Ho'olele Lupe

Abstract

Kite use in prehistoric and early historic Oceania was wide spread and practiced for a variety of reasons. Oral traditions and ethnographic accounts on a pan-Pacific scale speak of ancient kites that exploited the wind in creative and practical ways. In Hawai'i, these practices included chiefly competition, fishing, meteorology, navigation, spiritual meditation and as one heroic chant dedicated to the demi-god Maui states, for pulling canoes at great speed. Unfortunately, in the Pacific Island archaeological record, there is a dearth of material evidence related to kite-flying and consequently the subsequent analysis of this enigmatic technology required alternative research methods which primarily focused on experimental techniques. After drawing upon archival research, simple shape analyses, and field observations, a range of functional replica Hawaiian kites were constructed and then tested in comparative flight scenarios that were performed to “...enhance analogies for archaeological interpretation” (Mathieu 2002:2-12). This research is valuable in an archaeological context because it considers material issues of Polynesian prehistory that oral traditions and ethnography alone cannot resolve. It also has the social merit of reevaluating useful anthropological information regarding general Pacific history, Oceanic migration, Polynesian religion, and the cultural identity of Hawaiians.