Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 28, Number 11, 1 November 2011 — Art on the rocks [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Art on the rocks

By Lynn Cook Petroglyphs. "Petros," the Greek word for stone. "Glyphe," meaning carved image. In Hawaiian, "ki'i" for image, "pōhaku" for stone. Ki'i pōhaku, images that tell the earliest history of the Polynesian voyagers. Imagine a time when there was no paper and no quill pen. A time when a bottle of ink was yet to be invented. It was a time when there was no written word. The genealogy of life in Hawai'i, from the beginning of time, was recited from memory. The wonder of images carved in stone first captured my imagination when, age 7, 1 fell headfirst from our

small fishing boat into the shallows off a Canadian Gulf island. I was the "rock spotter." I spotted a rock with a petroglyph. Hauled out and dried off, my sighting was confirmed by the fishermen, tribal elders. They told me glorious legends of "those who eame from across the sea, from the islands of clouds." Many images are credited to their own tribes. Others, they said, were created by the ancient voyagers. When I quoted that bit of lore I was laughed at by scholars, until the double-hulled voyaging canoes Hōkūle'a, Hawai'iloa and Makali'i proved the legends of Paeihe migration.

To see this history, watch your step. Move slowly as you cross ancient fields of lava on Hawai'i's Big Island. As your step becomes steady, your eyes focus on patterns that are more than cracks in the ancient, onee fluid surface. Grooves, chipped deep in stone with another, harder stone, depict 2,000-year-old history from the earliest Polynesian voyagers. More than 17,000 rock art images have been recorded on the Big Island, sometimes layered on eaeh other, possibly carved many hundreds of years apart. The images are as recent as depictions of the ships of Capt. James Cook from the 1700s. Written language made the recording of history in stone unnecessary. Words may have caused the demise of the rockcarving art form but the clear images depicting people, honu, birds, canoes, family genealogy and even surfers remain for rockart lovers to ponder. Questions outnumber answers. Who were the carvers? How and why did they travel to places with no trail, no water, food or shelter, carving images that modern scholars struggle to decipher? The Hawaiian petroglyph of a bird catcher tells of a culture that wove feathers as adornment. This carved figure, arms arched to catch the bird, is repeated in Papua New Guinea and Rapa Nui. Everywhere that voyagers made landfall, the poho, a small hollow often surrounded by concentric circles, tells the tale of generations. Thousands are carved on one single

lava hill on Hawai'i Island. Describing this art, some use the term prehistoric. That begs the question, how would anyone know about it, if it happened before history? "Prehistoric" ranks right up there with "primitive art," a term that makes one wonder when and by whom was this standard set for art? Translating the rock-art images is, at best, an unscientific guess. Hawai'i has an edge on the research side with chants and legends. Petroglyphs tell the history of the first Pacific voyagers through intricate carvings of voyaging canoes, crab-claw sails, star-navigation charts, male and female figures and great, 16-foot-long eanoe paddles that seem to be directed toward South Point, where early voyagers made landfall. As Pele stretches her fingers of lava further across the slopes of the volcano, scholars and rock-art lovers feel a slightly desperate race against time and volcanic eruption, tsunamis or the foolishness of humans who may not look before they pour concrete retaining walls on the foundations of our history. Rubbings are not allowed. The rule is, "take only photos, leave no footprints." ■ Lynn Cook is a loeal freelance journalist sharing the arts anel culture of Hawai'i with a global auāienee.

Lecture and workshop Ka Wai Ola 's own contributing writer Lynn Cook will present a series on rock art culled from her research and findings spanning the Paeilie. Traditions of the Paeilie Lecture: Ki'i Pōhaku - Hawaiian Rock Art Thursday, Nov. 10, Atherton Hālau, Bishop Museum $10 general, members free Traditions of the Paeihe Workshop: Petroglyph Printmaking Learn hand-printing techniques inspired by Hawaiian rock art and create a finished art print. No experience necessary. Sat., Nov. 12, Atherton Hālau, Bishop Museum $25 general, $15 members Presented by Bishop Museum Association Council Call (808) 848-4168 for reservations Read up on rock art Petroglyphs From Hawai 'i - Nā Ki 'i Pōhaku, by Lynn Cook, Bess Press Hawaiian Petroglyphs, by J. Haley Cox and Edward Stasack, Bishop Museum Press

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Petroglyphs on Hawai'i lsland. At right is the poho, recognizable for its concentric circles, telling the tale of generations. - Photos: Courtesy ofLynn Cook