“Ancient Sites of Maui, Moloka‘i, and Lana‘i: A Guide to Hawaiian Archaeological and Cultural Places”

Van James

Mutual Publishing, $21.95

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Many Hawaiian wahi pana (ancient sites) – heiau (temples), pohaku (stones), petroglyphs, caves and fishponds — survive in the middle of suburbs and cities, as well as in remote areas, but countless others have vanished. “It is sad to report that two-thirds of the known ancient sites on Oahu have already been destroyed,” writes Van James, an art teacher at Honolulu Waldorf School, in his Ka Palapala Po‘okelo Award-winning “Ancient Sites of O‘ahu.”

That’s one reason James periodically revises his ­island-by-island series on cultural sites, he said in a recent email. Sacred Falls was devastated by a fatal landslide and closed after the publication of his first Oahu edition, and the Healing Stones of Wahiawa disappeared after the second; lava has covered several sites in his Hawaii island editions, including, in the 2018 eruption, the tide pools of Wai ‘Opae in Kapoho Bay.

Happily, other long-lost sites continue to be found, brought to light and made accessible, such as Hawea Heiau with its petroglyphs, Kanewai Fishpond and Lucas Spring/Kalauha’eha’e Fishpond on Oahu, and Olowalu Landing, Waihe’e Refuge, Palauea Cultural Preserve, Hoapili Trail and Nu‘u Landing on Maui. The latter have been added to James’ 2018 revised edition of “Ancient Sites of Maui, Moloka‘i, and Lana‘i.” He includes legends and history about each site, shown in his clear color photographs with accompanying maps. It’s exciting to see the islands’ only known pictographs, painted with red ochre or kukui nut pigments on stones on Maui and Lanai.

Books, however, “cannot replace the experience of standing at a site and encountering with all one’s senses the way a natural formation or a human construction is set within the elements,” James writes, urging that we visit — and respect — places that are open to the public, while avoiding kapu places such as burial caves.

Seeing a place and its prospect as its Hawaiian ­namers and builders did, James writes, one begins to feel the spirit or “beingness” of a place. As the late Edward Kanahele, professor of history at Hawai‘i Community College, writes in the preface, “What they also left for us is the ability to see beauty, life, and love in everything.”

James’ books convey this sensibility and make invaluable field guides.