Stories to Tell and Pacific Clues feature UH archaeologists

Aloha,

My name is Ann Marie Kirk.  I'm a Producer/Director for the Teleschool Branch of the Hawai'i State Department of Education. 

The Teleschool Branch has been working with students, professors and alumni from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Anthropology 
department on 2 television series highlighting Pacific archeology.  Both series are targeted for 7th graders across the state who study the Pacific as part of the curriculum standards for that grade.  Both series provide a fascinating look into archeology in the Pacific for our students and our island wide communities.

The 2 series are:

Stories to Tell and Pacific Clues

Stories to Tell is a 9 part television series telling the story of 4 whaling ships sunk during the US Civil War in 1865 in Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia.  The whale ships were sunk by the Confederate raider the CSS Shenandoah.  One of the whale ships sunk was the Harvest, which was a whaling ship whose homeport was in Honolulu from the nation of Hawai'i. Many people, especially our students, do not know the US Civil War was internationalized - going beyond the continental boundaries of the United States and into the Pacific.

This series tells how whaling ships moved out of New England and came into Hawaii and the Pacific and then into Pohnpei in the Federated States of Micronesia.  The series explores how and why the US Civil War came into the Pacific. It also looks at the dramatic changes which took place in Hawai'i and Pohnpei as the result of whaling.

On every show we visit with maritime archeologist Suzanne Finney from the University of Hawai'i at Manoa who has been exploring the shipwrecks in Pohnpei and has been documenting evidence about this story. We watch her work on land and underwater identifying the different parts of the ships and telling their history.

There are also interviews with other archeologists, historians and cultural experts throughout Stories to Tell including: Dr. Michael Graves, Dr. Susan Lebo,  Dr. David Hanlon and Father Frances Hezel.

Stories to Tell will help students gain a broader understanding of the Pacific and how Pacific cultures were, and continue to be, affected by world events.  

Each show in Stories to Tell is 20 minutes long.

The second series, which immediately follows the first, is Pacific Clues.

Pacific Clues visits different archeological sites and clues found on varying islands.  The series looks at how these clues help us to unlock the mysteries of the early inhabitants and cultures of the islands.

The 9 mysteries explored are:

1)         Rapa Nui (Easter Island) with Dr. Terry Hunt.  What really caused the ecological disaster which took place on Rapa Nui?

2)         Mokumanaman and Nihoa - with Kekuewa Kikiloi.  What do the archeological remains tells us about these mysterious islands? What new evidence is being collected?

3)         Rapa Nui - with Brett Sheperdson.  What does the placement of the Moai (stones statues) on the island indicate? Were they abandoned or left at specific spots for a reason?

4)         Hawi, Hawai'i - with Jesse Stephen.  What is the new evidence being learned by the placement of heiau across the landscape of Hawi?

5)         Pu'ukohola, Hawai'i - with Dr. Michael Graves.  What is the significance of the Pu'ukohola and Mailekine heiau?

6)         Pu'ukohola, Heiau - with Dr. Thane Ladefoged.  How many people and what strategy was used to construct the heiau?  They are using infared imagery to help solve this question.

7)         Rapa Nui - with Dr. Terry Hunt.  What are the theories of how the Moai (stones statues) were moved across the island?

8)         Ka'u, Hawai'i - with Jade Moniz Nakamura.  In the middle of the Ka'u desert there are footprints embedded in the lava that are over 200 years old - whose are they? How did they get there?

9)         Wailau. Moloka'i - with Dr. Windy McElroy.  This is the first time an archeologist has studied the lo'i system (taro fields) in this remote valley.  What do the lo'i systems tell us about the people who lived there?

Each show of Pacific Clues runs 10 minutes.

I think it's important to note that all the archeologists/anthropologists seen in Pacific Clues are either currently students, professors or graduates of the University of Hawai'i at Manoa Anthropology Department.

I specifically chose hosts for both series from UH so they give voice and highlight all the amazing work being done in the Pacific by UH Manoa anthropologists and archeologists.

The host for Stories to Tell is:
Lahela Perry (graduate student working on her Doctorate)

The hosts for Pacific Clues are:
Dr. Windy McElroy
Jessse Stephen (graduate student working on his Doctorate)
Dr. Michael W. Graves

Shows will air every Tuesday until the completion of the 9 shows.  Shows are repeated Thursday and Saturday.

Series day and airtime are listed below.  

After each episode airs it will be uploaded to our teleschool website.  So if you miss an episode you'll find it online so you can catch up 
with the story.

teleschool.k12.hi.us

An important goal for Stories to Tell and Pacific Clues is to have our young students in Hawai'i become interested in the field of Anthropology. 

Through television, both these series take our students out of the classroom environment and into the field to see the Pacific in a way an archeologist or anthropologist sees, studies and records evidence to build new knowledge about the Pacific.

A hui hou,
Ann Marie Kirk
Director/Producer
Teleschool Branch
Hawai'i State DOE