Last of the Wiamea Falls Photos

Okay: here's the Waimea Falls (including a couple fuzzy ones - and not including the one of the baby pigs eating Hawaiian Apples that I took as a tourist woman cried out "Wart Hogs!!")

When I swam out to the Falls, so did this young man, who was very informative about how many people died falling off the rocks, were stripped of their flesh in minutes by the red ants, as well as how the shrimp that live in the pool were just "ordinary poisonous crayfish."

He later offered to play a game of roll the wooden disc thru the wooden stakes at the rock bordered game court...

"hawaiian hale"

Stone outline of an ancient "hawaiian hale" or traditional house...

"Historic hale to be rebuilt the old way"
By Pat Gee pgee@starbulletin.com
"Daniel "Pomaika'i" Kaniaupio-Crozier took apart a grass shack, or hale, at Bishop Museum and is now rebuilding it from scratch. But he must now find or grow the original materials, and then copy the methods of construction used by his ancestors.
The 105-year-old replica of a grass house, or hale pili, will continue to be the centerpiece of the museum's Hawaiian Hall. The hall and nearby buildings are undergoing a $20 million renovation, to be completed in late 2008..."

http://starbulletin.com/2007/04/01/news/story11.html

PA HOLOHOLONA

As in: 

"Eleu aku la no ua wahi elemakule nei a ka pa holoholona a laua."

Wiamea Fishing Shrine

A re-creation or model, but it sounds familiar - and looks familiar too. Anyone who frequents "Rock Piles" might comment about what looks alot like a Manitou Stone in the center of the pile.

"Some pohaku were known as ko'a (fishing shrines), having been used to locate special fishing grounds. A ku'ula was a smaller stone said to hold a spirit that helped the fisherman. The ku'ula was said to speak to the fisherman in his dreams, directing him to finding the location of the stone itself, and then if well cared for the fisherman would then be rewarded with good fishing and a heathy life. Jagged or pourous stones were considered female, smooth finer grained stones, male. Usually dark stones were male, lighter were female..."
http://www.paulwaters.com/kapuhist.htm

More of Wiamea Valley

Waimea Valley

A place I really liked - Falls and all the rest (sort of like home, really).

"Waimea Valley is a cultural resource of the highest possible order ... There is no place quite like Waimea Valley on the island of Oahu, and very few places in the entire archipelago can equal it in terms of its religious associations, its preservation, or its potential for answering many questions about traditional Hawaii. It is deserving of the utmost care and protection, and this can be achieved only through recognition and careful planning." - Joseph Kennedy of Archaeological Consultants of the Pacific

Text from:

http://www.oha.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=180&Itemid=225

"Burial Mound"

I intended to find "The Wizard Stones of Kapaemahu at Waikiki" but I never did. They are sort of similar to a Lenni Lenape legend that has to do with the Pleiades or Seven Special Stars that I wrote about on this blog a little while back.

http://apdl.kcc.hawaii.edu/~oahu/stories/kona/wizstones.htm

Here's someone's travel photo picture of it I found online at:



http://www.getawaywiz.com/index.php/feed/











Instead, by accident, I ended up here one day, a modern burial mound:









(Maholo means "Thank You.")

"Na Iwi Kupuna - Waikiki Memorial"
by Betty Santos
"Early in the year 2000, about 50 sets of human bones were disturbed during excavation work in Waikiki. Following months of discussion by interested parties, including descendants of the families that once lived in the area, the City Council approved the construction of a burial mound as a memorial..."

http://www.nahha.com/articles/Informative%20Articles/na%20iwi%20kupuna%20by%20Betty%20santos.htm

Ancient Hawaiian Fish Pond

These are a couple more pictures of the fish pond at Heeia.

"Fishponds were very abundant in prehistoric Hawai'i. Many fishponds are known to have been on the islands of Hawai'i, Maui, Lana'i, Moloka'i, O'ahu, and Kaua'i. Only in Hawai'i was there such an intensive effort to utilize practically every body of water, from seashore to upland forests, as a source of food, for either agriculture or aquaculture (Apple & Kikuchi, 1975).
The general term for a fishpond is loko (pond), or more specifically, loko i'a (fishpond). Loko i'a were used for the fattening and storing of fish for food and also as a source for kapu (forbidden) fish. A fish was kapu to the Hawaiians during its spawning season to allow a variety of fish to reproduce. Although the chief or commoners were unable to catch fish in the sea at specific time spans, they were available in the fishponds because fishponds were considered a part of the land. Also, ocean fishing was dependent upon conditions of weather and surf. When there were storms and high surf, fish was always still available from the fishpond (Summers, 1964).

