Day 12, Jue 14

Today we began by stopping at the visitor center to watch a short movie about the history of Kualoa Ranch. It was interesting to see the different phases that the piece of property has been through throughout the ages. There was also a room that contained documents and displays related to the history. There were some interesting historical maps, one in particularly from the late 19th century that showed the presence of two fish ponds near the front of the property. There was also an interesting (albeit somewhat inaccurate) model of the terrain, and some impressive wood carvings of boar, running horses, and a giant bowl. Dr. Wechsler also joined us today which is great. Although all of the professors are awesome it’s nice to have some female presence.
We split off into multiple groups again today to finish our last official day of data collection for the common products Jeanette and Courtney joined me while Jessica and her crew headed to the front of the valley to continue work on the walls that they had seen before. My group talked to Dr. Lipo and we decided to look into the fish ponds that we found depicted on the old hand drawing. We walked down the road to where it intersects the main highway and the coast. Since the sea level was higher in the past, we had to keep in mind hat features might be further inland than might be expected. There was a depression that looked as if it might be what was shown in the illustration. It was difficult to tell however and there was no bounding or defining wall. On our walk parallel to the coast we managed to unknowingly go too fat and ended up turning down a wrong road. As we continued we found ourselves on a property with a total menagerie of animals. Goats, sheep, geese, chickens, ponies, horses, pigs, dogs…. Everywhere. We were then followed by a group of barking Chihuahuas until we found our way to the proper property line. Since we weren’t sure where the closest gate was we ended up belly crawling under a fence gap, which seems to be a trend lately, just as the owner was driving up. We then decided to explore the fell house dug into the cliff face that we found previously. Some others from our group were there as also. It was fun to climb into the pitch black tunnel and explore. WE had been hoping to see the laser scanner which was set up to go but we barely missed it, which stinks.
Once back at the ranch Courtney and I decided to go for a swim before starting on the data processing. It was very refreshing after being hot and sweaty all day. On our way back we saw two horses who looked suspiciously like out downstairs roommates standing in the road. WE then saw Dr. Wechsler trying to herd them back into the gate. Courtney went to get additional hands while Dr. Wechsler and I attempted to herd them in the right direction with very little success. We ended up going in circles around the neighbor’s house until the Dave showed up to round them up. Once that adventure was over Jessica and I continued processing our data and troubleshooting problems. We were able to get all of our points imported and started cleaning up the attribute tables. We also began sorting through the geotagged photos and organizing all of our information. We then decided to take a break for some experimental archaeology of our own. Jessica and I had collected pocketfuls of kakui nuts the day before because John had told us stories of how natives used them like candles to burn. We all got together and cracked them open. They were obviously at different stages of maturity. Some were brown, oily, and gooey inside, while others resembled traditional nuts that you would eat. Courtney and I tasted them (not sure there usually eaten) and they tasted like mild walnuts. Oily one we light on fire and they burned quite impressively and for a long time in comparison to their size. It was a very amusing way to end the evening.