LIHU‘E — Opening up a bottle with your teeth could be as much heredity as stupidity. A state archaeologist alerted to a human skull found deep recently in Kalalau Valley identified it as ancient because of the way the teeth
LIHU‘E — Opening up a bottle with your teeth could be as much heredity as stupidity.
A state archaeologist alerted to a human skull found deep recently in Kalalau Valley identified it as ancient because of the way the teeth were worn down, indicating the human who the skull belonged to used his or her teeth as a tool.
Hunters taking advantage of the closure of Kalalau Trail for rockfall-mitigation work discovered the skull in the remote North Shore valley.
The finder was Davy Cook, now a Kekaha resident and the son of Chris Cook, former editor of The Garden Island.
“Up on an isolated ridge well back in the valley he found a human skull coming out of the ground on a tree root,” Chris Cook said in an e-mail.
“He was flown back in about a week ago with a (state Department of Land and Natural Resources) archaeologist,” he said.
When reached by telephone last week, Phyllis “Coochie” Cayan, History and Culture Branch chief in the DLNR State Historic Preservation Division, said she had not heard about the discovery.
Among her duties, Cayan coordinates the meetings of the various island burial councils, which advise DLNR on how to deal with findings of human remains.
“A skull was found in Kalalau and it remains in the valley,” said Laura Stevens, DLNR spokesperson.
“This is considered an inadvertent find and therefore falls under the jurisdiction of SHPD,” she said.
“The archeologist involved is currently in Kalalau so information on reinterment is not available,” Stevens said Thursday.
It is likely reinterment will occur near where the skull was discovered, and at press time it was unknown whether the find will be anything the Kaua‘i/Ni‘ihau Island Burial Council will need to weigh in on.
