Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T19:28:57.041Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Earliest direct evidence of monument building at the archaeological site of Nan Madol (Pohnpei, Micronesia) identified using 230Th/U coral dating and geochemical sourcing of megalithic architectural stone

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Mark D. McCoy ,
Helen A. Alderson ,
Richard Hemi ,
Hai Cheng  and
R. Lawrence Edwards
Mark D. McCoy*
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, TX 75275, USA
Helen A. Alderson
Affiliation:
Division of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3DZ, UK
Richard Hemi
Affiliation:
School of Surveying, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
Hai Cheng
Affiliation:
Institute of Global Environmental Change, Xi’an Jiaotong University, Xi’an 710049, China Department of Earth Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
R. Lawrence Edwards
Affiliation:
Department of Earth Sciences, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail address:mdmccoy@smu.edu(M.D. McCoy)
Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Core share and HTML view are not available for this content. However, as you have access to this content, a full PDF is available via the ‘Save PDF’ action button.

Archaeologists commonly use the onset of the construction of large burial monuments as a material indicator of a fundamental shift in authority in prehistoric human societies during the Holocene. High-quality direct evidence of this transition is rare. We report new interdisciplinary research at the archaeological site of Nan Madol that allows us to specify where and when people began to construct monumental architecture in the remote islands of the Pacific. Nan Madol is an ancient administrative and mortuary center and the former capital of the island of Pohnpei. It was constructed over 83 ha of lagoon with artificial islets and other architecture built using columnar basalt and coral. We employed geochemical sourcing of basalt used as architectural stone and high-precision uranium-thorium series dates (230Th/U) on coral from the tomb of the first chief of the entire island to identify the beginning of monument building at Nan Madol in AD 1180-1200. Over the next several centuries (AD 1300-1600) monument building began on other islands across Oceania. Future research should be aimed at resolving the causes of these social transformations through higher quality data on monument building.

Keywords

GeoarchaeologyGeochemistryPortable X-ray fluorescence (pXRF)Uranium series dating (sup230/supTh/U)Ancient monumental architectureOceania
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 86 , Issue 3 , November 2016 , pp. 295 - 303
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington 2016

