Nan Madol
Printed From: History Community ~ All Empires
Category: Regional History or Period History
Forum Name: History of Oceania, South-East Asia and Pacific
Forum Discription: Discuss the history of SE Asia: Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore etc.
URL: http://www.allempires.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=23877
Printed Date: 01-Jun-2024 at 22:06
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.56a - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Nan Madol
Posted By: TheARRGH
Subject: Nan Madol
Date Posted: 19-Mar-2008 at 23:46
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On the island of Pohnpei, a relatively large society existed, building massive tomb complexes from raw columns of obsidian. I got interested in the history of the society that lived there after seeing some pictures of one such massive building, and I just wondered what the members of the forum could tell me about that culture.
------------- Who is the great dragon whom the spirit will no longer call lord and god? "Thou shalt" is the name of the great dragon. But the spirit of the lion says, "I will." - Nietzsche |
Replies:
Posted By: RhondaLynn
Date Posted: 16-Feb-2009 at 06:05
| Having visited Nan Madol in the early '70's, I was astonished to view the massive sturcture of stone walls and rooms. We were escorted by a young future chief who had been educated at Catholic boarding school. I will refrain from sharing his name. But, when I asked about the construction of the ruins, he calmly replied that "the chief turned himself into a rooster and flew to the volcano and carried the basalt logs to the location". The volcano, also known as the Diamond Head of the Western Pacific (Soquez sp? Rock) , was approximately 20 miles away from the ancient site. We were in the Peace Corps at that time and spent a couple hours walking through the eerie dwelling, which was only a small portion; the rest having sank into the ocean. |
Posted By: TheARRGH
Date Posted: 17-Feb-2009 at 04:55
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Amazing. Thanks for the response; I'm pretty sure posting in this thread counts as some sort of necromancy, though.  ------------- Who is the great dragon whom the spirit will no longer call lord and god? "Thou shalt" is the name of the great dragon. But the spirit of the lion says, "I will." - Nietzsche |
Posted By: Sander
Date Posted: 10-Aug-2009 at 07:29
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This complex is impressive. Many walls are 7 meters high and 4 thick. Nan Madol was built in a lagoon. It is a large complex of 92 man-made islets covering an area of approximately 200 acres. The complex functioned as the political and religious center for the Saudeleur dynasty of rulers /kings from approximately 1200 to 1600 AD. The most spectacular of the islets have remains of tombs and other structures built of large columnar basalt stones, brought to Nan Madol from other parts of Pohnpei. Many islets are not visible today due to the vegetation covering them.  Later on, some history.
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Posted By: Sander
Date Posted: 18-Aug-2009 at 16:51
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The Oceanist Patrick Kirch states :
“Nan Madol is remarkable for its close correlation between oral traditions and archaelogy “ (1) Some archaeological data The site of Nan Madol was occupied since the first centuries AD. Around 900 AD and possibly earlier the construction of elevated islets was a common practice. The megalithic building of high walls, tombs , houseplatforms etc started later, probably around 1200 AD. Most of the complex was built between 1200 and 1600 AD. There was continued use of Nan Madol after the 1600’s . But, by the time of European visits to the island in the 19th century the complex had already been abondoned with the people greatly fearing and respecting the sacred place.
Many of the artificial islets have enclosures of massive walls. Some of them :
(1) |
