The Department of Land and Natural Resources, which owns the burial site, has asked the state attorney general to “look into this matter and consider what steps we’ll be taking independent of the federal investigation,” department director Peter Young said.

Young was responding to reports from a Native Hawaiian organization that it has found evidence of a break-in at the Kanupa Cave, a discovery made in the wake of reports that burial objects were offered for sale to collectors on the Big Island.

The federal agents have promised to share evidence with the state “when the investigation has proceeded sufficiently,” Young added.

“At this point, an uncoordinated or precipitous action could jeopardize or compromise the federal investigation, which is in a critical evidence-gathering stage,” he said.

Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei sought access to Kanupa Cave after news reports that the federal Department of the Interior was investigating offers to sell funeral objects on the island of Hawai'i, Kunani Nihipali, the group’s poço, or leader, said in a written statement. The group is a nonprofit organization established for the care of ancient iwi kupuna (remains) and moepu (burial objects) and had reburied objects at Kanupa in November after museums had returned them to Hawaiian organizations under provisions of a federal “repatriation” law.

“Whoever desecrated Kanupa Cave violated Hawaiian kapu (sacred law) regarding the sanctity of a burial site and state laws regarding historic burial sites and must be apprehended,” said Edward Halealoha Ayau of Hui Mälama. “Though the thieves who committed this crime are not yet known to us, they are well-known to the robbed küpuna who will seek their own justice.”

Federal agents involved in the investigation declined comment today.

Lance Foster, native rights director for the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and a witness to the reburial, said today that the office is still waiting for facts of the investigation to come out. But he added that some of the burial objects reportedly offered for sale may have come from sources other than the Kanupa repatriation. He mentioned in particular a palaoa (fish-hook necklace) that didn’t appear to be part of the Kanupa group of objects.

After viewing a published photo of the cave, Foster said a padlocked metal gate that had been placed over the opening had been removed. In November, he said, he watched Hui Mälama members pry boulders from within the Kanupa opening to collapse the cave and then piled on more boulders to obscure the opening and make the area appear indistinguishable from the arid surroundings at Kanupa.

According to the statement, federal agents turned away group members at the Kohala property where the cave is located on Aug. 11, but the hui then hired its own investigator.

The state leased the land where the cave is located to Ponoholo Ranch. Pono Von Holt, manager of Ponoholo Ranch, said today that he gave the investigator access to the property. Ayau said the discovery was made Friday.

“We discovered that our worst fears had come true —Kanupa Cave was broken into,” Nihipali said in the statement. “Apparently over the course of at least several days, highly motivated thieves worked their way through multiple protective measures that we put in place to secure the iwi küpuna and moepü in Kanupa.”

Hui Mälama is one of four organizations given title to the burial objects of Kanupa almost a century after they had been removed by the J.S. Emerson expedition and later transferred to collections at the Bishop Museum and the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass.

Under a federal repatriation law, title to the Bishop objects went to Hui Mälama, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs and the Hawaiçi Island Burial Council; the Peabody Essex collection went to the hui, OHA and the Hawaiian sovereignty organization Ka Lahui Hawai'i.

The transfer of burial objects was made in four lots between 1997 and 2003, with the final repatriation from Peabody Essex occurring last November.

Hui Mälama transferred all the objects to the Big Island and reburied them in November.

Bishop Museum officials did not return calls for comment today. But John Grimes, a deputy director at Peabody Essex, said that the break-in indicates “an utter disrespect on the part of unscrupulous individuals for the sanctity of human remains and objects.

“Our condolences to Hui Mälama and other Native Hawaiian organizations that have worked to rectify the abuses of the past.”

Three of the groups sharing custody of the objects issued statements supporting the investigation.

In the statement the groups also said the thieves may have learned about the objects after published reports of the repatriation last year that listed the items.

Lehua Kinilau, who heads Ka Lahui, called on state and county officials to conduct their own investigation.

“We stand by to assist federal, state and county investigators in this matter,” added Geri Bell, who chairs the burial council. “When the investigations are completed and responsible parties are apprehended, fined and prosecuted, we expect the confiscated moepü to be returned to us for proper reburial.”