Comment Soon On ‘Iwi At Kailua Target Parcel

The state Historic Preservation Division is calling for information regarding ancient ‘iwi (bones) discovered last year on the site of the proposed Kailua Target store on Hahani Street.

According to a notice published in the Office of Hawaiian Affairs’ January 2013 Ka Wai Ola newspaper, comments are due “within 30 days” (counting from Dec. 19) from people having any knowledge of the identity or history of the human skeletal remains found in the former Don Quijote parking lot. Two sets of unmarked remains were discovered last summer by a contracted surveyor and determined to be Native Hawaiian and at least 50 years old. They have since been traced to kuleana lands claimed by Queen Kahaleleponi Kalama during the Great Mahele (1830s and ’40s).

Comments should be directed to Kawika Farm, 692-8015, of the State Historic Preservation Division.

The retailer has since revised its design to allow the bones to remain undisturbed.