Online seller of Hawaiian artifacts evades stricter rules
By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser Science Writer
Traders on eBay's online auction site continue to traffic in Hawaiian artifacts, sidestepping prohibitions by being vague about the items' origins.
"The unfortunate thing about it is: If the seller won't volunteer where he/she obtained the artifacts from, it likely represents a legal sale in eBay's eyes," state parks archaeologist Alan Carpenter said.
Web-site photos show a cutting stone and fishhooks offered for auction at eBay. The state and eBay are investigating whether looters produced the hooks, which sold for $150, and the stone.
EBay said it is investigating the latest sale of fishhooks and a stone cutting tool that the unidentified seller admits were dug up at the site of an old fishing village. The State Historic Preservation Office also is looking into the case, "but it's not clear what, if anything, we can do," said historic preservation archaeologist Sara Collins.
In April, eBay changed its policies on Hawaiian historical items after state and federal officials complained that a seller was marketing a Hawaiian bowling stone, called an 'ulu maika, that had been illegally taken from Kaho'olawe. The new policy placed Hawaiian cultural items in the same category as Native American items given certain protections.
While items specifically known to be burial-related or taken from government land are prohibited from sale, eBay's artifacts policy allows the sale of "an item lawfully removed from private land."
The Hilo seller of the fishhooks and cutting tool, identified online only as "ditto2," said diggers found them at an archaeological site.
"While this appears to represent looting, it may not be provable," Carpenter said.
For online bidders, the seller listed "four bone fishhooks found at an old fishing village at an old house site while digging through the sand." The hooks, up to an inch long, are "very old and collectible" and were sold for $150.
The seller marketed a stone cutting tool said to have been found in a fishing village along with some bone fishhooks. There were no bidders for the stone tool.
EBay said in an e-mail response to The Advertiser yesterday that the issue is under investigation. The seller did not respond to an Advertiser e-mail inquiry.
