Podcasts Culture Bishop Museum Podcasts The Hawaiian Temple System in Ancient Kahikinui and Kaupo, Maui

The Hawaiian Temple System in Ancient Kahikinui and Kaupo, Maui

Published: Oct. 4, 2019, 3:54 a.m.

b'The Hawaiian Temple System in Ancient Kahikinui and Kaup\\u014d, Maui
with Dr. Patrick V. Kirch

Thursday, October 3, 2019 in the Atherton Halau

The book Heiau, \\u2018\\u0100ina, Lani, meaning \\u201cTemples, Land, and Sky,\\u201d is a collaborative study by Dr. Patrick V. Kirch and Clive Ruggles, using an approach that combines archaeology and archaeoastronomy. The remarkably well-preserved archaeological landscape of Kahikinui and Kaup\\u014d in southeastern Maui includes some 78 heiau, or temple sites, ranging from small coastal fishing shrines, through agricultural fertility temples, to the imposing war temples of Lo\\u02bbalo\\u02bba and P\\u014dp\\u014diwi, where Maui\\u2019s King Kekaulike offered up human sacrifices.

Building on detailed mapping and study of these temple foundations, Kirch and Ruggles generated new insights into how heiau served not only as places of sacrifice and prayer, but also as locations where k\\u0101huna observed the heavens. Observing the rising of the Pleiades (Makali\\u02bbi), and probably also the solstices, allowed the k\\u0101huna to calibrate the Hawaiian lunar calendar, keeping it in sync with the solar year.'