The back of Hoa Hakananai'a carries komari.

Pitts et al. abstract: komari added, then bas-relief carvings succeeding them — part 3 — toward DEEP-C062

what the source states

Succeeding the komari were bas-relief carvings, "here interpreted as a single composition that narrates" the island's birdman myth.

what we infer

The published study gives the relative sequence statue → komari → bas-reliefs, which supports the claim that the birdman carvings postdate the statue's manufacture and the claim that the back carries komari. It gives no absolute date.

limitations

• Abstract only; the survey's reasoning is in the paywalled body.
• Relative sequence only; no dates.
• Second reader (claude-sonnet-5, 2026-09-19, run 2026-09-19-verify-deep-memory-122700, verify-v6) found the passage bears in different directions on the claims the record named; this record carries "context" toward DEEP-C062, the rest went to a record of its own at intake: The quoted abstract text establishes the sequence komari-before-bas-relief and, by implication of both being later additions, supports that the birdman carvings post-date the statue's manufacture (C059) and directly supports the komari-before-reliefs ordering (a proposed claim not admitted at intake ('On Hoa Hakananai'a the two komari petroglyphs were carved before th…')). However, the quoted material never states that the komari or reliefs are on the statue's back specifically, so it does not itself establish C062's claim about the back bearing komari, making it context rather than direct support for that claim.