New theory emerges on footprints' origin
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Kaua'i Bureau
KILAUEA, Hawai'i — Human footprints in hardened ash deposits around Kilauea have long mystified visitors to the volcano.
Hawaii Volcanoes National Park
Because the last major ash explosion was in 1790, they were clearly old impressions. But it was not until Thomas A. Jaggar, Hawaiian Volcano Observatory founder, studied them that the most widely accepted theory came forth: They are the footprints of doomed warriors from the army of Keoua — a Big Island rival of Kamehameha the Great. The warriors, it is said, were engulfed by gas and dust from the eruption.
Archaeologists and geologists say many of the footprints in ash deposits on Kilauea are probably from Hawaiians who regularly collected volcanic glass and other resources during two or three centuries.
Jaggar founded the observatory in 1912 and launched a period of scientific study of Hawai'i's volcanoes that continues. His footprint theory has been accepted for almost a century, but new evidence suggests it's probably wrong.
Recent research by Hawaiian Volcano Observatory geologists and archaeologists from Hawai'i Volcanoes National Park suggests the footprints may have been laid down during two or three centuries by Hawaiians who regularly visited the mountain region to collect volcanic glass and other materials, said Don Swanson, the observatory's chief scientist.
Swanson said that Jaggar apparently took two events that happened about the same time and assumed they were jointly responsible for the hundreds of human footprints cast in ash deposits in the Ka'u Desert south of the Kilauea caldera.
The volcano had a violent eruption in 1790, covering the region with a layer of volcanic ash that eventually solidified. That same year, Kamehameha and Keoua were at war. After learning that Kamehameha had attacked his home province of Ka'u, Keoua marched his army from Hilo across Kilauea toward Ka'u.
Keoua's army was split into three parts. His central division was caught in an eruption and between 80 and several hundred were killed. Following troops reported finding them lying as if sleeping, but dead, perhaps from the heat or the suffocating dust from the volcano.
Swanson said that in Jaggar's time, people believed Hawaiians seldom came to Kilauea. When Jaggar saw the footprints, he assumed they had come from the tragedy of Keoua's army.
Although there is little evidence of permanent settlements, there's lots of evidence that Hawaiians frequented the mountain to collect volcanic glass for making cutting tools, and likely also to collect plant materials, birds and feathers, sandalwood and other resources, said park archaeologist Jade Moniz-Nakamura.
Moniz-Nakamura said she and her associates have found more than 500 archaeological features, including C-shaped rock shelters, terraces and other enclosures. Among the more than 1,700 known footprints, many seem to follow existing trails, but they go both ways on those trails and some proceed in directions perpendicular to the trails.
"I think people were just going in and out of there on a pretty constant basis. There was more going on than just Keoua's army," she said, although she does not rule out that some of the footprints could be from the 1790 march.
Swanson said he doesn't doubt the powerful evidence that part of Keoua's army was killed by the volcanic explosion, but he suspects it may have been in a different area because so many of the footprints don't seem to lead on a route from Hilo to Ka'u.
"The weight of the evidence, in my opinion, is very strongly against it being Keoua's army," he said.
Many of the footprints do not lead mauka-makai, or from the mountain toward the shore. Some of the footprints are in layers, separated by deep sand and debris deposits. That almost certainly separates them in time, he said.
Swanson said the period from about 1500 to the deadly eruption of 1790 was one of explosive activity on Kilauea. The volcano erupted in dangerous blasts of steam, ash and rock. Swanson said he believes it was when water regularly entered the volcano's underground hot zones, causing it to flash into steam and to explode.
"It was characteristic of that period," he said. "If you had grown up in the 1600s, it would have been just another day at the office."
Swanson said he believes that volcano goddess Pele's reputation for ferocity may come from the explosive eruptions of this period.
Moniz-Nakamura said people trying to view the ancient footprints can damage them, and she urged the curious to be careful.
"These resources are extremely fragile and people should not expect to see prints each time they go out there because the sand is continually shifting," she said. "Our best protection advice for this resource would be for all visitors to stay on the trails and stay off of the ash."
