The city's planned $3.7 billion elevated commuter rail has a high potential of encountering Native Hawaiian burials and other archaeological artifacts once construction enters urban Honolulu.

Traditional Hawaiian burials are generally unmarked graves, and their locations have resulted in setbacks for developers and alarmed some Native Hawaiians and archaeologists. The issue of how to deal with the discovery of iwi, or burial remains, arose at the Kaka'ako Wal-Mart and Ward Villages projects and likely could reoccur if the city proceeds with plans to build a 20-mile rapid transit system linking East Kapolei to Ala Moana.

According to a preliminary study, there's a reasonable potential the transit project will affect burials and precontact archaeology as it traverses Nimitz Highway, Halekauwila Street and Kapi'olani Boulevard. An expansion spur to Waikiki also has high potential to disrupt historical sites.

Other portions of the route along Farrington and Kamehameha highways and an airport spur have a medium potential of encountering such sites, according to an October 2006 draft environmental consequences report prepared for the city by Parsons Brinckerhoff, the New York-based project manager.

More details about the project's potential impact on archaeological resources are expected to be disclosed when the city releases a draft environmental impact statement later this summer. Moses Aiai, an attorney for the Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation, agreed the city could encounter iwi in urban Honolulu. That makes it critical that the city conduct archaeological surveys at each location where digging will occur, he said.

"I would expect some kind of an impact on burial sites or other historic sites in that area," Aiai said. "That's what's so important about doing this sort of analysis up front before you begin digging, because you want to still have the flexibility ... and you're able to look at design alternatives."

IWI INSTANCES

The Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation unsuccessfully sought to temporarily halt construction at both the Wal-Mart and Ward Villages sites after iwi were discovered there. The group, which represents people it says are descendants of those remains, contends that developers and the state don't conduct adequate research into the potential for disturbing iwi prior to construction projects.

About 42 sets of remains were found at the Ke'eaumoku Wal-Mart site after construction began in late 2002. The Wal-Mart now is open, but iwi that were unearthed during construction have not been reburied because of ongoing legal proceedings.

Separately, about 60 sets of remains were discovered at the site of General Growth's Ward Villages development, mauka of Ward Centre. Eleven sets of remains were noted during a 2006 archaeological survey of the site. Work, which was halted for a time, resumed after the O'ahu Island Burial Council voted to allow the developer to move those 11 remains.

When workers went to remove the initial remains, more burials were discovered.

The finished project is to include a Whole Foods Market, a 17-story apartment building, retail shops and a parking garage at the diamondhead end of Auahi Street. The Whole Foods Market, which was to open at the end of this year, was slightly delayed and is now set to open in January. In addition, construction of the 218-unit rental apartment building is on hold following a state decision that 30 remains must be preserved in place. Thirty unearthed remains were recently reinterred in a nearby central burial area.

General Growth is looking at redesign options that will allow the apartment project to proceed, said Jan Yokota, General Growth's vice president of development. Developers need to be prepared for added costs and delays when dealing with archaeological sites in a culturally sensitive way, she added.

"It's often difficult to know in advance" what will be found underground, Yokota said. "It typically happens that it's during the construction process that you encounter the iwi.

"One thing that's important for all developers is to know, as best as they can, (is) to do as much proactive research initially and to continue to work with the families (if iwi are found)," she said.

CONSULTATIONS

Mayor Mufi Hannemann's office didn't respond to questions last week asking what the city will do if it encounters burials or archaeological items during construction of the rail system.

If iwi are found, they may be preserved in place, if there's flexibility in the rail's construction design, according to the city's 2006 environmental consequence report. Any human remains impacted by the rail project would be handled within applicable state and federal laws, the report said.

The report said the city will consult with the O'ahu Island Burial Council and the state Historic Preservation Division about the project's impacts on archaeological resources.

The Historic Preservation Division operates under the Department of Land and Natural Resources. The division said it responds to approximately two to three inadvertent discoveries statewide each week, and is involved in up to 250 burial cases annually. The division is charged with preserving and maintaining cultural sites, including management of burial sites more than 50 years old. The O'ahu Island Burial Council makes recommendations on how to handle inadvertent finds of burials on the island.

Factors that have been considered when deciding whether to preserve human remains in place include whether descendants can be located, the concentration of burials and the timing of the discovery of remains.

The Historic Preservation Division said it is in preliminary discussions with the city and project consultants regarding potential cultural and historic resources along the route.

"As the discussions are preliminary because the route has not been definitely determined, we have not made any determination as to the effect of the corridor on historic or cultural sites," the division wrote in an e-mail to the Advertiser.

According to the city's preliminary research, the Iwilei-to-Waikiki portion of the train route has the greatest potential for impacting archaeological resources because of the area's intensive land use through pre-contact and historical times.

MAKING ADJUSTMENTS

The likelihood of encountering iwi depends on the depths, locations and amount of digging needed to build the elevated commuter rail, said Thomas Dye, president of the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology. Coastal areas with subsurface beach sand are more likely to contain iwi. That's because sand was the preferred location for burials. Remains buried in sand also remain better preserved than remains buried at higher, wetter elevations, Dye said.

"Presumably the (city's) archaeologists have been doing their homework and they know where to find the sand deposits and where burials are likely," Dye said. "Those kinds of things always pose some delays. They're usually not insurmountable though."

Ideally the rail project's footings can be moved to accommodate any historical or archaeological sites that are discovered, Dye said.

Design changes "happen very typically now in Hawai'i, where people will redesign something so that human burials can be avoided," he said. "That's becoming more and more common."

That's what occurred recently after three sets of human remains were discovered at the construction site of First Hawaiian Bank's new Kailua branch. The construction plans were revised following the discovery, said bank spokesman Brandt Farias. Those remains are being left in place and a monument was added to the site, he said.

Farias said he did not know how much the changes may have cost the bank.

"If there was additional cost, we're happy to do it, because it was the right thing to do for the families and the community," he said.