He'eia Fishpond is a seashore pond (loko kuapa). Loko kuapa were fishponds made by building a wall of stone on a reef that would result in the enclosure of a water body (Henry, 1993). The length of He'eia fishpond wall is about 5,000 feet, one of the longest walls of any fishpond on O'ahu. The wall also encircles the entire 88 acres of the pond, which is unusual. Over the years, the completely walled pond became elevated above the general level of its surroundings. As a result, it was necessary to mend all breaks in the wall and seal all leaks as they occurred, so that the proper water level could be maintained inside the pond. If not, the water would drain out (Kelly, 1975)..."

http://ksdl.ksbe.edu/heeia/pages/history.html

And here's one more original photo - the ancient "loko kuapa" at low tide, houses behind it, and in the distance ( if you click on the picture) is a traffic jam on Hawaii State Highway 61, just before the tunnel through the "pali" where King Kamehameha drove an army of opposing warriors off the mountainside ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pali_Lookout).

My wife and I were stuck on top some of "fifty two varieties of coral," rather than in traffic...

Waking Up On Another Turtle Island

Waking Up and looking East at Sandy Beach at the edge of Hawai'i Kai on Oahu 6AM in July 2007...

This is a guy named Fred who works at Heeia Stae Park.

http://search.volunteerhawaii.org/org/1384591.html

http://www.friendsofheeia.com/

http://ksdl.ksbe.edu/heeia/ and a million more if you google the various words and phrases, check out the Images etc.

We rented kayaks from him.

I started talking turtles and rocks with him

Like me, people often tell him "That's just a rock."

Fred's totem tatoo:

Some of his "just a rock(s):"

Since I'm always finding these sorts of "just a rock(s)," I had to pick up this "just a rock."

I said," Is this what I think it is?"

Fred said he'd had it "checked out." It's an unfinished handaxe...

The other might be a net sinker or a head knocker or both...

Just to the right of the entrance is an ancient fish pond, perhaps 600 years old, maybe more...

These are just my photo's; like I wrote above, there's lots more out there...

Pohaku

I already knew "Honu" is Turtle in Hawaiian.

I just learned that "Pohaku" means Stone in Hawaiian.

I tried a little search on these words.

"Ruins of what may have been the Kaheiki heiau lie in the undergrowth in lower Nu‘uanu. But different accounts place this ancient temple in different locations.

Nu‘uanu is mentioned in the earliest legends, as Puakea has told us. Aside from the gods who were in residence here, who were the people? As in other parts of the islands, these ancients include the menehune and other strange creatures referred to as the ‘e‘epa. Like the menehune, the ‘e‘epa are generally described as being short in stature ("imps," one source says; "gnomes," according to another). These creatures were placed there by the gods to guard legendary beings described in the next page. But there are traditions and landscapes associated with them here..."

from: http://www.pacificworlds.com/nuuanu/arrival/ancients.cfm

" Ahu Pohaku Hoçomaluhia"

"A mysterious circle of stones lends its name to a new high-end health retreat, Ahu Pohaku Ho'omaluhia, near Hawi, on the Big Island."

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2006/Oct/15/tr/FP610150341.html

I even came across this: http://www.hinaadventures.com/ecotours/hawnlegends_ecotour.htm

that mentions some of my favorite words, such as "Sacred Stones" and "scenic cultural and sacred sites ."

Let's just say I may have some original photos of Pohaku soon...

Before and After

A New Look for an old Country Road

last exit before bethlehem

Qá qusuqaniyutôk nohkshô:  “And the stone wall was broken.”  

Prov. 24:31, Mamusse Wunneetupanatamwe Up-Biblum God (“Eliot Indian Bible”)

https://paperzz.com/doc/8770750/rules-of-mohegan-grammar---mohegan-language-project

My road transformed into an exit ramp...

...a small remnant of the zigzag row...

