Post #76542 by Kono on Tue, Feb 17, 2004 7:28 PM

I'm certainly not an expert but I've been reading up on Hawaiian/South Pacific folklore lately. I haven't yet read of instances of Hawaiians carving representations of menehune. Also, most descriptions of male menehune have them clothed and having facial hair.

I think it's tempting to assume, given the alleged date of this photo being 1945, that the carving is ancient. Given that most Hawaiian tikis or idols were destroyed decades earlier, this is either an "escaped" ancient tiki or one contemporary to the first half of the 20th century. Also, I don't recall any legit ancient tikis carved standing on an existing tree stump, but I could be wrong.

I'd guess it's a tiki that was carved in the early part of the last century by a modern (for that time) island carver. It only makes sense that as anthropologists run out of artifacts to send back home that indigenous entrepeneurs would create "new" artifacts.

But then again, I reserve the right to be wholly and completely wrong on every point. :D