honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, September 17, 2009

Early Hawaiian stone figure found on remote island


By AUDREY McAVOY
Associated Press

HONOLULU — Researchers on a rare expedition to a now uninhabited rocky outpost north of the main Hawaiian islands found a partially finished human stone carving and the remnants of a workshop.

They also found three agricultural terraces on Mokumanamana island.
It’s unclear when humans lived on the island or if they had a long-term settlement there.
But University of Hawaii anthropology doctoral student Kekuewa Kikiloi says coral objects on nearby Nihoa island date to the 1500s.
Kikiloi and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service archaeologist Anan Raymond made the discoveries during an 18-day stay last month.
Also known as Necker island, Mokumanamana is 460 miles northwest of Honolulu and about 300 miles from the nearest inhabited islands, Kauai and Niihau.