PuuLoa, Hawaii, Photograph Joe Belef, 2007.
On November 17, 2012, I put up a posting about Hawaiian Piko
stones. These are stones with holes pecked into them that serve as receptacles
for the umbilical cords of newborn infants, the belief being that spiritual
benefits will accrue to the newborn because of this. Rock surfaces with pecked
holes can be found worldwide, and, because of the recorded Hawaiian purpose for
such holes they are often, and usually incorrectly, also interpreted as
umbilical cord receptacles, Piko stones around the world. As I have stated before
we just cannot take a piece of data from one culture and simply apply it to
another culture without considerable supporting evidence. We cannot even assume
that similar items from within the same culture all have similar uses.
Pohaku Ka Luahine, Moanalua valley, Honolulu.
Photograph Peter Faris,10-23-2010.
Pohaku Ka Luahine, Moanalua valley, Honolulu.
Photograph Peter Faris,10-23-2010.
Bishop Museum Press, p. 50.
On Dec. 1, 2010, I had posted a column about a rock art site on
the Hawaiian island of Oahu that has a grouping of pits in its upper surface
that are considered to be a game board, not a piko stone. This site, named
Pohaku Ka Luahine, is found in Moanalua valley and consists of a large round
boulder. It is densly pecked with lines and figures as well as the game board.
I could not really distinguish the grid of pits of the konane game board on the top of the boulder. This is a checkers-like
game played with black and white pebbles by Hawaiians and examples have reportedly been
found with one hundred or more pits pecked into boulders. This particular boulder is quite
eroded and given the dim light under the jungle canopy there were few options
for visual clues from side lighting.If there was any patina on the boulder
surface it was the same color and value as the rock itself because there was
virtually no color difference to go by. Details were hard to see and really did
not come through well in the photos at all. I have illustrated it with an obviously incomplete field sketch from the Bishop Museum which does not include many of the lines and images visible in the photograph of the boulder. This is, however, an instance of an attributed game board in rock art.
So, what are the examples in the photographs by Joe Belef, Piko stones, game boards, or something else? Notice that on the game board boulder the pits are arranged in rows in a grid pattern. Also, there are many other petroglyphs of figures, etc., on the Pohaku Ka Luahine. Examples of actual attributed Piko stones that I have seen did not have the pits arranged in a grid, and they had no other figures on them. By comparison, these examples then have to be classified as either, or both, or something else entirely, because they have additional figures but are not arranged in grid patterns. Interesting?
REFERENCE:
James, Van
2010 Ancient Sites
of O’ahu, Bishop Museum Press, Honolulu, p.50
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