Makauwahi Cave

Makauwahi Cave, a limestone cave on Kauaʻi’s south coast, is the largest known limestone cave in Hawaii and one of the state’s most important archaeological and paleoecological sites. Reached through a sinkhole, it preserves nearly 10,000 years of sediment in a sinkhole paleolake within eolianite limestone. Since its scientific importance was recognized in 1992, excavations have uncovered fossils, artifacts, and environmental evidence that document Kauaʻi’s natural world before human settlement and the major ecological changes that followed Polynesian, then European and Asian arrival. The site has revealed an especially rich former birdlife, including many extinct species, and has also been the focus of ecological restoration.

Poipu, Hawaii · United States