Tour guide urges closure of burial site

Associated Press

A Big Island tour guide wants state officials to close a secret burial site on the Kohala Coast, where the century-old remains of what appear to be five Hawaiian cowboys laid out in a lava tube have been disturbed by human visitors.

People have visited the so-called "Cowboy Cave" on the Kohala Coast for years to see the five western-style burials, placed on a natural shelf deep within a large lava tube.

Lawrence Braley, 51, a guide with Polynesian Adventures who visited the cave as a child and later as a hunter, has seen the remains of what appear to be Hawaiian cowboys, known as paniolo, who were interred in the cave about a century ago.

"These were human beings," he said. "They deserve to be treated with respect." The area is littered with fast-food containers and other trash, he said.

Braley said the remains have been disturbed numerous times, and said he remembers the head of one of the cowboys resting on a saddle the first time he entered the lava cave.

Coins are now strewn about the shelf, and a coffin that had been sealed only a few years ago has been opened, the human skeletal remains exposed, he said.

Anyone who intentionally disturbs a burial site could be fined as much as $10,000 for each offense.

The state excavated the Cowboy Cave in the early 1970s and discovered a large cache of artifacts, debris from tool manufacture and remains of sea creatures.

Braley said the state has ignored the remains and has allowed the site to be desecrated.

Peter Young, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, said he would ask state historic preservation officials to follow up on Braley's complaint.

"I don't know anything about it," said Young, "but this is definitely something we should be looking at."

In the past, the state has suggested the refuge cave, which has an identification number, be opened as a historic site with interpretive signs.

Braley said he has no problem with the public being allowed to visit the area, but only after the remains have been removed or sealed inside the cave.

"I'm not an activist by any means," he said. "Some things just touch you, and this one has touched me in the eyes."