Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 10, 1 October 2006 — Forbes Cave objects reportedly returned to Bishop Museum [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Forbes Cave objects reportedly returned to Bishop Museum

īhe items are the subject of ongoing lawsuit and debate By Sterling Kini Weng Publications Editnr The cultural items at the center of a heated debate in the Hawaiian eommunity have allegedly been removed from the Kawaihae cave they were reburied in six years ago and returned to Bishop Museum, according to reports that surfaced in September. Those reports, however, have been difficult to confirm because of a gag order that a federal judge placed on those involved in the lawsuit that trig-

gered the alleged removal of the objects from the cave. The 83 objects were originally taken from the Hawai'i Island cave complex, whieh also contained human remains, by amateur archaeologist David Forbes and his expedition in 1905. Shortly afterward, the items were sold to Bishop Museum. The current controversy started in February 2000, when the museum loaned the items to members of the group Hui Mālama i nā Kūpuna o Hawai'i nei, who then reburied them in the caves. In August 2005, the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts and Nā Lei Ali'i Kawānanakoa sued Hui Mālama and Bishop Museum, demanding that the items be

retrieved from the cave because other Hawaiian groups were left out of the federal burial repatriation process. After the groups were unable to resolve their dispute through mediation, U.S. District Iudge David Ezra ordered engineers and federal officials to continue the process of removing the items from the cave. He avoided publicly announcing a deadline for the retrieval because he said he didn't want thieves to learn the details of the process. In early September, the Honolulu Star-Bulletin reported that La'akea Suganuma, president of the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts, said that the items had been retrieved and placed in Bishop Museum. If the items have been

returned to the museum, it's unclear whether an inventory has been completed or what the condition of the objects is. Citing the gag order imposed

by Iudge Ezra, museum officials refused to comment on whether or not the items had been returned to the institution's possession. E3

NŪ HOU - NEWS

La'ūkea Suganuma, whose Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts filed suif to have the Forbes Cave objects returned to Bishop Musuem, told the media in September that the items had been returned. He has since refused to comment, citing a judge's gag order. - Pholo: Sterling Kini Wong