Hale Mua

Hale Mua was a men's house associated with a person of chiefly rank who resided at the Lonoikamakahiki Residence. Hydration-Rind dating performed by the Bishop Museum indicated that the major portion of the site was constructed in pre-historic times over a period of 1550 to 1630 AD. Its architectural construction is similar to other known men's houses elsewhere in the Hawaiian Islands, pig bone found there is significant because pig was a food prohibited to women, and none of the large quantity of artifacts recovered were associated with women. Male ornaments found at the site suggest rank or status. The occupants were retainers of the chief who occupied the Lonoikamakahiki Residence site, including the chief's steward, who prepared all of the chief's meals and manufactured fishing gear and other items. Artifacts recovered included cowry lures for octopus fishing, trolling lures, fishing weights, unfinished bone fish hooks, nerita shell beads for necklaces or bracelets, dog-tooth ornaments used as a pendant or part of an anklet, adzes, abraders, miscellaneous bird, fish and animal bones, charcoal, sea urchin parts, sea shells, and candle nuts for lighting. These men's houses were called a mua and were strictly forbidden to women. After a male child was weaned and began to eat other food, he was taken to the mua and was no longer allowed to take food in the company of women. Muas served as places of both secular and ritual activities pertaining only to the male sex. This structure, like the Lonoikamakahiki Residence, was built with a high thatched roof, but only the stone foundation remains, and it may have had a thatched enclosure over each different feature except for the goat pen and the fireplace where the alii's food was cooked.

Kahaluu-Keauhou, Hawaii · United States