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The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs is questioning the age of human burials — to date, more than 600 sets of remains — removed by Kawaiaha‘o Church in preparation for building a $17.5 million multipurpose center.

The state agency advocating for Native Hawaiians sent a letter this week to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources requesting detailed information about the burials to show whether they are all Christian burials, as the church contends, or whether some predate the church and should be protected by Hawaii’s historic burial law.

Kawaiaha‘o was established in 1842 to become Hawaii’s first church, and it has been allowed to disinter an unlimited number of human remains, or iwi kupuna, under an exemption to the burial law that gives special protections to traditional Hawaiian burials.

The exemption applies to known and actively maintained cemeteries, and was approved by DLNR and upheld by a Circuit Court judge.

But OHA questions whether the church is digging up burials that predate Kawaiaha‘o’s existence, especially given the “exceedingly large” number of remains, which includes 605 burials and thousands of individual bones as of Sept. 9.

“Since the historical record indicates that the area contained burial sites prior to the establishment of Kawaiaha‘o Church, questions of this nature are warranted,” OHA said in its letter dated Sept. 17.

OHA  is asking DLNR to obtain details about the burials such as their depth, position, orientation, whether they are in a coffin and whether artifacts are present. Other details that could help date burials such as the presence of remains of animals, plants and ref­use in proximity to burials are also being sought.

Kawaiaha‘o is required to notify DLNR’s State Historic Preservation Division of burial findings weekly, but the reports typically state only when and how many burials were removed.

Human Remains Discovery Stop Project Indefinitely

The first human remains to be discovered in the path of the Honolulu rail project have been unearthed in Kaka`ako by a crew conducting an archaeological survey for the project.

State Historic Preservation Division Administrator Pua Aiu said Thursday the bone fragment, believed to be Hawaiian remains dating to pre-contact times, was discovered Wednesday in a "nonburial site context" along with shell fragments and fire-cracked rocks.

The excavation appeared to have penetrated an old building site, revealing brick from a building foundation on each side of the trench, she said.

The bone was discovered at a depth of about 4 feet, she said. SHPD instructed the archaeologists working on the trench to leave the bone in place and continue excavating around it.

Dan Grabauskas, executive director of the Hono­lulu Authority for Rapid Transportation, visited the Kaka`ako site where the first human remains in the path of the rail project were discovered.

The $5.26 billion rail line is the largest public works project in Hawaii history, and the city has already agreed to pay more than $22 million in contractor claims because of delays.

Concerns that the discovery of Hawaiian burials along the rail route will delay construction were underscored Wednesday afternoon when a crew conducting the archaeological survey in Kaka`ako unearthed the first human remains discovered within the rail route.

The city has been surveying the 20-mile rail route in sections and has not completed the portions of the route in urban Hono­lulu where experts agree that burials are most likely to be found.

Last month the state Supreme Court ruled construction should not have begun on the $5.26 billion rail project until an archaeological survey was completed for the entire rail route.

In a unanimous ruling, the court found that rules governing the State Historic Preservation Division did not allow that agency to agree to the rail project until the city finished the survey to determine whether there are Native Hawaiian burials or other archaeological resources in the path of the rail line.