The Makauwahi Cave is the largest

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

cave A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

found in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...

. It lies on the south coast of the island of Kauai, in the Māhāulepū Valley close to Māhāulepū Beach, and is important for its paleoecological and archaeological values. It is reached via a

sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...

and has been described as “…maybe the richest fossil site in the Hawaiian Islands, perhaps in the entire

Pacific Island Collectively called the Pacific Islands, the islands in the Pacific Ocean are further categorized into three major island groups: Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Depending on the context, the term ''Pacific Islands'' may refer to one of se ...

region”.

History

Though known historically by the inhabitants of the island, and used as a grave site by

ancient Hawaii Ancient Hawaii is the period of Hawaiian history preceding the unification in 1810 of the Kingdom of Hawaii by Kamehameha the Great. Traditionally, researchers estimated the first settlement of the Hawaiian islands as having occurred sporadicall ...

ans, the cave’s paleontological value was first realized in 1992 by David Burney, Lida Pigott Burney, Helen F. James and Storrs L. Olson, who found the cave’s access sinkhole while searching for fossil sites on the south coast of Kauai. The traditional name of the cave, Makauwahi, or “smoke eye” in Hawaiian, was rediscovered in 2000 by a local archaeologist, William Pila Kikuchi, who found the name in a high school student’s essay written over a century previously. In 2004 the Burneys acquired a lease on the cave property, now the Makauwahi Cave Reserve, which is subject to environmental restoration after having been used for sugarcane and

maize Maize ( ; ''Zea mays'' subsp. ''mays'', from es, maíz after tnq, mahiz), also known as corn (North American and Australian English), is a cereal grain first domesticated by indigenous peoples in southern Mexico about 10,000 years ago. The ...

farming before being abandoned to weeds. The area is being planted with threatened native plants, such as the local '' Pritchardia'' palm.Burney & Burney (2008).

Description

The site is apparently geologically unique in the Hawaiian Islands, comprising a

paleolake in a cave formed in

eolianite Eolianite or aeolianite is any rock formed by the lithification of sediment deposited by aeolian processes; that is, the wind. In common use, however, the term refers specifically to the most common form of eolianite: coastal limestone consisting ...

limestone. The paleolake contains nearly 10,000 years of sedimentary record; since the discovery of Makauwahi as a fossil site, excavations have found pollen,

seed A seed is an embryonic plant enclosed in a protective outer covering, along with a food reserve. The formation of the seed is a part of the process of reproduction in seed plants, the spermatophytes, including the gymnosperm and angiospe ...

s, diatoms, invertebrate shells, and

Polynesia Polynesia () "many" and νῆσος () "island"), to, Polinisia; mi, Porinihia; haw, Polenekia; fj, Polinisia; sm, Polenisia; rar, Porinetia; ty, Pōrīnetia; tvl, Polenisia; tkl, Polenihia (, ) is a subregion of Oceania, made up of ...

n artifacts, as well as thousands of bird and fish bones. The findings document not only the conditions before human colonization of the Hawaiian islands, but also the millennium of human occupation with the drastic ecological changes that occurred since first Polynesians, and later Europeans and Asians, arrived in the islands along with a suite of

invasive alien species An invasive species otherwise known as an alien is an introduced species, introduced organism that becomes overpopulated and harms its new environment. Although most introduced species are neutral or beneficial with respect to other species, i ...

. They reveal the existence of a large number of native birds that became extinct as a result. The cave has also shown that certain plants previously believed to be Polynesian introductions, such as Kou (''

Cordia subcordata ''Cordia subcordata'' is a species of flowering tree in the borage family, Boraginaceae, that occurs in eastern Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, northern Australia and the Pacific Islands (including Hawaii). The plant is known by a variety o ...

'') and Hala (''

Pandanus tectorius ''Pandanus tectorius'' is a species of ''Pandanus'' (screwpine) that is native to Malesia, Papuasia, eastern Australia, and the Pacific Islands. It grows in the coastal lowlands typically near the edge of the ocean. Common names in English incl ...

''), existed on the islands prior to human settlement. Remains of some 40 species of birds have been found in the cave; half of these species are now extinct. New discoveries of extinct species include the turtle-jawed moa-nalo (''Chelychelynechen quassus''), the blind and flightless Kaua'i mole duck (''Talpanas lippa''), and the

Kauai palila Kauai, () anglicized as Kauai ( ), is geologically the second-oldest of the main Hawaiian Islands (after Niʻihau). With an area of 562.3 square miles (1,456.4 km2), it is the fourth-largest of these islands and the List of islands of th ...

(''Loxioides kikuichi''). The

Kauaʻi cave wolf spider The Kauai cave wolf spider (''Adelocosa anops'', the only species in the genus ''Adelocosa''), also known to local residents as the blind spider, is only known to occur in a few caves in a lava flow with an area of in the Kōloa– Poipū regi ...

, also known as the "blind spider", is only known to occur in this cave and in a few lava tubes in the area.

References

Sources

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External links

Official website of Makauwahi Cave Reserve

NTBG: Rooted in the Past, Growing in the Future
{{Navbox prehistoric caves Archaeological sites in Hawaii Caves of Hawaii Landforms of Kauai Limestone caves Sinkholes of the United States

History

Description

See also

References

Sources

External links