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In old Hawaiʻi, kapu — the ancient laws of conduct — governed every part of life, and breaking one was punished swiftly and severely. A puʻuhonua, a place of refuge, was the one way out. Until the death of King Kamehameha the Great in 1819, the site of Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau was sacred ground where defeated warriors, non-combatants and kapu-breakers could escape death. It stands on young lava from Mauna Loa.
The park
On the west coast of the Island of Hawaiʻi, about 35 km (22 mi) south of Kailua-Kona, the park covers about 170 hectares (420 acres). It was established as City of Refuge National Historical Park on July 26, 1955, and renamed on November 10, 1978. Inside are ancient house sites, royal fishponds, coconut groves and shoreline, abandoned temples, carved wooden images (kiʻi) and the bones of 23 chiefs, believed to fill the place with their power.
ʻĀleʻaleʻa Heiau. NPS.
Built on Mauna Loa
The park slopes toward the sea on the western flank of Mauna Loa. Nearly all of it is Kaʻū Basalt, young volcanic rock of Pleistocene–Holocene age from the Mauna Loa volcanic center. The lava formed low-relief flows and broad benches along the shore, with pockets of sandy beach and rocky shores strewn with basalt boulders. In the southeast, some flows formed lava tube caves.
At least three flows are mapped within the park:
| From north to south | Age | Extent |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1,500–750 years — the youngest and most extensive | from the northern boundary to Keanaiʻe Pali |
| 2 | 5,000–3,000 years | from Keanaiʻe Pali to the southwestern edge of the park |
| 3 | 3,000–1,500 years | the southeastern part of the park |
Geologic map of the park, from the Geologic Resources Inventory. NPS.
The records behind it
This page is part of the NPS Geodiversity Atlas, which gathers what the Geologic Resources Inventory knows about each park's rocks, sediments, landforms and processes, for education, geoconservation and park management. The inventory produces digital geologic maps and reports for more than 270 natural resource parks; for Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau there are scoping summaries, a GIS map, a report and a poster, and a completed Soil Resources Inventory, all in the NPS DataStore.
Sources
Based on "NPS Geodiversity Atlas — Puʻuhonua o Hōnaunau National Historical Park, Hawaiʻi," National Park Service, Geologic Resources Inventory, drawing on Thornberry-Ehrlich (2011) and the National Park Service (2016); a work of the United States government in the public domain. The source's statement that survival meant swimming across Kealakekua Bay is left out.
Licenza: CC0 1.0 (pubblico dominio) · Tratto da www.nps.gov
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