Site B-108, the Chief's House Site

Roughly 322m southeast of Kauwalomālie, 100m south of the Pu'uhonua O Hōnaunau and about 644m northwest of the kauhale of Ali'i Aimoku Keawe a 'Umi (Greene 1993:Chapter IX.F.4.2) sits a kauhale that is part of a larger village complex at the border of Hōnaunau and Keokea ahupua'a. This kauhale has been variously called Site B-108, the Thompson House Site, named for a previous owner, Edward Thompson (Ladd 1986:73) and most recently, the Chief's House Site, after the recognition that a kauhale of this size and proximity to two important Royal Grounds of the House of Keawe likely meant the founders were important retainers of the Ali'i of that lineage.

Excavations by Edmund J. Ladd (1986) provide a history of the occupation of the kauhale, particularly the evolution of the kauhale through time and an architectural history. Ladd found 5 total kahua hale termed Platforms 1-5 (Ladd 1986:77-88), as well as a single burial placed through Platform 4 (Ladd 1986:88). Platform 5 dates to the Territory of Hawaii Period and supported a house and driveway that also intruded on Platforms 2 and 3 (Ladd 1986:Figure 36; 81-85, 102) and the grave dates after the Great Mahele of CE 1848 (Ladd 1986:88) when the land was deeded to a one Uweloa (Ladd 1986:73). Platforms 1-4 are Pre-Contact, Contact and Kingdom of Hawaii Period constructions (Ladd 1986:101-102) which supported a variety of structures.

Platform 1 appeared to be a hale kuke or hale kahumu initially, based on charcoal flecking and the description of it supporting a hālau, or small shed by Ladd (1986:71-80, 88, 103). There was also a lanai (patio/porch) near Platform 1 formed by two walls (Ladd 1986:79) and both the hālau and lanai had a pavement covered in small stones, coral and beach sand (Ladd 1986:80). Platform 2 supported the hale, likely a hale noa for sleeping, which measured 7.31 by 4.87m (Ladd 1986:80-81). This also had a lanai of some 7.37 by 3.65m (Ladd 1986:81) and had a paepae (house pavement). Platform 2 also used pao style construction, limited to Hōnaunau and seen in the Great Wall, Alahaka Heiau and 'Ale'ale'a Heiau (Greene 1993:Chapter IX.F.2.d; Ladd 1986:80). It is possible that the original builder of this kahua hale worked on one of these structures, perhaps the Great Wall around CE 1600-1650 or one of the later construction episodes at 'Ale'ale'a Heiau, possibly 'Ale'ale'a VI or VII (Greene 1993 Chapter IX.E.2.b; Chapter IX.F.2.d; Chapter IX.F.6). Or perhaps they lived earlier, around CE 1500 when it is proposed Alahaka Heiau and 'Ale'ale'a III and IV are built (Greene 1993:Chapter IX.F.4.6). Regardless of the exact timing, these two structures and their lanai are the earliest construction at Site B-108 (Ladd 1986:88, 102-103).

Platform 3 is added next, being placed to the south of and abutting Platform 2, and is a larger structure, though its exact boundaries are uncertain due to modern construction (Ladd 1986:81-88). The kahua hale may have been as much as 15.24 by 10.66m and was at least 7.62 by 7.62m with a house pavement and lanai area measuring 6.09 by 7.62m (Ladd 1986:84-85). This could have supported one or several structures and greatly expanded the size of the kauhale. Platform 4 was added to the south side of Platform 3 at a later date (Ladd 1986:85). This area was small (Ladd 1986:Figure 36) though he gave unexact measurements (Ladd 1986:85) and had a very fine pavement and possible small lanai (Ladd 1986:85, 88). The exact time these structures were built is uncertain but it is likely between CE 1500-1848.

