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Discovery of human burial could prompt rail design changes


2012 MAY 31 CTY Shoot archeological survey being done for the rail project. AIS trench work Tuesday in Kaka`ako on Pohukaina Street between Keawe and Cooke Street next to Mother Waldron Park. SA photo by Craig T. Kojima

Human remains were found Saturday at two additional sites in Kakaako along the route for the Honolulu rail project, and one of those sets of remains may qualify as a burial that could prompt the city to design the rail project around the site to avoid it.

Daniel Grabauskas, executive director of the Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, said archaeologists who are excavating the test sites told the city that one set of remains was discovered in the “flex” or fetal-like position that suggests it may be a pre-contact burial.

Additional remains believed to belong to two other individuals were found at a second site along Halekauwila Street, according to information published on HART’s Web site.

Both finds were made by crews that are conducting an archaeological survey along the rail route.

All construction on the $5.26 billion rail project was stopped in August after the Hawaii Supreme Court ruled the city should have completed that archaeological survey along the entire 20-mile train route before beginning construction on the rail project.

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