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Farias8 hands, and that it was in the possession of generations of AIPi ail the way back to Keakealaniwahine, the great chieffess of Hawaii. According to John Papa I'i in his book Fragments of Hawaiian History, Keakealaniwahine offered sacrifices at all the six heiau in the six districts: Hikiau in Kona, Punalu'u in Ka'u, Waha'ula in Puna, Kanoa in Hiio, Honuaula in Waipi o and Mo'okini in Kohaia. Additionally, he also mentions that Liholiho {Kamehameha 11) journeyed around the island after his fathers death to rededicate all the luakini heiau and he went to Punalu'u in Ka'u. (I'i , 1959) Dating for the Punalu'u Area According to Kirch in his book Feathered Gods and Fishhooks, Hawaii's prehistory is divided up into periods. The Late Expansion Period (1100-1650) is the period of time that increasingly massive temples were being constructed and permanent settlements are found. The Prato-Historic Period {1650-1795) is the period of time that there was an increase in Ku worship and an increase in warfare. Luakini's were built during this Hme period, which culminates in Kamehameha's unification of the islands in 1795. (Kirch, 1997) During the 1972 survey conducted by Neal Crozier for Bishop Museum, on the behalf of C. Brewer and Co. they pertormed hydration rind dating of sites, the following information is provided from their survey: Sites located directly north of the heiau: Site 88-17 Housesde: Test pit #1: 1658 (plus or minus 12) @ 30 cm.; 1651 (plus or minus 11) ~ 40 cm. Test pit #2: 1520 (plus or minus 21) ~ 53 cm. Site 8-27 tl shaped enclosuret: Test pit #1: 1622 (plus or minus 23) @ 40 cm. Houesite located mauka of Hwy 11 (far north of heiau): Site B9-173: Test pit#3: 1656 (plus or minus 11) @25 cm. Conclusion: The survey and excavation project in Punalu'u offered archaeological research of longtime span. On one end of the range we were able to study the habitation sequence of small coastal features 88-17 and 68-27 that had obviously been functional in recent time, while at the other, the larger complexes - BS-2 (Lanipaoj, 89-173, and 174, showed only pre-European contact utilization. According to our basaltic glass dates..it appears that the area between inland site 69-173 and coastal enclosure 68-17 was populated from early to mid 17th century. Samples from the lower depths at 68-17 substantiate the hypothesis that the site had been occupied at an earlier time and then abandoned for possibly 100 years. Vegetation Climate and Water sources: Vegetation located around site is primarily Kao Haole scrub, open scrub and wetland and strand species. Punalu'u is located in a shoreline area with very little rainfall. Studies have shown that weather patterns in the past were slightly different. The district of Ka'u has gone through several drought periods in historic times, many of which caused severe famine during eady historic periods. The closest source of fresh water is located in underwater and shoreline fresh water springs. It is said that the people of Punalu'u used to take gourds into the water and fill them from underwater springs. The next closest water is in the hills of Hiiea. Sources for building Heiau and carrying out rituals: The Heiau is constructed of a'a rock and `ili'ili stones for the paving stones. There are several sources for the pavement stones within a mile or two of the Heiau. The beach of Nau is