A conjectural layout of the kauhale by CE 1848 at the latest, and likely earlier, was given by Edmund J. Ladd (1986). Based on written historical and ethnographic data and the archaeological data from excavation (Ladd 1986:102-105) he surmised that the final form of the kauhale included a hale noa, hale kahumu, hale 'aina and hale mua (Ladd 1986:106). This would have fulfilled the Kapu to give both the men and women separate gathering/cooking hale, a semi-outdoor hale kahumu for baking in inclement weather and a shared sleeping house. This kauhale form and layout was that of the Ali'i and their retainers, people of rank (Ladd 1986:102-105). Outdoor features from sometime during the older occupation include grave platforms, a lua (privy) and a well, as well as three possible planters for 'uala (Ladd 1986:74). The encircling pahale, likely one of the last features added around CE 1848 (Ladd 1986:106) served to demarcate the boundaries of the kauhale. The multiple grave platforms highlight the length of occupation by the 'ohana that owned right to the kauhale, and combined with architectural alterations, the growth of the kauhale and 'ohana. This form of kauhale is rare in the Pu'uhonua O Hōnaunau area and can only be seen at Site B-180, Site C-23 and if it is not the same as Site C-23, the kauhale of Kiawe a 'Umi (Ladd 1986:106). Kauwalomālie did not have an encircling pahale, instead using Kapu sticks and other boundary markers, though it had a similar range of structure types (Greene 1993:Chapter IX.F.1). Sites B-108 and C-23 in their final forms were proposed by Ladd to be late (Ladd 1986:106), likely after CE 1819 and possibly around CE 1848, in the Kingdom of Hawaii Period.

The excavations also revealed a household assemblage of non-perishable artifacts that was quite typical for sites in the area (Ladd 1986:88). Lithic and groundstone materials of likely Pre-Contact, Contact and Kingdom of Hawaii Period date include basalt adz chips, adz fragments, saw-files, reamers, abrading stones, whetstones, sinkers, pounders, and hammerstones and a basalt pestle and kōnane piece (Ladd 1986:88-91). Faunal material dating to the same period included bone awls, bone shellfish pickers, bone fishhooks, bone  two-piece and composite hooks, bone hook blanks, cut bone fragments, cut shell debris, sea urchin spine tools, coral saws, saw-files, files, reamers, reamer-files, abrading tools, sinkers, kōnane pieces and coral stoppers used in ipu canteens and three domestic dog teeth in the process of being worked into ornaments (Ladd 1986:95-101). Overall this assemblage shows a wide range of activities, including woodworking for houses, boats and other purposes seen with the various chopping, reaming and abrading tools, a strong emphasis on the local makai resources of the sea seen in the abundance fishing tools, but also tools associated with preparation of the plant foods of the mauka regions. Leisure activity and personal ornamentation are hinted at by the kōnane pieces and the three domestic dog teeth. This represents around 350 years of occupation.

Objects indicating use of the kauhale after the Pre-Contact and Contact Periods, and in fact even after the Kingdom of Hawaii, are slate pencils and tablets commonly used in the late CE 1800s and early CE 1900s, metal objects including a "Yale" key, a school lunch token from the 1940s and several clay marbles commonly imported from Japan in the early CE 1900s and a brass-colored chain and amulet with a purple glass stone (Ladd 1986:92). These suggest use of the area in the period after CE 1848, but at a much lower intensity until the more modern material associated with Platform 5 and the modern house increases in frequency.

Taken together Site B-108 presents an excellent example of a long occupied Hawaiian pahale (house site) that over time evolved from a simple two structure complex, to the kauhale of a somewhat sizeable 'ohana which in final form included definition of the site with a pahale (wall). Abundant artifacts show some of the daily activities that is occurred and demonstrate that even an 'ohana of a likely Ali'i living next to the dwellings of the House of Keawe still undertook many of the basic productive activities, including fishing, cooking and woodworking. At some point after CE 1848 the kauhale ceased to be used, a succession of later structures was built (Ladd 1986:73) and eventually it was sold to a mainlander, George Douglas, who set fire to the modern house in 1952 (Ladd 1986:73). This long history provides a look at changes through time for one 'ohana, but also for Hawaiians as a whole, as shifts in layout and material culture match changes across the island. The modern site preserves some 400 years of Hawaiian history, the history of a seemingly important, but historically unknown, 'ohana.

References Cited

Greene, Linda W.

1993 A Cultural History of Three Traditional Hawaiian Sites on the West Coast of Hawai'i Island. U.S. Department of the Interior National Park Service Denver Service Center, Denver, CO.

Ladd, Edmund J.

1986 Test Excavations at B-105, B-107 and B-108: Archaeology at Pu'uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park. Western Archaeological and Conservation Center Publications in Archaeology No. 34, edited by Gary F. Somers. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Western Archaeological and Conservation Center, Tucson.