It’s unlikely that two Hawaiian archaeological sites in the path of the long-awaited Honoapiilani Highway realignment contain ancestral bones, said state interim Transportation Director Brennon Morioka.
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However, the finds in the former sugar cane fields near Lahainaluna Road still need more study in the next month by state-hired archaeologists before any conclusions about whether bones, or iwi, are in fact there, Morioka told the Governor’s Maui Community Advisory Council on Thursday in the Lahaina Civic Center Social Hall.
“We have not found any iwi as of yet,” Morioka said. “Based on the types of structures found, we don’t anticipate finding any, but that’s not been confirmed.”
Whether iwi are there or not, some lineal descendants of the region said they likely will protest and sue to stop the highway from going on its current alignment from Lahainaluna Road to a future extension of Keawe Street.
Uilani Kapu, president of Kuleana Kuikahi, asked the governor’s advisers and the Department of Transportation to consider realigning the highway so it runs along an existing road used for decades to haul sugar cane from the fields. At least that way they aren’t disturbing new sites, she said.
Kuleana Kuikahi is a cultural preservation group seeking to protect traditional Hawaiian rights and cultural sites.
DOT officials and their private contractors, Wilson Okamoto Corp., plan to hold a public meeting in Lahaina on April 30 to present the findings of the archaeological studies. The results of the studies will include recommendations, but it will ultimately be up to the public to decide what they want to see done, Morioka said.
The discovery of ancestral bones could force the DOT to alter the course of the project to avoid the sites, Morioka said. Any findings of bones will require review and approval of the Maui/Lanai Islands Burial Council for any actions affecting a burial site.
Either way, Morioka said he still expects construction on the $48 million Phase 1A to begin by the end of 2008 or early 2009.
Costs could change depending on what the design team comes up with and what the public wants, he said.
The half-mile stretch of the Lahaina bypass Phase 1A is the first section of a 10-mile highway to relieve bumper-to-bumper traffic on the highway through Lahaina town and the Kaanapali Resort. Initially proposed more than 30 years ago, it has repeatedly stalled over issues of costs and disputes over the alignment. Archaeologist Tanya Lee-Greig, of Archeological Cultural Services Hawaii, has called the two sites “significant.” Both sites might be pre-contact — before the arrival of British explorer Capt. James Cook — she said.
One site contains an L-shaped wall in which a hammer stone was discovered. Described as a gardening terrace, it could have been used to cultivate sweet potatoes. Morioka said archaeologists know it’s not a heiau.
The other area involves about two acres that were terraced, perhaps for hand-cultivated sugar cane.
A Maui/Lanai Islands Burial Council member, Keeaumoku Kapu, is also a descendent of Hawaiians found buried in West Maui. He said he understands that traffic is a concern.
“But don’t forget the minority,” he said. “Remember, somebody’s grandparents might be buried up there... We only want to see that the lawful thing is done.”
If the right thing is not done, they will likely wind up in court, he said.
State Historic Preservation Division officials have met a number of times with the Native Hawaiian families claiming ancestral ties to the region affected by the highway plans. "
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