Efforts to enter the Big Island's Forbes Cave complex and retrieve 83 priceless Hawaiian cultural objects will resume in the wake of a failed mediation of the dispute, U.S. District Judge David Ezra said yesterday.

Abigail K. Kawananakoa — a descendant of Hawaiian royalty and one of those seeking the return of the objects to the Bishop Museum — dismissed the four-month mediation as a "farce." She said Edward Halealoha Ayau, the leader of the group Hui Malama I Na Kupuna o Hawai'i Nei, should be sent back to federal prison for failing to disclose where the objects are buried.

Ayau said that Hui Malama is willing to assist in a return to the cave complex to ensure that the objects have not been disturbed, but only if the caves are found to be structurally sound, and if the court and the group's opponents agree to leave the items there. Formed in the 1980s, Hui Malama is dedicated to the repatriation of Native Hawaiian remains and the objects that accompanied them.

The Bishop Museum and Hui Malama were sued by two Hawaiian organizations seeking the return of the objects, which were transferred by the museum to Hui Malama in late 2000. Rather than returning them as requested by the museum, Hui Malama officials said they buried the objects in caves on the Big Island from where they were taken in 1905 by David Forbes and other Western explorers. The objects are known as the Forbes Collection.

Na Lei Alii Kawananakoa and the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts want the items returned. The two groups and others contend that they have not had an opportunity to weigh in on what should happen with the items as allowed under the federal Native American Graves Protection Act.

NOT A FAILURE

Ezra yesterday said that the "Hawaiian mediation process" had been worthwhile.

"I am, of course, disappointed that the matter was not resolved to a conclusion," Ezra said. "But that doesn't mean I think the process was a failure."

Noting that the opposing parties were able to agree on some issues, he added, "I do not believe that all chances for a resolution have been lost."

Ezra and U.S. Magistrate Judge Kevin Chang praised Nainoa Thompson, the Hokule'a navigator and Kamehameha Schools trustee, and Earl Kawaa, a family education specialist for the Hi'ilani family education program, for their voluntary efforts.

The court will now direct appointed engineers to determine whether the cave complex is structurally sound enough to enter. Ayau and other Hui Malama members have maintained that it is not safe.

Ezra declined to release a timeline to retrieve the objects, pointing out that such disclosure could be valuable to potential grave-robbers.

He referred to the recent indictments against two men in connection with the theft of burial objects at Kanupa Cave, which is near the Forbes Cave complex in the Kohala section of the Big Island.

"I don't want anybody to get their hands on these sacred objects, if they are in the cave," he said.

In late December, the judge held Ayau in contempt of court for refusing to pinpoint the whereabouts of the items. Ayau had contended that divulging the location would violate his cultural and religious beliefs. He was jailed at the Federal Detention Center for three weeks before being released to participate in the mediation.

Ezra said yesterday that while Ayau remains in contempt he sees no "legitimate purpose" in putting him back in jail. Ayau will remain confined to his home on Moloka'i, except for work-related travel that must be approved by the court.

Kawananakoa, who turned 80 this month and has made few public appearances in recent years, said she was "devastatingly disappointed" by the results of the mediation, which she described as "a complete farce."

The Campbell Estate heiress questioned Hui Malama's explanation that the objects are funerary and interred with Native Hawaiians in the cave. "We have documents to prove that what (Ayau) contends ... is completely and utterly false," she said. She said she and others tried to persuade Hui Malama members that "they have done a heinous thing to our possessions. ... They are not theirs."

When asked to further explain to whom she referred when she spoke of "our possessions," she said, "the Hawaiian people." She described Hui Malama and its supporters as "a small group that has convinced whomever that what they're doing is correct."

She added, "They had no right to take it. It was under false pretenses. It was a theft."

'A GREAT LOSS'

The items, which have been appraised at more than $10 million, were the personal deities of Kamehameha the Great and hidden in the cave for safekeeping, she said. "There's no question that they should never have been put down there," she said.

Among the items is the Kilawahine, a carved 18-inch wooden figure of a Maui goddess who was an aumakua to Kamehameha. Kawananakoa said it is one of the most sacred objects known to Hawaiians.

"People cannot use it for their own studies. It is not available. Do you think that is right to put things like this and bury it in a cave with very little care for their maintenance? These are fragile. They're priceless."

As a descendant of the Kawananakoa and Kamehameha families, she said, she has a duty to ensure that such objects are preserved for future generations of Hawaiians. "Even if they are securely sealed in there, it's the climate, the conditions in there. They are being destroyed right now as we speak. They're disintegrating. It's such a great loss."

Kawananakoa said she has spent the last three to four years researching the issue with the help of Roger Rose, an anthropologist who spent more than two decades with the Bishop Museum.

Rose said, "The preponderance of evidence suggests that these items are not funerary. They were hidden away at the time of the abandonment of the traditional (Hawaiian) religion or shortly after that. They are cultural items of great importance. I believe they were associated with Kamehameha the Great."

Kawananakoa also asserted that Ayau should be returned to jail.

"It's a great disservice not to punish these people for what they have done up to date," she said.

In response, Ayau said, "I'll be willing to go back to prison, if she's willing to drop the lawsuit and leave the kupuna alone." Ayau added that he has yet to see documentation to back up the argument that the cultural objects are not funerary.

NO RIGHT FOR REMOVAL

Ayau said Hui Malama has offered to cooperate with the court's request to check on the condition of the items. The group, however, maintains that it will not participate in a court order that involves removing of the objects.

"The focus of our proposal ... was to verify that the moepu were back where they were taken from," he said. "At the same time, we maintain the position that we don't have the authority, we don't have the mana or the right — and we contend nobody does — to order their removal."

Hui Malama bases its assertion that the items are burial objects on the group's own research, which shows that they were placed in the cave complex with human remains as was customary.

"The primary issue is maintaining the integrity of the kupuna," he said. "It is our hope that all Hawaiians share in that. If the plaintiffs feel somehow that we've wronged them and they need to be made whole again, well, then direct your attention at us — not at the kupuna. Don't take it out on them. They're the ones who were looted."

Reach Gordon Y.K. Pang at gpang@honoluluadvertiser.com and Ken Kobayashi at kkobayashi@honoluluadvertiser.com.