References

Alderson, H.A., 2013. The Political Economy of Monumental Architecture at Nan Madol, Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia. Univ of Otago, Dunedin. Unpublished MA thesis.Google Scholar
Athens, J.S., 1990. Nan Madol Pottery, Pohnpei. Micronesica, pp. 17–32. Supplement 2.Google Scholar
Athens, J.S., 1995. Landscape Archaeology: Prehistoric Settlement, Subsistence, and Environment of Kosrae, Eastern Caroline Islands, Micronesia. International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., Honolulu.Google Scholar
Athens, J.S., 2007. In: Anderson, A., Green, K., Leach, F. (Eds.), The Rise of the Saudeleur: Dating the Nan Madol Chiefdom, Pohnpei. Vastly Ingenious — the Archaeology of Pacific Material Culture in Honour of Janet M. Davidson. Otago Univ Press, Dunedin, pp. 191–208.Google Scholar
Athens, J.S., Stevenson, J., 2012. Pohnpei coring records: the natural distribution of Cyrtosperma chamissonis . Journal of Pacific Archaeology 3(1), 35–48.Google Scholar
Ayres, W.S., 1993. Nan Madol Archaeological Fieldwork: Final report. Final report submitted to Pohnpei State Historic Preservation Office, Federated States of Micronesia.Google Scholar
Ayres, W.S., Goles, G.G., Beardsley, F.R., 1997. Provenance study of lithic materials in Micronesia. Prehistoric long-distance interaction in Oceania: an interdisciplinary approach. In: Weisler, M. (Ed.), New Zealand Archaeology Association Monograph 21. New Zealand Archaeological Association, Dunedin, pp. 53–67.Google Scholar
Bath, J., Athens, J.S., 1990. In: Hunter-Anderson, R. (Ed.), Prehistoric Social Complexity on Pohnpei. Recent Advances in Micronesian Archaeology, vol. 2, pp. 275–290. Micronesica Supplement.Google Scholar
Bernart, L., 1977. The Book of Luelen. Translated by Fisher, et al. Pacific History Series no. 8. Univ of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.Google Scholar
Burley, D.V., Barton, A., Dickinson, W.R., Connaughton, S.P., Tache, K., 2010. Nukuleka as a founder colony for West Polynesian settlement: new insights from recent excavations. Journal of Pacific Archaeology 1, 128–144 Google Scholar
Burley, D.V., Weisler, M., Zhao, X.-J., 2012. High precision U/Th dating of first polynesian settlement. Plos One 7 (11).CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carson, M.T., 2014. First Settlement of Remote Oceania: Earliest Sites in the Mariana Islands. Springer, New York.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., Shen, C.-C, Polyak, V.J., Asmerom, Y., Woodhead, J., Hellstrom, J., Yongjin, W., Xinggong, K., Spotl, C., Wang, X., Alexander, E.C., 2013. Improvements in 230Th dating, 230Th and 234U half-life values, and U—Th isotopic measurements by multi-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 371-372, 82–91.Google Scholar
Clark, G., Burley, D., Murray, T., 2008. Monumentality and the development of the Tongan maritime chiefdom. Antiquity 82 (318), 994–1008.Google Scholar
Clark, G., Martinsson-Wallin, H., 2007. Monumental architecture in West Polynesia: origins, chiefs, and archaeological approaches. Archaeology in Oceania 42 (Suppl. l), 28–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, G., Reepmeyer, C., 2014. Stone architecture, monumentality and the rise of the early Tongan chiefdom. Antiquity 88 (342), 1244–1260.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cochrane, E.E., 2015. Phylogenetic analysis of Polynesian ritual architecture suggests extensive cultural sharing and innovation. Journal of the Polynesian Society 123 (1), 7–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cordy, R., 1993. The Lelu Stone Ruins (Kosrae, Micronesia). Social Science Research Institute, Univ of Hawaii, Honolulu. Asian and Pacific Archaeology Series, No. 10.Google Scholar
Earle, T.E., 2002. Bronze Age Economics: the First Political Economies. Westview Press, Boulder.Google Scholar
Ercoli, M., Brigante, R., Radicioni, F., Pauselli, C., Mazzocca, M., Centi, G., Stoppini, A., 2016. Inside the polygonal walls of Amelia (Central Italy): a multidisciplinary data integration, encompassing geodetic monitoring and geophysical prospections. Journal of Applied Geophysics 127, 31–44.Google Scholar
Field, J.S., Lape, P.V., 2010. Paleoclimate and the emergence of fortifications in the tropical Pacific Islands. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 29, 113–124 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geraghty, P.A., 1994. Linguistic evidence for the Tongan empire. Language contact and change in the Austronesian World. In: Dutton, T., Tryon, D.T (Eds.), Trends in Linguistics Studies and Monographs 77. Mouton de Gruyter, Berlin, pp. 233–249.Google Scholar
Goodenough, W., 1986. Sky world and this world: the place of Kachaw in micronesian cosmology. American Anthropologist 88, 551–568.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hadley, M., 1981. Nan Madol: Spaces on the Reef of Heaven. Manuscript translated and edited by Ehrlich, P.M. Google Scholar
Hambruch, P., 1936. In: Thilenius, G., Runeborg, R.E., Murphy, E.A. (Eds.), Ponape: die Ruinen. Ergebnisse der Sudsee-Expedition 1908-1910. Series IIB, vol. 7 sub vol. 3. Friederichsen, DeGruyter, Hamburg.Google Scholar
Hanlon, D., 1988. Upon a Stone Altar: a History of the Island of Pohnpei to 1890. Univ of Hawaii Press, Honolulu.Google Scholar
