Mauna Kea

**Mauna Kea** is a dormant volcano on the island of Hawaii. Standing 4,207 m (13,802 ft) above sea level, its peak is the highest point in the state of Hawaii making the island of Hawaii the second highest island in the world. Most of the mountain is underwater; when measured from its oceanic base, Mauna Kea is over 10,000 m (33,000 ft) tall and is the tallest mountain on Earth. Mauna Kea is about a million years old, and has thus passed the most active shield stage of life hundreds of thousands of years ago. In its current post-shield state, its lava is more viscous, resulting in a steeper profile. Late volcanism has also given it a much rougher appearance than its neighboring volcanoes; contributing factors include the construction of cinder cones, the decentralization of its rift zones, the glaciation on its peak, and the weathering effects of the prevailing trade winds. Mauna Kea last erupted 6,000 to 4,000 years ago and is now considered dormant.

In Hawaiian mythology, the peaks of the island of Hawaii are sacred. An ancient law allowed only high-ranking aliʻi to visit its peak. Ancient Hawaiians living on the slopes of Mauna Kea relied on its extensive forests for food, and quarried the dense volcano-glacial basalts on its flanks for tool production. When Europeans arrived in the late 18th century, settlers introduced cattle, sheep and game animals, many of which became feral and began to damage the mountain's ecological balance. Mauna Kea can be ecologically divided into three sections: an alpine climate at its summit, a *Sophora chrysophylla*–*Myoporum sandwicense* (or māmane–naio) forest on its flanks, and an *Acacia koa*–*Metrosideros polymorpha* (or koa–ʻōhiʻa) forest, now mostly cleared by the former sugar industry, at its base. In recent years, concern over the vulnerability of the native species has led to court cases that have forced the Hawai'i Department of Land and Natural Resources to eradicate all feral species on the mountain.

With its high elevation, dry environment, and stable airflow, Mauna Kea's summit is one of the best sites in the world for astronomical observation. Since the creation of an access road in 1964, thirteen telescopes funded by eleven countries have been constructed at the summit. The Mauna Kea Observatories are used for scientific research across the electromagnetic spectrum and comprise the largest such facility in the world. Their construction on a landscape considered sacred by Native Hawaiians continues to be a topic of debate.

## Human History

### Native History

The first Ancient Hawaiians to arrive on Hawaii island lived along the shores, where food and water were plentiful. Settlement expanded inland to the Mauna Loa – Mauna Kea region in the 12th and early 13th centuries. Archaeological evidence suggests that these regions were used for hunting, collecting stone material, and possibly for spiritual reasons or for astronomical or navigational observations. The mountain's plentiful forest provided plants and animals for food and raw materials for shelter. Flightless birds that had previously known no predators became a staple food source.

Early settlement of the Hawaiian islands led to major changes to local ecosystems and many extinctions, particularly amongst bird species. Ancient Hawaiians brought foreign plants and animals, and their arrival was associated with increased rates of erosion. The prevailing lowland forest ecosystem was transformed from forest to grassland; some of this change was caused by the use of fire, but the prevailing cause of forest ecosystem collapse and avian extinction on Hawaii appears to have been the introduction of the Polynesian (or Pacific) rat.

The summits of the five volcanoes of Hawaii are revered as sacred mountains; and Mauna Kea's summit, the highest, is the most sacred. For this reason, a *kapu* (ancient Hawaiian law) restricted visitor rights to high-ranking aliʻi. Hawaiians associated elements of their natural environment with particular deities. In Hawaiian mythology, the summit of Mauna Kea was seen as the "region of the gods", a place where benevolent spirits reside. Poliʻahu, deity of snow, also resides there.[33] In Hawaiian, Mauna Kea is a shortened form of *Mauna a Wakea* which denotes the mountain's connection to the sky father Wakea; however, the English translation of Mauna Kea is "white mountain" in reference to its seasonally snow-capped summit.

Around AD 1100, natives established adze quarries high up on Mauna Kea to extract the uniquely dense basalt (generated by the quick cooling of lava flows meeting glacial ice during subglacial eruptions) to make tools. Volcanic glass and gabbro were collected for blades and fishing gear, and māmane wood was preferred for the handles. At peak quarry activity after AD 1400, there were separate facilities for rough and fine cutting; shelters with food, water, and wood to sustain the workers; and workshops creating the finished product.

Lake Waiau provided drinking water for the workers. Native chiefs would also dip the umbilical cords of newborn babies in its water, to give them the strength of the mountain. Use of the quarry declined between this period and contact with Americans and Europeans. As part of the ritual associated with quarrying, the workers erected shrines to their gods; these and other quarry artifacts remain at the sites, most of which lie within what is now the Mauna Kea Ice Age Reserve.

