MASSIVE WAVES UNEARTH ANCIENT HAWAIIAN PETROGLYPHS The volcanic slab, featuring ancient carvings of humans, typically lies 10 feet below the sand By Dashel Pierson

Published: March 10, 2016

March 10, 2016 Views: 4,835







MASSIVE WAVES UNEARTH ANCIENT HAWAIIAN PETROGLYPHS The volcanic slab, featuring ancient carvings of humans, typically lies 10 feet below the sand.





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Related Beneath 10 feet of sand at Keiki Beach on the North Shore of Oahu lies a slab of lava rock featuring petroglyphs from the ancient Hawaiians. The images depict what appears to be a man and a woman. Photo: Hodgson/A-Frame

The same swell that brought massive waves to the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau event at Waimea Bay also unearthed the ancient petroglyphs. Photo: Hodgson/A-Frame

Little is known about the carvings at Keiki Beach since they are rarely seen. And when they do appear, the sand typically covers them up again in a short period of time. Photo: Hodgson/A-Frame



Across the street from Foodland on the North Shore of Oahu,



But as quickly as the ancient drawings appear, the sand can cover them up. Some haven’t been seen for nearly a decade.



Surfline reached out to leading petroglyph scholars Ed and Diane Stasack about the Keiki Beach carvings. They responded from their home in Arizona:



“These, again, have been in the news recently as a new discovery. They are not. They are regularly exposed when the waves are high, usually when they are higher than 20 feet, regularly ‘rediscovered.’ They were made with deliberate intention and execution and are not ‘doodles’ or done superfluously.”



The Keiki Beach petroglyphs appear to show a man with a strong build and a woman with pointy hair. Besides humans, dogs are often depicted in the rock drawings. Dogs were highly regarded in ancient Hawaiian culture – not for their companionship, but for their meat. It was reserved for men with high status.



But because the drawings are so rarely seen, little is known about them. And the Stasack family hopes that the public will respect the petroglyphs like they’re expected to respect the land and native people when they’re in Hawaii.



“This site receives enough damage with the yearly erosive action of the waves,” the Stasacks insisted. “They must be treated with the same high level of respect and regard with which they were created.”

buried beneath 10 feet of sand, lies a slab of lava rock that bears a glimpse into the lives of the ancient Hawaiians. And occasionally, under the right conditions, that volcanic hunk of rock will provide a fleeting history lesson.Petroglyphs are a form of ancient art or storytelling made by carvings in rock. In Hawaii, the natives used the islands’ abundant lava rock as their canvas. And thanks to El Niño, and this winter’s particularly heavy swell activity, the rarely seen rock formations have been revealed on multiple occasions. Most recently, the swell that fueled the Quiksilver in Memory of Eddie Aikau event at Waimea Bay removed 10 feet of sand up the road at Keiki Beach, which unearthed a petroglyph.