Monumentality and the development of the Tongan maritime chiefdom

2008/12/01 by Geoffrey Clark, David V. Burley, Tim Murray · 2 citations
Social Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies #Archaeology and ancient environmental studies #Maritime and Coastal Archaeology

paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0003598x00097738

openalex publication_date 2008/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/08

Abstract

Abstract On Tongatapu the central place of the rising kingdom of Tonga developed in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries AD. Marked out as a monumental area with a rock-cut water-carrying ditch, it soon developed as the site of a sequence of megalithic tombs, in parallel with the documented expansion of the maritime chiefdom. The results of investigations into these structures were achieved with minimum intervention and disturbance on the ground, since the place remains sacred and in use.

Citations

• Extended 14C Data Base and Revised CALIB 3.0 14C Age Calibration Program

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• Earliest direct evidence of monument building at the archaeological site of Nan Madol (Pohnpei, Micronesia) identified using230Th/U coral dating and geochemical sourcing of megalithic architectural stone
• History of Oceania [wikipedia]

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