Cave artifact dispute 'not over'

PAUKUKALO, Maui — The Hawaiian Homes Commission yesterday denied the Bishop Museum permission to enter burial caves in Kawaihae and retrieve 83 rare Hawaiian artifacts.

The question now is: Does that end the matter, or will the objects first taken from the Big Island caves by David Forbes in 1905 continue their journey through the courts?

"It's going to lead to more legal entanglement," said La'akea Suganuma of the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts, one of 13 organizations that claim ownership of the objects. "It's not over yet."

William Brown, president of the Bishop Museum, said the museum's board of directors will review the matter and consider its options in the ongoing attempt to repatriate the artifacts as directed by a federal agency.

Commission members, meeting on Maui, voted 8-1 to deny the museum's request, saying they would rather leave the relics where they are out of respect for their ancestors.

Only commissioner Quentin Kawananakoa voted against the motion. He said he preferred to defer the matter 60 days to allow O'ahu groups claiming ownership of the artifacts to have their say.

The artifacts, which include a well-known wooden carving of a female figure believed to be worth millions, along with skeletal remains, were removed from the burial caves as far back as 1905. Additional removals continued as late as 1980, according to a Hawaiian Homes Commission staff report.

The Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act review committee studied the issue in May and concluded that the artifacts have not been properly repatriated. The committee said the museum is responsible for resolving the issue, and it said the 83 items should be made available to "all parties in the consultation."

But Hui Malama board member Charles Kauluwehi Maxwell Sr. told the commission that it was time to get the Bishop Museum out of the Kawaihae dispute.

"It's a Hawaiian matter," he said. "We should keep the lawyers and the legal entities out of it. The Hawaiians should go to the 'aina (on the Big Island) and kukakuka (discuss)."

EDITORIAL
Burial dispute can't be settled in the dark

The Honolulu Advertiser
Wednesday, September 24, 2003

With yesterday's rejection by the Hawaiian Homes Commission of the Bishop Museum's request to enter the Big Island's Kawaihae burial caves, the "Forbes Collection" saga is no closer to resolution.

The museum wants access to the caves to retrieve 83 artifacts purportedly stashed there years ago by Hui Malama I Na Kupuna 'O Hawai'i Nei.

All this would be a lot easier if David Forbes, a judge, businessman and amateur archaeologist, hadn't removed this collection, considered sacred, in 1905 in the first place.

But he did. And 95 years later Hui Malama, with the Bishop Museum's blessing, took it upon itself to re-inter the collection, incurring the wrath of several Hawaiian groups who understandably questioned Hui Malama's ability to protect the collection from damage.

A federal panel that reviews possible violations of the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act has concluded that the artifacts that the Bishop Museum "loaned" to Hui Malama have not been properly repatriated, concurring with the Royal Hawaiian Academy of Traditional Arts, which got the panel involved.

In light of that conclusion, the museum might be liable for any damages to the collection. So we can hardly expect museum president William Y. Brown, who inherited this controversy, to take it lying down. He says "neither the museum nor the claimants can be certain that all of the objects were in fact placed in the Kawaihae Caves, nor can we be assured that persons unknown have not removed them."

Hui Malama asks us to trust its stewardship of the collection, but it won't trust the Bishop Museum to repatriate the collection. If no one budges, we're looking at a tangle of lawsuits that could ultimately raise the dead.

Cave artifact dispute 'not over'

The Honolulu Advertiser Wednesday, September 24, 2003

The Honolulu Advertiser
Wednesday, September 24, 2003