Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 20, Number 11, 1 November 2003 — Cave artifacts [ARTICLE]

Cave artifacts

By an 8-1 vote, the Hawaiian Homes Commission has rejected Bishop Museum's request to retrieve 83 Hawaiian artifacts from the Kawaihae Cave complex on

Hawai'i island. In a controversial 1998 decision, the museum gave the artifacts "on loan" to the claimant group Hui Mālama i nā Kūpuna o Hawai'i Nei, whieh then sealed the artifacts in the cave complex from whieh they were first removed a century ago by anthropologist David Forbes. Twelve other Native Hawaiian organizations also have a elaim to the collection of burial artifacts and human remains, whieh could be worth millions of dollars. Hawaiian Homes Commission Chairman Mieah Kāne said that out of respect for the ancestors, the commission would not allow entrance into the caves, whieh lie on Hawaiian Homes land, unless the commission is convinced it is necessary. In May, a federal Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act review committee said that the repatriation process for the Kawaihae artifact collection was incomplete. The committee placed the burden of completing the process on Bishop Museum, and said that the process should be open to all claimants for consultation.