Post #687025 by Hanalei Tiki on Tue, Jul 23, 2013 10:57 AM

I was just in Kauai (Poipu) about a month ago, and wish I'd have heard to this back then, it would have been exciting to see.

I followed the link from Khon4 to the group behind the restoration of the project, and there's a great website http://www.kaneiolouma.org describing the cultural site & the vision for the restoration.

It's one of a kind find in Hawaii that hasn't previously been destroyed by man, and dates to the mid-1400s It'll eventually have an interpretive centre,a fully restored fishpond, taro field, and traditional island house.

According to the site, they refer to the 4 statues as Ki'i, and were made by a master carver from the big island of ohia: "the Ki’i wooden ceremonial statues .... These hand-carved 16 foot tall Ki’i are the Hawaiian gods Kâne (the god of the sky and creation), Kû (the god of war and male pursuits), Lono (the god of peace, rain, and fertility) and Kanaloa (the god of the ocean). The statues represent the four corners of Honua, the pillars in ancient Hawaiian astrology"