More ancient Hawaiian remains were discovered at the General Growth Properties Ward Village Shops construction site and the state has decided the landowner/developer must remove the iwi and re-inter them at a later date.

There have been 64 finds since the project began in 2005. Nine sets of remains were unearthed recently and of them, seven were determined to be of Hawaiian ethnicity. No determination could be made on the other two, according to a letter written by Melanie Chinen, administrator for the state Historic Preservation Division.

The Oct. 12 letter to Jan Yokota, vice president of General Growth, said the remains could be relocated to the burial preserve located within the diamondhead area of the project.

"GGP is provided with the authority to conduct the immediate disinterment of these burials and should curate all burials on site with those previously disinterred," Chinen wrote.

The Historic Preservation Division operates under the Department of Land and Natural Resources. The division is charged with preserving and maintaining cultural sites, including the management of burial sites more than 50 years old. The individual Island Burial Councils work with the division to address concerns relating to Hawaiian burial sites.

BONES IN COLD STORAGE

Yokota said General Growth removed the iwi most recently found and is temporarily holding them in an air-conditioned trailer at the construction site. The remains will be re-interred once the project is completed, Yokota said.

"We have worked with descendants' families and have agreed on certain areas on site," Yokota said.

The letter grants permission for the removal of 11 total iwi discoveries, two of which — Nos. 55 and 56 — will be the subject of a Circuit Court hearing today.

Moses Haia, attorney for Paulette Kaanohiokalani Kaleikini, a descendant of remains found earlier at the site, seeks to have a judge stop the removal and relocation of those two sets of iwi.

Haia said the recent discovery of more remains strengthens their case because it indicates a greater concentration of iwi in the vicinity of Nos. 55 and 56 and merits "greater consideration for preservation in place."

GARAGE BUILT FIRST

The $100 million project includes a Whole Foods Market, a 17-story rental apartment building, assorted retail shops and a parking garage at the diamondhead end of Auahi Street. But General Growth is only working on the parking garage and the Whole Foods building now, Yokota said.

The first structures, on 6 acres of land, are expected to be completed next year, with Whole Foods opening by late 2008, she said.

The recent inadvertent discovery included whole skeletal remains and individual iwi, said Laura Thielen, director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. The nine new finds — in various sites — were discovered when General Growth's consultant was conducting additional archeological work as a result of a previous discovery, Thielen said.

Several factors played into the decision to relocate the latest finds of iwi, she said. They include the law, which spells out specific criteria including whether a large concentration of iwi is in a small area; a previous decision by the O'ahu Island Burial Council to relocate other remains found on the construction site; and the lack of a consensus from the descendants about whether to remove or keep the iwi in place, Thielen said.

Thielen, who took charge of the DLNR less than three months ago, said initial surveys indicated that there would be few burials in the area.

"On the one hand there's archaeologist saying no we hadn't anticipated having an undue number," she said. "On the other hand there's people now saying, this is something that should have been known."

Reach Eloise Aguiar at eaguiar@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Correction: Paulette Kaanohiokalani Kaleikini is a descendant of old Hawaiian remains found before construction began at Ward Village Shops. A previous version of this story incorrectly linked her with remains found later. Also, a total of 64 sets of remains have been found since 2005. The story gave an outdated number.