| Feature: | Heiau |
| Comments: | Heiau commonly known as Popoiwi. One of the largest heiau in the Hawaiian islands. Radiocarbon dating by archaeologist Michael Kolb indicates that the site may date to the 1100s. Archaeologist Winslow Walker uses the name Kekalauae in his field notes from a survey of Kaupo in 1929: "Keakalauae Heiau. Location: A high hill, on west bank of Punahoa valley, overlooking the sea at Mokulau. It is just above the trail leading to Kaupo. Description. One of the largest of the Kaupo heiaus and also credited to Kekaulike about 1730. Its greatest dimensions are 168 x 330 feet. The interior of the platform has been utilized for a pig pen and walls have been built around it. The heiau was also used as a Puuhonua, or Hill of Refuge." Name of Keakalauae confirmed by Kaupo native Joseph Marciel in a sketchbook of area sites sent to archaeologist Kenneth Emory (on file at the Bishop Museum). Bishop Museum researcher Thomas Maunupau corroborates this in his account of a visit to Kaupo published June 8, 1922, in the newspaper Ka Nupepa Kuokoa: "Ua kokua mai no o Joseph Marciel i keia mea, a eia na mea i hoikeia mai, e keia keonimana a kupa Hawaii. Aole o Popoiwi ka inoa o kela heiau nui, o Keakalauai kona inoa. O Popoiwi he inoa ia no kela wahi." (Joseph Marciel helped with this, and here are the matters explained by this native gentleman. Popoiwi is not the name of that large heiau. Keakalauai is its name. Popoiwi is the name of the place.) Thomas Thrum calls the heiau Kanemalohemo in his "Hawaiian Annual" for 1909. In the 1917 issue, Thrum corrects this and adds further information: "Investigations this day showed the former published list for Kaupo to be quite in error. The particulars given to Kanemalohemo, at Popoiwi, belonged to Loaloa. Popoiwi was said to be a heiau, not the location of Kanemalohemo. This latter was simple a sacred place at Mokulau. ... Popoiwi is referred to as a heiau on land of same name just above the road, though known to some of the old residents as Hanakalauai." Historian Samuel Kamakau also uses the name Kanemalohemo in "Ka Moolelo o Kamehameha I", published in the newspaper Ka Nupepa Kuokoa in the 1860s. Oct. 20, 1866: E noho ana oia ma Kaupo, e kukulu ana i mau luakini no kona mau akua. O Kanemalohemo ma Popoiwi, o Loaloa, me Puumakaa." (He [Maui chief Kekaulike] was living at Kaupo, building temples to his gods: Kanemalohemo at Popoiwi, Loaloa, and Puumakaa.) July 20, 1867: Hoala ae la o Kamehameha i mau hale no ke akua—O Maulili ma Kipahulu, o Kanemalohema a me Puumaka a me Loaloa ma Kaupo. (Kamehameha reconsecrated temples—Maulili at Kipahulu, and Kanemalohema, Puumaka and Loaloa at Kaupo.) |
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| Further reading: | Keakalauae heiau (Ulukau.org) Popoiwi heiau (Ulukau.org) |