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Tagged “megalithic-architecture”

• MUST READ

  Ha'amonga 'a Maui

  On a low coral island with no metal, no wheels, no draft animals and no quarryable hard rock, how did Tongan builders cut three coral-limestone slabs of perhaps thirty to forty tonnes each, stand two of them upright, and then lift the third more than four metres into the air and drop it into mortise slots cut in their tops — and what was the finished gateway actually for?

  Tu'i Tonga dynasty — traditionally c. 1200 CE, radiocarbon-dated c. 1320-1460 CE · Heketa, near Niutoua, Tongatapu, TongaAdded September 2026
• MUST READ

  Nan Madol

  With no draft animals, no metal tools, and no wheel, how did a Pacific island society quarry, move, and stack tens of thousands of multi-tonne basalt columns across open reef water to build a city of nearly 100 artificial islets — and why, after roughly four centuries as the seat of Saudeleur power, was it abandoned?

  c. 12th-13th century CE monumental construction · Temwen Island, Pohnpei, Federated States of MicronesiaAdded July 2026