REPORT 1. Ethnographic Background of the Mauna Kea summit Region
by Holly McEldowney

REPORT 2. Archaeological Reconnaissance Survey
by Patrick C. McCoy

Prepared for Group 70
November 1982

Dept. of Anthropology
Bishop Museum

ABSTRACT
The locational and formal-functional characteristics of 22 archaeological sites recorded in a reconnaissance survey on the summit and upper north flank of the mountain are described in a second report. All but one site, a U-shaped shelter, are classified as shrines and marae that are judged to be significant with respect to the potential they hold to elucidate the religious aspects of Hawaiian land-use patterns in the high altitude, non-subsistence montane zone.

p. 1.9
A vaguely defined assortment of stone structural features and mapped trails are the only artificially constructed or recognizable surface features documented as occurring within the summit plateau. The most common of these stone features would probably be classified as cairns. In the first recorded ascent of the mountain in 1823 (Ellis) Goodrich mentioned a "heap of stones" on the summit, implying that this and at least some of the cairns or "small heaps of stones" reported subsequently (Wilkes; Douglas) were constructed by Hawaiian people at an unknown time. Other features, such as the "pillar of stones" built on the edge of the plateau to commemorate Queen Emma's visit (Alexander; Preston), the cairn built in honor of a successful ascent to Lake Waiau (Jarvis), the "stone pen" marking the "place where Rev. Mr. Bingham was once lost" (Wilkes), and the "stone piles" built as survey markers in 1892 and 1925 (Alexander; Kilmartin), clearly originated during the historic period.

p. 1.10
SHRINES
In a brief review of the ethnographic literature, there were no specific comments that conclusively explain or suggest by analogy the origin and function of the religious structures found during the field survey.

As stressed by Malo in his summary of Hawaiian religion, the manner, time, and place in which a multitude of gods, deities, and spirits were addressed varied not only between commoners, chiefs, men and women but also among individuals within each of these classifications. The major gods (e.g., Kane, Ku, Lono, and Kanaloa), the numerous functional deities who were often attributes of the major gods and were personified in natural phenomena, and the innumerable family ‘aumakua or ancestral gods needed for protection and guidance, could all be addressed with or without the aid of modified or unmodified physical features. In all, it appears unlikely that these religious features could be identified with any specific religious being, social grouping, or kind of ceremony.

Another underlying consideration is that prayer or ritual, designed to establish and maintain the support of one or several deities, accompanied every phase of Hawaiian life. Thus the use of an area for religious purposes cannot be separated or made distinct from the non-religious activities that occurred there as well.

With these two considerations in mind, the three kinds of activities suggested by the historic record as having occurred on Mauna Kea's summit plateau are discussed below, with notes on the religious practices known to have accompanied similar practices elsewhere.

[RELIGIOUS PRACTICE: PERFORMANCE OF RITUAL FOR SAFE PASSAGE]
The historic accounts and the ethnographic literature record the performance of ritual during travel to assure safe passage. Such propitiation or petition made to local deities or to those who were personified in natural phenomena (i.e., clouds, mist, rains, winds, falling rocks, stands of trees, etc.) could be made with offerings to "upright stones," "small platforms," simples stones, and natural landscape features. Two examples of this practice were observed by Menzies in 1793 as follows:

So bigoted are these people to their religion that here and there on the sides of the path they have little maraes or spots consecrated to their deity, which none of them ever pass without leaving something, let it be ever so trifling, to obtain his good will, and they were highly delighted indeed when we followed their example in throwing a nail, a few beads or a piece of tapa before their deity, which the women were not allowed to pass without uncovering their breasts and shoulders. [Menzies 1920;85].

We observed here and there on the path little maraes, pointed out by taboo sticks stuck in the ground round a bush or under a tree. In passing these places the natives always uttered a prayer or hymn, and made some offering as they said, to their akua, by leaving a piece of fruit, vegetable or something or other at these consecrated spots.

Such practices probably would have occurred along trails, routes, or the general vicinity of any of the known or undocumented uses of the summit plateau.

[RELIGIOUS PRACTICE: ELICITING HELP]
Another prominent kind of religious practice was aimed at eliciting help to insure or increase the abundance of natural resources. The most notable example of this is associated with shrines called ko’a, which generally are associated with fishing and were placed near the sea, fishponds, and streams [Kamakau 1964;33; 1976;133] . A ko’a could range in size from a single unmodified stone to a large and structurally complex feature. As pointed out by Kamakau in the following, ko’a can serve numerous deities:

There were many kinds of gods of the people who worshipped fishing gods. The people whose god was Ku‘ula built Ku‘ula ko’a; those whose god was Kanemakua built Kanemakua ko’a, and those of Kinilau, Kamohoali‘i, and Kaneko‘a did likewise, and so there were many, many ko’a [Kamakau 1976:133].

