The Kaua`i Archaeological Field School , a program jointly sponsored by the University of Hawaii – Manoa Anthropology Department and the National Tropical Botanical Garden, will be digging Monday through Wednesday each week at Makauwahi Cave from June 15-July 14 this year. And everybody’s invited!

The program provides fully transferable college credit through UH for graduate and undergraduate students of all ages and backgrounds. Those not enrolled in a university can also take the course through UH Outreach College as a non-matriculated student.

As in past years (we’ve been doing this kind of work there for 21 years now), we will be excavating below the water table in the sinkhole, digging through the entire millennium of human activity there, and on into the interesting time before that when the island was ruled by giant flightless ducks and geese, long-legged bird-catching owls, and a host of other now-extinct creatures barely imaginable. Brian Lane, a Ph.D. candidate at UH, will oversee a simultaneous excavation for cultural artifacts in the South Cave.

Students in the Kauai Archaeological Field School get the opportunity to practice the skills of professional archaeology.
Photo by David Burney

This year’s program will feature a guest-lecture series, in which noted archaeologists, ethnographers, and historians will give public talks concerning aspects of Kaua`i’s past. A new component of the course offering this year is an ethnographic study, in which Dr. Christopher Landreau, a professional Cultural Resource Manager who is also a dedicated volunteer guide at the cave, will be assisted by the students to conduct interviews with persons who have lived in the Koloa area for decades. To enroll in the program for college credit, or just get more information, contact dburney@ntbg.org.