[CPEO-MEF] On Oahu, the High Cost of an Archaeological Find

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Hawai'i
THE NEW YORK TIMES
On Oahu, the High Cost of an Archaeological Find
By Michele Kayal
August 6, 2003

MAKUA MILITARY RESERVATION, Hawaii, Aug. 3 — After setting a brush fire
that burned out of control late last month and scorched half of this
artillery and infantry training range, on land considered sacred by many
Hawaiians, the Army says a blessing of sorts has emerged. The fire
exposed about two dozen previously unknown cultural sites here that
experts say will add to the knowledge of Hawaiian life in the centuries
before Europeans arrived.

But many Native Hawaiians are not impressed. They say the new
archaeological discoveries cannot salve their despair at what they deem
the fire's desecration of Makua Valley, whose very name means "parents,"
and that some consider the birthplace of their earliest ancestors.

Some say that the fire proves the Army, an occupant of the valley for
eight decades, is an incompetent steward of it, and that the new
discovery of cultural sites, on adjoining land also covered by the
reservation, only bolsters what they have said all along: that the
valley is a sacred place and the military should vacate it and the
surrounding area.

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