Nānākuli Museum Expanding Scope, Moves Stem From Growing Interest in History of Area
"The school museum, the only one of its kind, will be part of a new $21 million elementary school complex.Those changes are symbolized by a single artifact in the museum's collection: a hohoa, or kapa cloth beater that predates Western contact with Hawai‘i. The beater was found in Nānākuli Valley beneath a boulder ledge in October, 2000.
"The beater is important because it confirms the notion that there was a viable, productive, self-sustaining settlement in the Nānākuli area, many, many years ago," said Myron Brumaghim, principal of Nanaikapono Elementary School.
"It is significant because it not only talks about civilization, but it addresses the issues of how the environment looked at that time."
Other discoveries generated by survey studies in Nānākuli Valley in the past decade include adzes, game stones and other precontact artifacts, as well as stone dwellings, native vegetation, large sweet potato terrace systems and evidence of a forest and possibly a heiau."
Reference Cited
Hoover, W. 2002. Nanakuli Museum Expanding Scope, Moves Stem from Growing Interest in History of Area. Honolulu Advertiser. January 13, 2002. Honolulu, HI.