Painted Turtles

Since my road has been blocked off, I've had to use an alternate route to get to or from home. I don't know exactly when, but it seems my neighbor up the road (i.e. the state highway) has been envisioning stones as turtles and in fact enhancing that vision with paint. Have they been reading this blog or is it an independent vision?

I don't know, but I present the Painted Turtles.

An aside from this is the story of a nun from a nearby Abbey who, many years ago, also saw stone and boulder combinations as testudinate forms of Native American origin, leading her to a degree in Archeology and an occupation of Biblical Archeology.

The Dead Raccoon

I'm sure you may have seen at least a few photos of "A Dead Raccoon In the Center of the Road with a Yellow Line Painted on it by a Road Crew."

Here's a little bit about my barn/workshop I've been using for 25 years, my wife's family for 20 or so years before.

It's been turned into a dead raccoon with a line painted across its body.

About 2 years ago, a guy from a Connecticut TV station was knocking on my door. He was asking what I thought about the proposed realignment of my road.

I was surprised about this - it was the first time I'd heard of such a thing (I'd recieved no registered letter informing me of this proposed change). He said it was a plan to help prevent accidents at the intersection of my road and the state highway. Having been here for so long, I was aware of many accidents on the curve of Route 61 near my road, but only one actually on my road - a really horrible accident, alcohol and high speed related - right where I would have parked my vehicle if I had gotten home half an hour earlier - or even have been in a position to be hit head on by a fullsized pickup truck.

I attended a town meeting in July 2005, expressed concerns about destruction of stone fences that reach back into possibly prehistoric times, my new neighbors also concerned about the rural nature of the view from their new home as it affected their property value - and would end up pointing the lights of traffic exiting my road directly into their new home. I brought up the issue of accidents happening on Route 61, by people traveling either north or south on Route 61, almost exclusively. We both asked to be notified by mail of upcoming meetings that would address the road issue.

I got traffic reports from the CT DOT that confirmed that I was just a little off - someone had rear ended someone at the stop sign at the end of my road.

I also came to the realisation that the road signs that warned motorists of the curve, the reduced speed limit etc. had been there so long that they were no longer reflective, as well as being covered by the foliage of trees and Virginia Creeper. I called DOT to tell them about this and the signs are now clearly visible and reflective, since the majority of accidents happened at night.

I also contacted many people about the stone fences, heard from a few, and got no response from others.

I attended a second meeting in September of 2005 (having heard about it from my nieghbors, no communication from the town), again brought up my issues, again asked to be notified by mail about the situation.

My neighbors and I heard nothing further about the road. Spring 2006 arrived and nothing happened, no notification of any meetings, no registered letters sent to any of us about the proposed roadwork.

We assumed that the plan had been voted down.

Suddenly, almost two years later, things began happening - documented in some earlier posts on this blog.

I finally got to see the plan and found that someone had painted a dead raccoon, using a Tax Assessor's map from 1987 that also painted a dead raccoon, the dead raccoon being my workshop:

I dug up a survey of my property and taped it onto a makeshift shadowbox. I made a copy of the plan, laid it over the survey and corrected the mistakes:

The actual position of the road is highlighted in yellow.

The pink area is my property, which also includes about a quarter of my workshop, not to mention my stone fences and antique roses.

We'll see what happens next...

The 100-Year Flood

The 100-year Flood:
It was a heavy localized thunderstorm. The old timers said it was worse than the “Flood of ’55.”

I’d been working on the drainage problems on the backside of my house. I’d made a zigzag trench about ten feet from my back door, on the other side of the original well. I had a serpentine sort of swale along my flower gardens above that. Water would pour down from the highway above my house, down the upper driveway by the highway, then through the yard, and into my basement during storms (or ice melt) and I was trying to fix that. The 100-year flood storm, flowing into those depressions, actually removed soil in the center of the channel, the shape sort of forcing all the power to the middle rather than the sides.
I remember going out the backdoor to remove some debris in the zigzag and getting poked in the eye by the stalk of a plant but still being amazed that the channel was being dug out by water power for me - instead of by shovel and “me power.”
Totally soaked in seconds, I went from back door to side door to stand on the porch to watch the water flow down the side of the house and down my lower driveway to the street – it was like a good sized brook flowing through the yard. I could hear the thunder up in Bethlehem to the north where the center of the storm cell was.
The storm moved off, but in a short time I heard the strangest kind of roaring in the distance. Since it sounded like it was coming from upstream on the river, I went to my front door where I had a clearer view of the river; I can see one of the weirs the water company maintains to fill a reservoir from there across a field on the other side of the road.
The roar got louder as a wall of brown water suddenly appeared on the distant river. In minutes the floodplain turned from fields to a lake about a half-mile wide. On my side of the floodplain, the water at it’s highest flowed along what appears to be an ancient glacial lakeshore. Near the linear row that I’ve been writing about with this road re-alignment, at the low end of it, the water washed clear a row of boulders, possibly natural, perhaps not.

