State sets reburial date

By Vicki Viotti
Advertiser Staff Writer

State officials have asked the archaeological consultants working at the Wal-Mart property to have human remains found on the site during construction ready for reburial by Jan. 10, although some of the archaeologists say it's unlikely the deadline can be met.

Melanie Chinen, who heads the State Historic Preservation Division, on Monday told the O'ahu Island Burial Council that her staff believes the work can be done if workers stop further cleaning of the bones and limit work to separate individual sets of remains from each other.

This is the latest episode in a two-year-old dispute over the bones uncovered at a corner of the Wal-Mart Ke'eaumoku Street site, the remains of an estimated 44 to 50 individuals presumed to be of Native Hawaiian ancestry based on historic maps of the area.

Complicating matters Monday was a decision by the council to recognize one of the families claiming the remains as "lineal descendants," a distinction given to those who can show a genealogical link to the remains. State law gives lineal descendants greater influence over how the remains will be reburied.

That family, the Kekaula clan, was represented Monday by members of its Keana'aina branch, who hugged each other after the council took its vote. The Keana'ainas had submitted documents bolstering their case that the burials lay in ancestral family land. State historic preservations staff, who opposed their recognition as lineal descendants, presented other maps showing the burials across the Kekaula property line.

Paulette Kaleikini, speaking for another claimant family, said she planned to file an administrative appeal of the council decision.

The Keana'ainas have favored "reassociation," or separation of the mingled remains before reburial, while Kaleikini and others are pressing for burial as quickly as possible. Among the others is Kealoha Kuhia, a new claimant who also asserts that he is a lineal descendant; his petition for recognition won't be decided until the council next meets Jan. 11.

The council also voted to recognize Edward Halealoha Ayau, a spokesman for the burials group Hui Malama I Na Kupuna O Hawai'i Nei, as a "cultural descendant," in the same general category as Kaleikini and the others.

Chinen said after the meeting that all the families will be reconvened to finalize plans for reburial, adding that the council's decision on lineal descent won't change the state's timetable. The decision on how much archaeological work is needed is one for the state to make, she said, not the families or Wal-Mart's archaeological consultant, Aki Sinoto.

Sinoto said that the state's request for a Jan. 10 deadline is "arbitrary," and that he is just following an already approved archaeological work plan.

"We would like to urge that the original scope of work, which was publicly reviewed, just be allowed to be completed," Sinoto said.

The state wants Sinoto and his team to focus on matching up the larger bones in individual remains, not the smaller fragments. Chinen said that prompt reburial preserves the dignity of the remains, but Sinoto said he shares that aim.

"Our primary objective is not scientific," he said. "It's to respectfully restore the individual burials with as much integrity as possible."

Reach Vicki Viotti at vviotti@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8053.