Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 9, 1 Mei 2009 — More iwi unearthed at Kawaiahaʻo [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

More iwi unearthed at Kawaiahaʻo

Workhas stopped on Kawaiaha'o Church's new multipurpose center in Honolulu after workers dug up 69 human remains from the project site, mostly intact and in coffins dating back to the 1 800s. The iwi disinterred have been wrapped and placed in lauhala baskets. They are being stored in the church with the intent of reinterring the iwi at another site on Kawaiaha'o's grounds. These are in addition to the 21 sets of iwi dug up earlier while connecting utilities to the street. A consultant said 83 more bodies might lie in the project site, whieh is surrounded by Kawaiaha'o's cemetery. While the number of burials doesn't eome close to the more than 1,000 found at the site of the Ritz-Carlton Kapalua in Honokahua, Maui, in the 1980s - the discovery of whieh brought the protection of iwi kūpuna on construction sites to the community consciousness - it does outnumber the more recent discoveries of 64 remains at the Ke'eaumoku Wal-Mart and 50 at Ward Village Shops in Honolulu. The new center is on the site of recently demolished Likeke Hall, whieh caused its own round of eontroversy in 1940 when its construction displaced 117 sets of remains. Kawaiaha'o's board indicated that the building would be redesigned to minimize disturbance to the property. Completion of the new center was expected in June 2010, but an October completion date is now more likely.

POKE NŪHOU ■ NEWSBRIEFS

Iwi unearthed at ū construction site ūt Kowoioho'o Church hos holted work of o new multipurpose eenter. This photo wos token in December 2007 when demolition of Likeke Holl wos beginning. - Photo: Bloine Fergerstrom