The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs is questioning the age of human burials — to date, more than 600 sets of remains — removed by Kawaiaha‘o Church in preparation for building a $17.5 million multipurpose center.
The state agency advocating for Native Hawaiians sent a letter this week to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources requesting detailed information about the burials to show whether they are all Christian burials, as the church contends, or whether some predate the church and should be protected by Hawaii’s historic burial law.
Kawaiaha‘o was established in 1842 to become Hawaii’s first church, and it has been allowed to disinter an unlimited number of human remains, or iwi kupuna, under an exemption to the burial law that gives special protections to traditional Hawaiian burials.
The exemption applies to known and actively maintained cemeteries, and was approved by DLNR and upheld by a Circuit Court judge.
But OHA questions whether the church is digging up burials that predate Kawaiaha‘o’s existence, especially given the “exceedingly large” number of remains, which includes 605 burials and thousands of individual bones as of Sept. 9.
“Since the historical record indicates that the area contained burial sites prior to the establishment of Kawaiaha‘o Church, questions of this nature are warranted,” OHA said in its letter dated Sept. 17.
OHA is asking DLNR to obtain details about the burials such as their depth, position, orientation, whether they are in a coffin and whether artifacts are present. Other details that could help date burials such as the presence of remains of animals, plants and refuse in proximity to burials are also being sought.
Kawaiaha‘o is required to notify DLNR’s State Historic Preservation Division of burial findings weekly, but the reports typically state only when and how many burials were removed.
