UH Hilo anthropologist Peter Mills receives prestigious award for his archaeological work and public service
With its Public Archaeology Award, the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology recognizes Professor of Anthropology Peter Mills for his tireless preservation work.
By Susan Enright/UH Hilo Stories.
An anthropology professor at the University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo has received a prestigious award from the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology for his tireless preservation work.
Peter Mills received the SHA’s second Public Archaeology Award during its convention held last week at the Bishop Museum on Oʻahu. The purpose of the award is to recognize individuals or groups who reach a broad audience in their local communities and seek to involve these communities in their archaeological efforts.
“What makes the award really special is that it reflects a central role for UH Hilo in sustained efforts to improve heritage management programs in the Pacific by reaching out to descendant communities,” Mills says. “I have greatly benefited from working with so many students with deep passions and connections to cultural stewardship.”
In the awards statement by the SHA, it’s noted that the groups or individuals who receive the award exemplify the SHA’s ethical guidelines as adopted in their code of by-laws.
“By promoting understanding of Hawaiian cultural sites both for local people and visitors to the Hawaiian Islands, they encourage greater compassion and commitment to these significant places,” the statement reads. “Raising public awareness of the importance of these places can help to discourage commercialism and to eliminate collecting, buying, or selling archaeological materials.”
Through this award, SHA recognizes the importance of playing an active role in public education concerning Hawaiian archaeology and disseminating research.
Professor Mills has been a faculty member at UH Hilo since 1997, based at the Department of Anthropology, and has made profound positive impacts through his commitment to public-oriented scholarship. He has increased access to educational and professional training opportunities, particularly through the development of UH Hilo’s master of arts in heritage management program.
His leadership and service within and in collaboration with public, nonprofit, and professional organizations has been far-reaching; he has served as president and vice president of the Society for Hawaiian Archaeology, delivered public lectures through the Archaeological Institute of America and Historic Hawaiʻi Foundation, and has served as a board member on the Hawaiʻi Historic Places Review Board, the Paniolo Preservation Society, and works closely with the Honokaʻa Heritage Center.
Pāʻulaʻula
While Mills’s archaeological work and public service are inextricably linked, this award recognizes in particular his work at Pāʻulaʻula, a significant Hawaiian royal residence on Kauaʻi that was commonly known as the Russian Fort Elizabeth for the last century. Mills’s work at Pāʻulaʻula extends as far back as his dissertation research in the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley. This later developed into the book, Hawaiʻi’s Russian Adventure: A New Look at Old History (2002).
“A point of emphasis in the award is that my dissertation research from 29 years ago is still assisting the Kauaʻi community by reinforcing ʻike kūpuna (ancestral knowledge) carried by direct descendants of King Kaumualiʻi, especially Aunty Aletha Kaohi of Waimea, Kauaʻi, and a small army of ʻWest Side’ residents who have fought off organized Russian efforts to retain a colonial site name,” explains Mills in an email. He recommends reading a report by KITV4 for additional background on the project: Investigation into alleged secret Russian agent zeroed in on Kauaʻi.
- See also: UH Hilo anthropologist Peter Mills receives Hawaiʻi’s highest recognition of preservation projects (UH Hilo Stories, April 9, 2015)
The SHA notes in its award statement that Mills’s scholarship has consistently pushed back against conventional histories of this wahi kūpuna, which have minimized or obscured the significance of Pāʻulaʻula as a Hawaiian ancestral site built by a largely Hawaiian workforce, and with significant meaning to Hawaiian history, particularly in connection with the reign of Kaumualiʻi on Kauaʻi.
More recently, Mills and collaborators combined archival documents, maps, photographs, and archaeological research to build three-dimensional models of the site and increase community engagement with Pāʻulaʻula.
“His efforts in bringing this history forward has played a role in re-shaping public understanding of Pāʻulaʻula,” notes the SHA in the award statement. “This year, the Hawaiʻi Board of Land and Natural Resources voted unanimously to rename Russian Fort Elizabeth State Historical Park to Pāʻulaʻula State Historic Site. This decision is an important commitment to recognizing Pāʻulaʻula’s role in Native Hawaiian history.”
The statement concludes, “SHA would like to thank Prof. Peter R. Mills for his many years of public commitment, exemplary work, and for serving as a role model to many of us who aspire to make positive public impacts with our work here in Hawaiʻi.”
Story by Susan Enright, public information specialist for the Office of the Chancellor and editor of UH Hilo Stories. She received her bachelor of arts in English and certificate in women’s studies from UH Hilo.
