thumb|Nan Madol complex map.

Nan Madol is an archaeological site adjacent to the eastern shore of the island of Pohnpei, now part of the Madolenihmw district of Pohnpei state in the Federated States of Micronesia in the western Pacific Ocean. Nan Madol was the capital of the Saudeleur dynasty until about 1628. The city, constructed in a lagoon, consists of a series of small artificial islands linked by a network of canals.

The name means "within the intervals" and is a reference to the canals that crisscross the ruins. The original name was , "Reef of Heaven", according to Gene Ashby in his book Pohnpei, An Island Argosy. It is often called the "Eighth Wonder of the World", or the "Venice of the Pacific".

History

Nan Madol was the ceremonial and political seat of the Saudeleur dynasty, which united Pohnpei's estimated population of 25,000 people until about 1628.

Polish ethnographer and oceanographer John Stanislaw Kubary made the first detailed description of Nan Madol in 1874.

Little can be verified about the megalithic construction. Pohnpeian tradition claims that the builders of the Leluh archaeological site on Kosrae (likewise composed of huge stone buildings) migrated to Pohnpei, where they used their skills and experience to build the even more impressive Nan Madol complex. Radiocarbon dating indicates that Nan Madol predates Leluh; thus, it is more likely that Nan Madol influenced Leluh.

Purpose and features

thumb|upright|Detail of columnar basalt pieces

The elite centre was a special place of residence for the nobility and of mortuary activities presided over by priests. Its population almost certainly did not exceed 1,000, and may have been less than half that. Although a number of the residents were chiefs, the majority were commoners. Nan Madol served, in part, as a way for the ruling Saudeleur chiefs to organize and control potential rivals by requiring them to live in the city rather than in their home districts, where their activities were difficult to monitor.

Madol Powe, the mortuary sector, contains 58 islets in the northeastern area of Nan Madol. Most islets were once occupied by the dwellings of priests. Some islets served a special purpose: food preparation, canoe construction on Dapahu, and coconut oil preparation on Peinering. High walls surrounding tombs are located on Peinkitel, Karian, and Lemenkou, but the most prominent is the royal mortuary islet of Nandauwas, where walls high surround a central tomb enclosure within the main courtyard. This was built for the first Saudeleur. The Saudeleur received food at a particular islet: first Peiniot, and later the closer Usennamw.

Until its closure in 2012, objects from the site were displayed at Lidorkini Museum.

Offshore underwater archaeological surveys at Nan Madol

In 1978 and 1979, Arthur Saxe

In 1988 and 1989, a team of archaeologists

In 2013, Ishimura and others used multi-beam sonar, ROVs, and scuba diving to examine submerged block-shaped features and columnar objects and the blue hole. They found neither evidence of anthropogenic pillars composed of basalt columns nor any evidence that the underwater columns are man-made structures. They also concluded that the blue hole is a sinkhole that developed in reef limestones during sea level lowstands of glacial maximums.

Nan Madol has been interpreted by some as the remains of one of the "lost continents" of Lemuria or Mu. Nan Madol was one of the sites James Churchward identified as being part of the lost continent of Mu, starting in his 1926 book The Lost Continent of Mu Motherland of Man. There is no scientific basis for the claims of Churchward, whose writings on Mu are considered to be pseudoscience.

Nan Madol was featured in episode two of the pseudoarchaeological work Ancient Apocalypse by Graham Hancock which aired on Netflix, in which false claims were made about the age of the site. Experts in Pacific geography and archaeology have characterised Hancock's claims about Nan Madol as "incredibly insulting to the ancestors of the Pohnpeian [islanders] that did create these structures", linking them to 19th-century "racist" and "white supremacist" ideologies.

<gallery mode="packed">

Nan madol.jpg|

Nan Madol 11.jpg|

Nan Madol 13.jpg|

Nan Madol 2.jpg|

Nan Madol 4.jpg|

Nan Madol 5.jpg|

NanMadol2.jpg|

</gallery>

See also

  • List of places with columnar jointed volcanics
  • Nation – a novel that spotlights a lost Pacific advanced civilization

Notes

References

Bibliography

  • Includes a drawing entitled: "Sepulchral monument in Ponapé, Caroline Islands. (From a photograph in the Godeffroy Album.)"