Indigenous Culture

Of the 150 known Hawaiian petroglyph sites, most are on the Big Island.

The majority of these ki’i pohaku (rock carvings) depict events during the 1000 to 1,500 year period before Western culture arrived in the late 1700s. On the periphery of some petroglyph fields there are often also found post-contact images that depict men on horseback, sailing ships, names and Roman letters. One of the most accessible, viewer-friendly fields is the Waikoloa Petroglyph Preserve. It is found surrounded by a shopping center and condominium developments at Waikoloa Beach Resort on Hawaii Island’s west coast.