The dedication by bird catchers of ko’a to the increase or maintenance of bird populations may suggest that those seeking ‘ua’u, or any other resource for collection or immediate use, may have built shrines for this purpose.

Numerous ancestral spirits and deities who were attributes of other gods presided over occupational groups and individual professions in every aspect of their work. Craftsman relied on these religious entities to provide inspiration, to enhance skills, and to insure the quality and availability of material used (Malo; Barrere). As a potential analogy to professionals using Mauna Kea, at least eight "nature gods" (e.g., Ku-pulupulu, Ku-ala-na-wao, Ku-ka-ieie, etc.) must be considered by canoe makers (Malo) in addition to "all the ‘aumakua of the mountains" (Kamakau). These statements point not only to the diversity of gods dealt with but also to their widespread presence and the possibility that occupationally related shrines may have existed beyond the areas being directly exploited. Thus shrines within the summit plateau may have existed adjacent to, as well as within, areas being exploited by adze makers or bird catchers. Buck's comment that the form of occupational shrines is indistinguishable from other shrines (Buck) suggests that they were as varied as ko’a and the other structural and natural features used for religious purposes.

p. 2.4
A shrine (Site 50-Ha-G28-36* (*Bishop Museum site designation)) of inferred pre-contact (A.D. 1778) age was found above the lake on an a’a flow that covers the north flank of Pu‘u Waiau (McCoy 1977, 1981). Given the proximity of the shrine to the center of the adze quarry, at the c. 12,400-ft elevation, and the undoubted use of the lake as a source of fresh water for the adze makers, this site was included within the boundaries of the National Historic Landmark. It is now also included in the Mauna Kea Ice Age Natural Area Reserve.

The survey was carried out over a 5 1/2-day period between July 12 and 17, 1982, by Patrick C. McCoy (Field Director) and three assistants — Aki Sinoto, Ragnar Schousboe and Judy McCoy. Completion of fieldwork was delayed by rain, periodic snow flurries, and a thick, wet fog on July 16. Holly McEldowney volunteered her services on July 14 and 15. The size and topography of the project area...combined with altitudinal constraints on work performance, were major factors in survey design and methodology. Thus, while there was ethnographic evidence to suggest the possible existence of human skeletal remains in buried contexts on the lower flanks of cinder cones, the massive size of these landforms and the instability of their steep-sided slopes effectively precluded the use of subsurface testing as a means of determining the presence or absence of burials or any other possible subsurface features. The survey was structured accordingly, with an emphasis on systematically examining those portions of the landscape most likely to reveal surface evidence of human exploitation and/or modification.

At the time of the survey much of the land surface above 13,000 ft was blanketed with snow. The snow limited vehicular access and caused additional fatigue, but its more important effect on the results of the survey, vis-a-vis the reduction in area coverage, is considered to be negligible. Snow patches of sufficiently large size and depth to constitute an "archaeological visibility problem" were primarily restricted to the steeper, north-facing slopes of the summit cones and deeper depressions between lava flow lobes. Snow-free areas on these same slopes and in topographically similar low-lying places were devoid of archaeological sites, and there is no reason to believe that any were concealed by the snow.

p. 2.7
While ridge tops were the focal point of the most intensive search for archaeological sites — and all of the sites recorded in this survey...were, indeed, found in areas of high relief — the lateral flow margins and intervening areas of desert pavement and gelifluction features were examined in sufficient breadth to effectively minimize the sampling bias.

SITE CLASSIFICATION, DISTRIBUTION, AND DESCRIPTION
A total of 22 sites was recorded in the survey. For field purposes all but one site, an open-air shelter, were classified as "shrines," earlier defined by Buck...as "a convenient term to designate a simple altar without a prepared court." Architectural simplicity notwithstanding, considerable variability exists in the plan, size, and construction of these structures, thus confirming sketchy ethnographic information on marked formal diversity in Hawaiian shrines, known by the general term kuahu, except for those used by fishermen, called ko’a. According to Buck...similar forms were distinguished merely by function. Any attempt to develop a meaningful classification of formal and functional types is understandably met with certain difficulties.

In order to dispel any claims by the layman or local resident that the sites recorded in this survey and interpreted as Hawaiian religious structures are, instead, modern "rock piles" of the kind frequently erected to memorialize a visit or to mark the trail to some destination, the following brief characterization of basic architectural elements is presented in support of the archaeological viewpoint or affinities.

Uprights. the one characteristic feature common to all shrines is the presence of one or more upright stones that, in general form, are similar to those found on many Eastern Polynesian religious structures (Emory 1970). They evince a selection for relatively thick slabs of tabular rock of long-narrow shape, which were universally positioned with the long axis vertical. The long dimension of most uprights is in the 50 to 70 cm size-range. The number of uprights per structure varies form one to 25, but there are only two shrines with more than seven.

