Kumulipo consists of chants and songs that tell a creation story of the universe and the Hawaiian people from the time of darkness to that of daylight. The Kumulipo provide a vast cosmological genealogy that stresses the relatedness of the entire world: the land, the gods, the ali‘i, and the maka‘āinana, who are all closely and affectionately connected as ancestral kin, all descendants of Wākea and Papahānaumoku.20 Only through a full understanding of their great genealogy are the ali‘i able to assert their chiefly rank. The natural and supernatural worlds are one and the same with no distinctions. Hawaiians share a lineage with all of creation.
How to respond to this complex worldview was the role of the kahuna. These priests gave order and guidance; consoled and healed; advised when to plant and harvest; instructed when to fish; ordered to war or to remain at peace; conducted sacrifices and rituals; and proffered penance and forgiveness to breakers of the kapu. To appease the gods and maintain stability of the ali‘i, kahunas carved the spiritual wooden ki‘i (images) and oversaw the building of elaborate heiaus (temples) where offerings were issued to the divine, sometimes through human sacrifice.21 From the practical to the spiritual, the powerful kahuna, holding their ceremonies on stone pyramids in private wooden enclosures, were the vital life force of the Hawaiian people.22 The teenage ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia would be trained by his priestly uncle, tutored at the Hikiau Heiau at Kealakekua Bay, Kona, to become such a kahuna, translating the Kumulipo and other sacred legends for the Kanaka Maoli.
It was there, in 1778, a decade before the birth of ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia, that Hawaiians had greeted the British sea captain James Cook. Although other foreign populations may have made earlier contact with Hawai‘i, it was Cook’s encounter that brought the awareness of the islands to Western societies. The Hawaiian Islands would never again be isolated from the rest of the world; the period of being totally Native, Oiwi Wale, had ended forever.23
After the arrival and subsequent death of James Cook at the hands of the Hawaiians, the appearance of British and American sailing vessels was less frequent due to the Western world’s concern regarding the perceived ferocity of these Native people. However, as time passed and with the recognition of the islands’ strategic midway location in the vast Pacific Ocean, the sight of European and American sailing ships, whaling and merchant, became commonplace. One ruling chief who welcomed these foreigners was the tall, physically thickset, young adult ali‘i, Kamehameha.
Kamehameha had greeted James Cook on his initial arrival to Hawai‘i and even boarded the HMS Resolution to trade and have dinner with the British sea captain. Recognized as exceptional among the chiefs, Kamehameha appreciated the usefulness of steel weapons obtained from Western traders in military warfare, especially against his enemy’s stone and wooden armaments. Employing these newly available technologies, Kamehameha launched a campaign for domination of the Big Island and, once achieved, the unification of the entire Hawaiian archipelago under his absolute rule.
According to ancient legends, a great chief would be born with the appearance of a shooting star, and that chief would unite all of the islands under his reign. In 1758, the year of Kamehameha’s birth, Halley’s Comet passed prophetically in the night sky. He was the son of Keōua and the grandson of Keaweikekahia-liikamoku, a former ruler of the eastern portion of the Big Island. Upon his birth, a kahuna of standing prophesized that one day this newborn would become a Mō‘ī, Ali‘i Nui (King, holding the highest of chiefly ranks) of the entire island.24
Since his family kept him isolated in the mountains during his youth out of fear that jealous chiefs might take his life, and due to his introspective behavior, Kamehameha was labeled “The Lonely One.” His uncle, Kalani‘ōpu‘u, Mō‘ī of the Big Island, who welcomed Captain Cook to Kealakekua Bay, brought Kamehameha back from exile and bestowed upon him the trademarks of a nobleman with a feathered helmet and cloak. The young man grew in strength and wisdom, was tutored in the arts of combat, and known for his courage in battle.
In traditional Hawaiian society, whenever an ali‘i nui died, his successor had the right to redistribute land and other valued resources, which meant that competitive conflict would breakout between contenders for vacated, exalted positions. When Kalani‘ōpu‘u died in 1782, Kamehameha competed with the ali‘i nui’s two natural sons, Kīwala‘ō and Keōua, over control of the chiefdom. Kīwala‘ō attempted to placate Kamehameha by naming him the caretaker of the war god, Kū, and making him the chief of the luscious and productive Waipi‘o Valley. Unfortunately, this did not satiate the ambitious Kamehameha. Warfare broke out between the cousins. Kīwala‘ō was killed at the Battle of Moku‘ōhai, and Keōua was declared the new High Chief.25
With the advantage of muskets, swords, and cannon obtained from European and American trading partners, Kamehameha warred continually with Keōua for four years. Yet the steel weapons gave no immediate benefit against the aggressive son-chief who had a large following. Feigning a desire to end the continual conflict, Kamehameha invited the suspicious Keōua to a peace parlay in early 1792, which the High Chief, whose resources were being exhausted by the incessant warfare, cautiously accepted. When Keōua came ashore at Kawaihae Harbor north of Kona, Kamehameha’s warriors assassinated him and his men, sacrificing his corpse to Kū in a newly constructed and massive luakini-type heiau.26 Kamehameha forthwith possessed Keōua’s powerful mana and was deemed the outright Mō‘ī of the Island of Hawai‘i. Now middle-aged and with both Kiwala‘ō and Keōua dead, Kamehameha coveted additional islands under his personal chiefdom. We call the archipelago the Hawaiian Islands because that’s the Island of Kamehameha’s birth.
During his campaign, Kamehameha invited Nāmakehā, the powerful chief of Ka‘ū in the southern district of the Big Island, to join forces against Maui rival chief, Kalanikūpule and his armies on O‘ahu. Instead, Nāmakehā rebuffed Kamehameha and challenged his authority with power. Hostilities erupted between the two chiefs with the parents of ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia aligning their allegiance with Nāmakehā since his mother was a noble-born relation. Tragically, after Nāmakehā’s death in a fierce battle at Hilo, Kamehameha sought revenge by attacking the fallen chief’s settlements and unleashing his deadly forces against the family of ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia.
The name “Henry ‘Ōpūkaha‘ia” was completely unfamiliar when I received the phone call in the spring of 1993 from Henry L. Fuqua, whose Hartford funeral home had been contracted to remove Henry’s physical remains and prepare him for repatriation to the Big Island. As a well-established funeral director in the region, Fuqua had had a good deal of experience disinterring contemporary burials using mechanical excavators to lift metal caskets out of their vaults. But fragile, decomposing wooden coffins dating to the early 19th century were far beyond his experience.27 He needed a forensic archaeologist to conduct the sensitive exhumation and was advised to contact the state archaeologist for assistance.
Law in Connecticut is such that any time human skeletal remains are uncovered and determined by the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner to be older than fifty years and associated with an unmarked historic grave, the investigation is turned over to the state archaeologist for identification, removal if necessary, and reburial according to the cultural prescriptions of the deceased.28 Under this legislative mandate, we had investigated a number of accidental burial discoveries as well as cemetery vandalisms, including a sand and gravel mining operation that inadvertently exposed a colonial farming family’s burial ground, a house expansion project that yielded 17th century Native American graves, and a mausoleum that had been violated to obtain human skulls for satanic cult rituals. As state archaeologist, we had run the gamut from modern criminal investigations to the respectful and professional treatment of historical burials accidently uncovered during construction activities or marred by deliberate unlawful desecration. We worked closely with the state’s Native American Nations, historical societies, churches, descendant families, and
