Makauwahi Cave
Reconstruction of the Turtle-jawed moa-nalo, Chelychelynechen quassus
|
|
 location in Hawaii
|
|
| Location | south coast of Kauaʻi island, Māhāʻulepū Valley |
|---|---|
| Region | Hawaii |
| Coordinates | 21°53′18″N 159°25′8″W / 21.88833°N 159.41889°WCoordinates: 21°53′18″N 159°25′8″W / 21.88833°N 159.41889°W |
The Makauwahi Cave is the largest limestone cave found in Hawaii. It lies on the south coast of the island of Kauaʻi, in the Māhāʻulepū Valley close to Māhāʻulepū Beach, and is important for its paleoecological and archaeological values. It is reached via a sinkhole and has been described as “…maybe the richest fossil site in the Hawaiian Islands, perhaps in the entire Pacific Island region”.
Though known historically by the inhabitants of the island, and used as a grave site by ancient Hawaiians, 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 Kauaʻi. 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 17 ha (42.0 acres) Makauwahi Cave Reserve, which is subject to environmental restoration after having been used for sugarcane and maize farming before being abandoned to weeds. The area is being planted with threatened native plants, such as the local Pritchardia palm.
The site is apparently geologically unique in the Hawaiian Islands, comprising a sinkhole paleolake within a large cave system formed in eolianite limestone. The paleolake contains nearly 10,000 years of sedimentary record; since the discovery of Makauwahi as a fossil site, excavations have found pollen, seeds, diatoms, invertebrate shells, and Polynesian artifacts, as well as thousands of bird and fish bones.
...
Wikipedia