.
Various student groups have been brought in to provide volunteer assistance to the scientists.
Akoni Akana, Friends of Moku`ula executive director, said the group is applying for a $350,000 grant that will help pay for the comprehensive excavation scheduled in Phase 3.
If the funds are granted, Akana said, the excavation could last from eight months to one year, with the actual restoration of the site getting under way in 2001.
In the meantime, the group is continuing negotiations with the county for a lease on the property and has requested that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers conduct a study that will permit the restoration of the wetlands surrounding the island.
The group hopes to eventually turn most of Malu-ulu-o-Lele Park -- and maybe more acreage -- into a cultural park. Akana said that goal will be made easier once the county develops a recreational park on land mauka of the Lahaina Aquatic Center.
Akana said the Friends of Moku`ula wants to recruit volunteers to help in all aspects of the project, from administration to the archaeology. He said it's especially important to get Native Hawaiians involved in the work.
Akana noted that when he and others met with former Maui County historian Inez Ashdown before she died, she emphasized the need to get Hawaiians involved in unearthing their own heritage.
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