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| Two Hawaiian men prepare pig and laulau for a lu‘au, 1912. Photo by Ray Jerome Baker, courtesy of Mutual Publishing. |
Ancient Kaua‘i
Imagine setting out in a double-hulled outrigger sailing canoe from the Marquesas Islands, over 2,000 miles away, and coming upon the emerald spires of Na Pali— it means the cliffs—piercing the azure and cerulean skies.
That’s what early Polynesians who settled Kaua‘i did. On at least one part of the island, they left behind evidence of their existence dating from as early as 200 A.D. to 600 A.D. And by about 1300 A.D., these people lived along Na Pali Coast.
In hanging valleys and near shorelines along Na Pali Coast, they grew their staple crop—kalo, or taro—along with sweet potato, breadfruit and other plants that they brought with them in their voyaging canoes and used for food, clothing, shelter and medicine. They managed resources wisely, practiced masterful irrigation techniques that returned water to rivers, and fished, planted and harvested in season.
When they arrived, early people found what modern-day botanists estimate were 1,300 or so native flowering plant species growing in these islands. Today, many of those plants are endangered, threatened and rare.
Perhaps the ancients saw the only two native mammals found in all of Hawai‘i—the Hawaiian Hoary Bat, or ‘ope‘ape‘a, and the endangered Monk seal, ‘ilio-holo-i-ka-uaua.
The green sea turtle, or honu, now threatened, swam in abundance. Birds and fish were plentiful.
"At least 1,000 creatures that once enlivened Hawai‘i's landscape have vanished since Polynesian voyagers—and later European explorers—first set foot here…"
—Elizabeth Royte
"Hawaii’s Lost World," National Geographic
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| Fish hooks and octopus lure illustration from "Hawai‘i: A Pictorial History" Compiled and Designed by Joseph Feher, Accompanying Text by Edward Joesting, Bernice P. Bishop Museum Special Publication No. 58, Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, 1969. |
Though new faces are on the land, the bones, or iwi, of the ancients lie buried in caves and in sandy shorelines. Information about these Polynesians, who became the Hawaiians of today, continues to unfold as excavations reveal new findings.
On the South Shore of Kaua‘i, for example, evidence unearthed within the past decade shows that early fishermen established temporary fishing camps there as early as 200 to 600 A.D. They built heiau, or temples, to their gods, likely praying for abundance.
Remnants of their tools remain to help paint a picture. These early fishermen knew the best spot to find octopus and how to use a device made with a cowry shell to lure them. They knew how to fashion fish hooks from bone and cutting tools from chips of basalt flakes—which leads to an integral part of the story of Kaua‘i—the land itself.
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