Ki'i Pōhaku
Basalt stone figure
Mokumanamana island
Age unknown
The Hawaiian Archipelago is the most remote group of islands in the world. While the larger, higher, eastern islands were blessed with abundant rainfall and natural resources, providing a solid foundation for the Polynesian navigators who discovered and settled them, the small, low, western island of Mokumanamana (also known as Necker island) was a much more challenging place, with limited rainfall and even less shade. The 40-acre island rises only a few hundred feet above the sea and is surrounded by cliffs.
With rainfall of less than 60 cm per year, no edible plants, and difficult access from the ocean, Mokumanamana was probably not continually inhabited. But despite the harsh conditions, numerous rock-lined structures have been discovered on the island as well as a number of stone figures. These figures are stylistically like no others found in the rest of the Hawaiian Islands.
Bishop Museum has seven kiʻi pōhaku from Mokumanamana. Looking closely at the basalt rock images, one is struck by how unsimilar they are to carvings from the main Hawaiian islands.
Many researchers think that the kiʻi seem more closely related to stone work found in the Marqueses Islands, 2000 miles to the south of Hawai'i. Another link to central Polynesia are the rock slab-lined architectural features found on Mokumanamana that are similar to shrines found in the Tuamotu Islands.