Ka Lae is the site of one of the earliest Hawaiian settlements, and it has one of the longest archaeological records on the islands.[2] It is generally thought that this is where the Polynesians first landed because the Big Island is the closest of the Hawaiian Islands to Tahiti, and Ka Lae would be the point of first landfall.[7] Ruins of an ancient Hawaiian temple (heiau) and a fishing shrine can be found here. In addition, ancient Hawaiians drilled numerous holes in the rock ledges to use for mooring their canoes. Tying long ropes to their boats, they would drift out to sea to fish without fear of being carried away by the strong currents.[8] Anthropologists from the Bishop Museum excavated the area in the 1960s.[9][10][11]