This early era was followed by peace and cultural expansion between the 12th and late 18th century. Land was divided into regions designed for both the immediate needs of the populace and the long-term welfare of the environment. These *ahupuaʻa* generally took the form of long strips of land oriented from the mountain summits to the coast. Mauna Kea's summit was encompassed in the ahupuaʻa of Kaʻohe, with part of its eastern slope reaching into the nearby Humuʻula. Principal sources of nutrition for Hawaiians living on the slopes of the volcano came from the māmane–naio forest of its upper slopes, which provided them with vegetation and bird life. Bird species hunted included the ʻuaʻu (*Pterodroma sandwichensis*), nēnē (*Branta sandvicensis*), and palila (*Loxioides bailleui*). The lower koa–ʻōhiʻa forest gave the natives wood for canoes and ornate bird feathers for decoration.

### Modern History

There are three accounts of foreigners visiting Hawaii before the arrival of James Cook, in 1778. However, the earliest Western depictions of the isle, including Mauna Kea, were created by explorers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Contact with Europe and America had major consequences for island residents. Native Hawaiians were devastated by introduced diseases; port cities including Hilo, Kealakekua, and Kailua grew with the establishment of trade; and the adze quarries on Mauna Kea were abandoned after the introduction of metal tools.

In 1793, cattle were brought by George Vancouver as a tribute to King Kamehameha I. By the early 19th century, they had escaped confinement and roamed the island freely, greatly damaging its ecosystem. In 1809 John Palmer Parker arrived and befriended Kamehameha I, who put him in charge of cattle management on the island. With an additional land grant in 1845, Parker established Parker Ranch on the northern slope of Mauna Kea, a large cattle ranch that is still in operation today. Settlers to the island burned and cut down much of the native forest for the construction of sugarcane plantations and houses.

The Saddle Road, named for its crossing of the saddle-shaped plateau between Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa, was completed in 1943, and eased travel to Mauna Kea considerably.

The Pohakuloa Training Area on the plateau is the largest military training ground in Hawaii. The 108,863-acre (44,055 ha) base extends from the volcano's lower flanks to 2,070 m (6,790 ft) elevation, on state land leased to the US Army since 1956. There are 15 threatened and endangered plants, 3 endangered birds,

and 1 endangered bat species in the area.

Mauna Kea has been the site of extensive archaeological research since the 1980s. Approximately 27 percent of the Science Reserve had been surveyed by 2000, identifying 76 shrines, 4 adze manufacturing workshops, 3 other markers, 1 positively identified burial site, and 4 possible burial sites. By 2009, the total number of identified sites had risen to 223, and archaeological research on the volcano's upper flanks is ongoing. It has been suggested that the shrines, which are arranged around the volcano's summit along what may be an ancient snow line, are markers for the transition to the sacred part of Mauna Kea. Despite many references to burial around Mauna Kea in Hawaiian oral history, few sites have been confirmed. The lack of shrines or other artifacts on the many cinder cones dotting the volcano may be because they were reserved for burial.

### Ascents

In pre-contact times, natives traveling up Mauna Kea were probably guided more by landscape than by existing trails, as no evidence of the latter has been found. It is possible that natural ridges and water sources were followed instead. Individuals likely took trips up Mauna Kea's slopes to visit family-maintained shrines near its summit, and traditions related to ascending the mountain exist to this day. However, very few natives actually reached the summit, because of the strict *kapu* placed on it.

In the early 19th century, the earliest notable *recorded* ascents of Mauna Kea included the following:

* On August 26, 1823, Joseph F. Goodrich, an American missionary, made the first recorded ascent in a single day; however, a small arrangement of stones he observed suggested he was not the first human on the summit. He recorded four ecosystems as he travelled from base to summit, and also visited Lake Waiau.
* On June 17, 1825, an expedition from HMS *Blonde*, led by botanist James Macrae, reached the summit of Mauna Kea. Macrae was the first person to record the Mauna Kea silversword (*Argyroxiphium sandwicense*), saying: "The last mile was destitute of vegetation except one plant of the Sygenisia tribe, in growth much like a Yucca, with sharp pointed silver coloured leaves and green upright spike of three or four feet producing pendulous branches with brown flowers, truly superb, and almost worth the journey of coming here to see it on purpose."
* In January 1834, David Douglas climbed the mountain and described extensively the division of plant species by altitude. On a second climb in July, he was found dead in a pit intended to catch wild cattle. Although murder was suspected, it was probably an accidental fall. The site, *Ka lua kauka*, is marked by the Douglas fir trees named for him.
* In 1881, Queen Emma traveled to the peak to bathe in the waters of Lake Waiau during competition for the role of ruling chief of the Kingdom of Hawaii.
* On August 6, 1889, E.D. Baldwin left Hilo and followed cattle trails to the summit.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries trails were formed, often by the movement of game herds, that could be traveled on horseback. However, vehicular access to the summit was practically impossible until the construction of a road in 1964, and it continues to be restricted. Today, multiple trails to the summit exist, in various states of use.

###