Reference Guide to the Archaeology of West Maui

Reference Guide to the Archaeology of West Maui provides Kanaka Maoli and researchers essential bibliographic information on archaeological research on West Maui, mainly from the last thirty years. Following the controversies that arose with the excavations at Honokahua in the late 1980s, there has been intense concern, and legal regulations, connected to the iwi (bones) and moepu (funerary objects) that are uncovered throughout the State of Hawai'i. As those with Hawaiian ancestry assert their rights over the bones of their kupuna, reporting on those discoveries, and planning on what to do with them, has become a key component of any land development. In practice, this means studying the land, providing archaeological data that identifies and describes what remains so that the ties between the present and the past are not lost. The reports that are created as a result, almost 500 in total, provide a wealth of information. Accessing those reports is vital to the broader conversations about the land. Reference Guide to the Archaeology of West Maui meets the needs of different researchers to access those reports by providing bibliographies of the material organized by author, date, publisher, ahupua'a, and TMK (tax map keys). The guide, then, helps to create the conditions where it is possible to discuss what existed and how it can be preserved as the community moves forward.