Base. Marked differences are apparent in the various methods of erecting uprights. In a number of instances they were simply set up on the surface of an outcrop and braced by a few stones. Artificial bases also occur and include three distinctive, recurrent forms: (1) low, amorphous rubble piles; (2) low, rectangular pavements and platforms; and (3) oval cairns. The platforms and cairns are distinguished by stacked-stone construction, but apart from this there is widespread uniformity in the use of cobble-to-small-boulder-sized stones of generally sub-rounded to rounded shape, in sharp contrast to the upright stones.

Layout. The ultimate expression of variability is in the layout or plan of structures with more than one upright. At the most elementary level of contrast there are aligned and non-aligned configurations of uprights. The first group is more common and can be further subdivided into single, double (parallel), and multi-sided, joined alignments ("semi-enclosures"). The most elaborate structures in this group closely resemble the plan of many Eastern Polynesian marae in the presence of secondary uprights on a level area fronting the central alignment.

p. 2.9
Type 1. Single Feature Shrines (n = 11).
The simplest and most common "altars" are those with one to three, and possibly four, juxtaposed and frequently aligned uprights in a small delimited area. The readily apparent dichotomy of one- and three-upright "altars" is the basis for recognizing two provisional subtypes.

Type 2. Multiple Feature Shrines (n = 8)
Structures of this type are distinguished by the presence of two or more physically discrete, but proxemically close, structural components with the same or different architectural characteristics.

Type 3. Marae (n = 2)
Use the Eastern Polynesian term, marae, follows Emory who employed it in describing the religious structures on Nihoa and Necker Islands. The two structures in this category bear a general resemblance to the Nihoa and Necker remains in the existence of a "court" area with secondary uprights fronting the main altar. This is the distinguishing features of this type, which also occurs in the Mauna Kea adze quarry and in Haleakala Crater.

The function(s) of the 21 religious structures is unknown, in contrast to those in the adze quarry that are, for example, clearly occupational shrines, many of them complete with offerings of manufacturing by-products and tools. No readily discernible offerings were found on any of the 21 newly recorded sites, thus suggesting, on admittedly negative evidence, offerings of perishable materials such as leaves or food that may have been subsequently consume on the spot. The ubiquitous absence of material objects is difficult to explain, unless one assumes that the offering were nothing more than unmodified stones. The remote geographical setting in a non-subsistence environment favors the proposition, outlined in McEldowney's review of the ethnographic literature (see Report 1), that these structures were erected by travellers, most probably in propitiation of mountain spirits. Such practices are universal in the high mountain regions of the world.

...manifestly uneven site distribution pattern, with the largest concentration of sites on the north slope below the summit cones. The cairn noted by Goodrich on the summit in 1823 was not relocated, and is presumed to have been destroyed along with others that probably existed on the highest peaks in the surrounding area.

The area of greatest interest is the north slope where all but two of the total 22 sites are located. Of particular interest is the fact that 13, or 65%, of the sites in Areas 2 and 3 are located within a narrow 200-ft contour interval, between the 12,900- and 13,100-ft elevations, that coincides with a topographic change in slope gradient. The 13,000 (plus or minus) 100-ft contour, between Pu‘u Mahoe and Pu‘u Pohaku, is the downslope margin of a gently sloping plateau. The edge of this small plateau, when viewed from either the base of the steep inclined slope directly below, or from the base of the summit cones above, is a relatively flat horizon on which the shrine uprights are silhouetted and therefore visible from some distance. The possible significance...is discussed..

Hypothesis 1: The high density site area on the edge of the plateau is the lower, northern boundary of an upper mountain god/spirit zone.

The posited relationship of shrines in the study area to mountain gods and spirits in, for example, the request for permission to ascend and pass over the summit, implies that the approach was from the northern, windward side of the island, a view wholly consistent with the inclusion of this land in the Hamakua District and generally accepted ahupua’a model of traditional Hawaiian land tenure. Apart from the knowledge that gods and spirits presided over different districts (Buck), the extent and physical boundaries of their domains in the Hawaiian land tenure system is unknown. The data obtained in the present survey suggest that the cluster of religious sites on the edge of the 13,000 + 100 ft. plateau demarcates the lower boundary of an upper mountain god/spirit zone or domain, and that a sanction existed requiring the performance of ritual prior to entering this domain. Evidence in support of this zonal concept hypothesis would include the localized occurrence of religious sites at similar elevations elsewhere on the mountain.