Somewhere I’ve got some video footage of the flooding that day and a few days after as well.

I’ve written about a stream that flows around the Burial Grounds. This big flood cleared a lot of the ancient zigzag above the first terrace “island” that is the Burial Grounds - and the serpentine rows at the low end. The branch that had been diverted to flow to the field and the river got blocked by trees, filled in with rocks and dirt. It moved back to its original location, the lower or western edge of the Burial Grounds. The serpentine row of stones on the edge of the BG was washed clear of leaves and debris, as well as a second row on the field side of this stream, a row I didn’t realize even existed.
At various places down stream, I could see remnants of the stone rows that once bordered both sides of the riparian zone of this stream, along the edge of what I think of as the “Village.” All my suspected habitation sites stayed above water.

There were many other places that the rows minimized flooding. Along one of the largest tributaries, zigzag rows on both banks of the river prevented flooding, but at a bridge that disturbed the rows and their function, the water washed away the bridge and scoured out the river almost 20 feet deep, taking away the zigzag rows downstream of the former bridge for hundreds of feet. I regret that I never took photos of those rows before the flood, back in the days before I had a digital camera. The same construction company that is working in front of my house as I write rebuilt the bridge - also destroyed those zigzag rows above the bridge site in the process, used the stone in their rebuilding efforts. I should walk up in there to see what remains upstream…

So there is a ‘hydraulic” (spell check prompts me to spell, even though I wanted to write “hydrolic”) or water management aspect to the stone rows too (Mavor and Dix mention this in “Manitou, I believe, spelling it “Hydrology”).

A drought followed the flood. I could walk streambeds and see that as the flood subsided it formed a sort of natural zigzag pattern of stones in some places. I also went up to a beaver dam that I know of, that I found by following zigzag rows, to find the flood had knocked it out – and the rows below it for quite a distance. The beavers began rebuilding it very quickly – by building a series of zigzag walls of sticks, sod, mud, and stones up from the streambed. This may be a glimpse into a similar observation made by Indigenous Peoples in the past, a bit of Traditional Ecological Knowledge inspired by the "Helping Beaver," who also participates in many versions of the Turtle Island Creation Story.


So the 100-year flood taught me a thing or two about zigzag rows. The natural processes of flooding (and beavers) could have inspired the Native American building of zigzag rows. The rows could focus the power of the water to the center of the streams, keeping them fairly clear and “in place,” protecting burials and habitation sites. A scheduled occasional burn could selectively be used to manage the land inside and outside the borders of the stone rows.

And I should add that shortly after, while making a antique furniture house call in North Salem NY, very near the famous perched boulder, I took a lunch break along the little river that flows by that big stone, just a little south of it. I sat on a zigzag row of stones on one bank, looking across the water at another zigzag row on the other bank…

The photo above is not mine but is from an interesting article: http://pubs.usgs.gov/of/2004/1062/5_neely.pdf

Cooper Site

"Some time between 10,000 and 11,000 years ago, a group of Paleoindian hunters gathered in the late summer or early fall in the Beaver River floodplain in Harper County...They prepared a red ochre paint from local stone rich in the blood-red mineral, iron. They then painted a powerful symbol on the bison skull and placed it at the head of the gully where it could draw another herd of bison up to the waiting hunters. The plan and the ritual succeeded. As many as 30-35 bison were killed...

That skull, the oldest painted object ever found in North America, is now on exhibit at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History." (dead link)

A working link to a 2011 post at the Rock Art Blog:

https://rockartblog.blogspot.com/2011/02/earliest-painting-in-north-america.html

And what was that symbol?

A Zigzag.

http://www.ou.edu/cas/archsur/counties/harper.htm 

     (dead link)