By Bob Krauss
Advertiser Columnist

Five University of Hawai'i students came as close as you can get to ancient Polynesia this summer when they uncovered a tohua (dancing platform and ceremonial site) on remote Tahuata in the Marquesas Islands, 2,000 miles south of Hawai'i.

The site is deep in a spectacular, uninhabited valley nestled between cliffs and surrounded by house sites that once formed a village — a series of seven stone terraces that stretch as far as a seven-story building. In ancient times, the tohua was the scene of dance contests, preparations for war and battle victory celebrations.

U.H. archaeology professor Barry Rolett said the students paid their way to fulfill a request from the mayor of Tahuata, who wants to restore the tohua for use in the annual Marquesan Arts Festival on the island next year.

Students Ben Davis, Jamie Nakama, Emily Donaldsen, Tessa Gonzalez and Aidan O'Conner spent a month living with Marquesans while clearing, measuring and mapping the ancient ruins. Rolett, who has done archaeology work in the Marquesas for 20 years, directed.

He said the Marquesans knew about the site, but it was covered in jungle. "We started by pulling weeds and hacking down trees," said Nakama, a graduate student in anthropology. "Once we could see what there was, we started to measure and map."

Davis said Marquesans enthusiastically wielded machetes, brought food to the work gang and sat around to talk story. A class of elementary school children hiked up the valley to learn about their ancient culture.

By the end of the month, the students had sketched exactly the huge stone complex of platforms, terraces, steps, house foundations and walls. The mayor has asked Rolett to come back with more students next summer to help rebuild thatched houses that once stood on the site. Marquesans are rebuilding rock walls.

Nakama said a major difference between the Marquesas and Hawai'i is that the children there are closer to nature. "Modernization is happening before your eyes, but the kids are constantly outside, from the minute they get up in the morning," she said. "They are still connected to nature. In Hawai'i, kids are divorced from nature."

Davis said the outrigger canoe to him represents the difference. "In Hawai'i, people still paddle outrigger canoes as in in the past, but canoes are now used for recreation. In the Marquesas, they put an outboard motor on the end of a canoe, but the canoes are still used for fishing."

Nakamura said the students from Hawai'i taught their Marquesan peers the Electric Slide in a tin-roofed disco with thatched walls.

Reach Bob Krauss at 525-8073.