It is tempting to relate some, if not a large number, of the shrines to the mythological snow goddess, Poli‘ahu, and, thus, to the winter season of the year. While it would add a good measure of specificity to the above hypothesis, there is clearly no means of testing this proposition and the validity of the mythological data base on which it rests. It is difficult to image, however, that snow, a non-existent phenomenon in the ancestral Eastern Polynesian homeland, did not give rise to some associated rituals and pilgrimages in Hawai‘i. Though purely speculative, the broader site distribution pattern on the upper north flank of Mauna Kea might well reflect the construction of shrines at the lower margins of snow fields which, perhaps, normally extend down to the circa 13,000 (plus/minus) ft elevation. Over a period of time, fluctuations in the snow line would be manifested archaeologically in a more variable site distribution pattern....

Hypothesis 2: Astronomical phenomena were integral factors in the topographic location, orientation, and function of the larger, more complex structures.

The Hawaiian ethnographic literature alludes to a class of people with a specialized knowledge of astronomical phenomena, and while there are no known Hawaiian archaeological sites with an unequivocally demonstrated astronomical orientation or function, it is reasonable to predict such sites on the higher-elevation slopes of Mauna Kea. That some of the structures recorded in this survey might reflect some astronomical concept(s) is vaguely suggested by the north-south orientation of the two structures labeled marae and other multi-feature shrines. The isolated marae on the western edge of the 13,000-ft plateau (Site 44) is especially noteworthy with regard to its orientation and possible function. The approach to this structure (i.e., the court) is on the east, looking down onto the Hamakua coast, Waimea plains, Kohala mountains and across to Haleakala on Maui. The placement of offerings and whatever other ritual took place here appear to have been intentionally directed away from Mauna Kea. The impression that many sites were purposefully situated with respect to the earlier described plateau horizon needs to be investigated. Further research is obviously required to test the multitudinous aspects of this rather heretical hypothesis.

In terms of differential structural complexity and the inferred functional contrasts between simple shrines and marae, it is reasonable to suggest that the former were made by one or a few individuals and the latter by a larger kin group. On the basis of comparative ethnographic information on Eastern Polynesian religion, each structure would represent a separate social unit that had exclusive use-rights (Kenneth Emory, pers. comm.).

p. 2.17
50-Ha-G28-44 (50-10-23-5226), Marae
Site 44 is an isolated marae located at the 13,020-ft elevation on a flat promontory approximately 30 to 35 meters east of a precipitous lava flow margin on the north side of Pu‘u Pohaku (Fig. 2.3). On a clear day this site affords a spectacularly commanding, aesthetically pleasing view of the Hamakua coast, the Waimea plains, the Kohala Mountains, and the top of Haleakala on Maui. Architecturally, this is the most complex religious structure in the area. In plan view it is roughly U-shaped, with three adjoining but discontinuous alignments of uprights forming the sides. Approximately 15 uprights constitute the central alignment ("altar") which is oriented east-west...

The function of these court uprights is unknown; on Tuamotuan and Tahitian marae such uprights served as backrests for chiefs and priests.

p. 2.23
Of the estimated total seven uprights, only one was found in an erect position. The uprights are tabular slabs that occur in natural abundance on this ridge and on many others in this general area.

p. 2.32
ECOLOGICAL-ADAPTIVE SIGNIFICANCE
The number and density of archaeological sites in this high-altitude, stony, alpine-desert environment is of major significance from an ecological/adaptive perspective, especially in terms of biotic and climatic constraints on the type, duration, regularity, and intensity of human exploitation patterns. There are no other comparably high-altitude archaeological sites in the whole of the Pacific Basin, including Mauna Loa, where any such evidence that might have existed is buried beneath recent lava flows.

p. 2.33
There is further investigative potential in the possible relationship between ritualistic and astronomical concepts. Astronomical phenomena may have been integral factors in the topographic location and orientation of the religious structures and associated rites.

RECOMMENDATIONS
The number and density of archaeological remains on the north slope of Mauna Kea above the 13,000-ft elevation far exceed previous expectations...The results of the present survey form the basis for predicting the existence of other unrecorded sites of the same type in this area.

p. 2.34
The construction and operation of new telescopes and proposed improvements associated therewith, such as paved roads, constitute a potential adverse effect on the integrity of the archaeological resource base and the fragile alpine environment in which it exists. The actual and potential significance of this cultural/natural resource clearly warrants further investigative studies and a determination of eligibility for inclusion on both the State and National Registers of Historic Places. For immediate planning purposes, the following alternative mitigative measures should be adopted as minimal requirements:
(1) An intensive archaeological survey should be undertaken prior to the construction of any new telescopes in a specified area.
(2) Avoidance of construction and related activities on or in proximity to known archaeological sites; if this is not feasible in terms of telescope location requirements, then alternative measures should be discussed and agreed upon by the SHPO and the Hawai’i Institute for Astronomy.

Finally, the proposed Mauna Kea Science Reserve Master Plan should include provisions for the development of a cultural resource management plan.