Stop 8 Mo'okini Heiau
From Highway 270 onto the ‘Upolu Airport road, a coastal dirt road veers off of the paved road and leads into the Kohala Historical Sites State Monument of the Kohala District of Hawai‘i. Here, one finds the Mo‘okoni Heiau, which is about 2575 meters (1.6 miles) southwest of 'Upolu Airport and about 610 meters (2,000 ft) east of the birthplace of Kamehameha’s birthplace. The heiau is surrounded by fenced grazing lands for cattle. This same area had also been used in the past for sugar cane cultivation and later for mechanical planting and harvesting (Fig. 1)(National Register of Historic Places, Form No. 10-300 (Rev. 10-74)). It is now part of the Kohala Historical Sites State Monument, which is a 6.7 acre area that contains the Mo‘okini Heiau, Hawai‘i’s first National Historic Landmark in 1963, and the Kamehameha I Birthsite (To-Hawaii.com, 2006-2011).
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The Mo‘okini Heiau is said to be the first heiau to ever have been built on the Hawaiian Islands. The Heiau was initially built around A.D. 480 by a high priest named Mo‘okini, who served under the high chief Mo‘ikeha (ruling chief of Kaua‘i Island). The heiau was rebuilt around A.D. 1370 by the high priest Pa‘ao, who established a class of temples known as luakini, and introduced the practice of human sacrifice (To-Hawaii.com, 2006-2011; National Register of Historic Places, Form No. 10-300 (Rev. 10-74)). The Mo‘okini Heiau's was last used as a war temple for King Kamehameha the Great during the end of the eighteenth century. It housed the Kamehameha family war god. This war god was later moved to Pu‘ukoholā Heiau that was built in 1791 to ensure Kamehameha's success in unifying the Hawaiian Islands.
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Construction of the Mo‘okini HeiauThe Mo‘okini Heiau was constructed from basaltic rocks using the dry-stacking method where rocks are stacked on top of one another without the use of mortar or some other cementing agent (Fig. 3). The rocks are said to have come from the Pololū Valley or nearby Niuli‘i area, having been passed by hand down a line of men that stretched 10 miles to the site of the heiau (Hawaiian Style Organization, L.L.C., 2011 ; National Register of Historic Places, Form No. 10-300 (Rev. 10-74)). The following is a detailed, physical description of the Mo‘okini Hieau that was recorded by the National Park Service upon its nomination for the National Register of Historic Places:
"This ancient Hawaiian temple features and open paved stone court that is enclosed on four sides by stone walls, which in 1977 vary in height from about seven feet ( 2 meters) to 14 feet (4m). The original walls may have been as high as 20 feet (6 meters). The walls are of basalt boulders...with bases as thick as ten feet (almost 3 meters). The enclosing walls have tapered sides, both exterior and interior....The ground-level entrance, wide enough to pass one person at a time, is in the middle of the west wall. Inside and across the northerly end is a raised stone platform, three or four stones high, which once held images, fires, the alter and perhaps wooden towers [Fig. 2]. Detached stone platforms, one or two stones high, are scattered within the courtyard and once held thatched temple buildings. Non-native grasses now grow between the courtyard stones and obscure the walking surface. Some of the paving stones have been removed. On the ground outside the north end, perhaps 25 yards (22 meters) from the wall, is the named stone Papa-nui-o-leka, on which human flesh was separated from bones after the body had been used for sacrifice; and another named stone, moved there from the shore for safekeeping [Fig. 4]." (National Register of Historic Places, Form No. 10-300 (Rev. 10-74)) |
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Sources
Hawaiian Style Organization, L.L.C. (2011). Mookini heiau. Hawaii, The Big Island. Retrieved from http://www.hawaii-guide.com/big_island_of_hawaii/spot/mookini_heiau.
To-Hawaii.com (2006-2011). Mookini luakini heiau, big island. Retrieved from http://www.to-hawaii.com/big-island/ancientsites/mookiniheiau.php.
U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service (1977). National Register of Historic Places Inventory (Form No. 10-300 (Rev. 10-74)).
To-Hawaii.com (2006-2011). Mookini luakini heiau, big island. Retrieved from http://www.to-hawaii.com/big-island/ancientsites/mookiniheiau.php.
U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service (1977). National Register of Historic Places Inventory (Form No. 10-300 (Rev. 10-74)).