Hommon, R.J., 2013. The Ancient Hawaiian State: Origins of a Political Society. Oxford University Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keating, E., 1998. Power Sharing: Language, Rank, Gender, and Social Space in Pohnpei, Micronesia. Oxford Univ Press, Oxford.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirch, P.V., 1990. Monumental architecture and power in Polynesian chiefdoms: a comparison of Tonga and Hawai. World Archaeology 22 (2), 206–222.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirch, P.V., 2000. On the Road of the Winds: an Archaeological History of the Pacific Islands Before European Contact. Univ of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Kirch, P.V., 2010. How Chiefs Became Kings. Divine Kingship and the Rise of Archaic States in Ancient Hawaii. Univ of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Kirch, P.V., Mertz-Kraus, R., Sharp, W.D., 2015. Precise chronology of Polynesian temple construction and use for southeastern Maui, Hawaiian Islands determined by 230Th dating corals. Journal of Archaeological Science 53, 166–177 Google Scholar
Kolb, M.J., 1994. Monumentality and the rise of religious authority in precontact Hawaii. Current Anthropology 35 (5), 521–547.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martinsson-Wallin, H., Wallin, P., Anderson, A., Solsvik, R., 2013. Chronogeographic variation in initial east polynesian construction of monumental ceremonial sites. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 8, 405–421.Google Scholar
Mauricio, R., 1993. Ideological Bases for Power and Leadership on Pohnpei, Micronesia: Perspectives from Archaeology and Oral Tradition. Unpublished PhD thesis. Univ of Oregon.Google Scholar
McCoy, M.D., Alderson, H.A., Thompson, A., 2015. A new archaeological field survey of the site of Nan Madol, Pohnpei. Rapa Nui Journal 29 (1), 5–22.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCoy, M.D., Athens, J.S., 2012. Sourcing the megalithic stones of Nan Madol: an XRF study of architectural basalt stone from Pohnpei, Federated States of Micronesia. Journal of Pacific Archaeology 3 (1), 105–114.Google Scholar
Moore, J., 1996. Architecture and Power in the Prehispanic Andes: the Archaeology of Public Buildings. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Mulrooney, M.A., Ladefoged, T.N., Gibb, R., McCurdy, D., 2005. Eight million points per day: archaeological implications of laser scanning and three- dimensional modeling of Pu’ukohola Heiau, Hawai’i island. Hawaiian Archaeology 10, 18–28 Google Scholar
Parker, P., King, T., 1981. Recent and current archaeological research on Moen Island. Asian Perspectives 24, 11–26 Google Scholar
Petersen, G., 2006. Micronesia’s breadfruit revolution and the evolution of a culture area. Archaeology in Oceania 41 (2), 82–92.Google Scholar
Potts, P.J., Bernardini, F., Jones, M.C., Williams-Thorpe, O., Webb, P.C., 2006. Effects of weathering on in situ portable x-ray fluorescence analyses of geological outcrops: dolerite and rhyolite outcrops from the Preseli Mountains, South Wales. X-Ray Spectrometry 35, 8–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Potts, P.J., Williams-Thorpe, O., Webb, P.C., 1997. The bulk analysis of silicate rocks by portable x-ray fluorescence: effect of sample mineralogy in relation to the size of the excited volume. Geostandards Newsletter 21 (1), 29–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richards, Z.T., Shen, C.-C., Hobbs, J.-P.A., Wu, C.-C., Jiang, X., Beardsley, F., 2015. New precise dates for the ancient and sacred coral pyramidal tombs of Leluh (Kosrae, Micronesia). Science Advances 1, e1400060.Google Scholar
Rieth, T., Athens, J.S., 2013. Suggested best practices for the application of radiocarbon dating in Hawaiian archaeology. Hawaiian Archaeology 13, 3–29.Google Scholar
Sharp, W.D., Kahn, J.G., Polito, C.M., Kirch, P.V., 2010. Rapid evolution of ritual architecture in central Polynesia indicated by precise 230Th/U coral dating. PNAS 107, 13234–13239.Google Scholar
Shutler, R., Marck, J.C., 1975. On the dispersal of the Austronesian horticulturalists. Archaeology and Physical Anthropology in Oceania 10 (2), 81–113.Google Scholar
Smith, A., 2004. Are the earliest field monuments of the Pacific landscape serial sites? Records of the Australian Museum (Suppl. 29), 133–138.Google Scholar
Speakman, R.J., 2012. Evaluation of Bruker’s Tracer Family Factory Obsidian Calibration for Handheld Portable XRF Studies of Obsidian. Report prepared for Bruker AXS, Kennewick, WA. Available: http://www.bruker-axs.com/fileadmin/user_upload/PDFse/handhelds/Bruker_Obsidian_Report.pdf.Google Scholar
Spengler, S.R., Spencer, K.J., Mahoney, J.J., Goles, G.G., 1994. Geology and Geochemical Evolution of Lavas on the Island of Pohnpei. Federated States of Micronesia. http://www.e2hi.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/12-Geology-and-Geochemical-Evolution of-Lavas-on-the-Island-of-Pohnpei.pdf.Google Scholar
Spriggs, M., Anderson, A., 1993. Late colonization of East Polynesia. Antiquity 67, 200–217.Google Scholar
Trigger, B.G., 2007. Understanding Early Civilizations: a Comparative Study. Cambridge Univ Press, Cambridge.Google Scholar
Supplementary material: File

McCoy et al. Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Download McCoy et al. Supplementary Material(File)
File 850.7 KB
Supplementary material: File

McCoy et al. Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Download McCoy et al. Supplementary Material(File)
File 124 KB
Supplementary material: File

McCoy et al. Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Download McCoy et al. Supplementary Material(File)
File 2.2 KB
Supplementary material: File

McCoy et al. Supplementary Material

Supplementary Material

Download McCoy et al. Supplementary Material(File)
File 13.2 KB