Stone tools imported during the last 1,000 years from far-away Fiji, Samoa, and the Society Islands reveal that the maritime empire of Tonga served as a hub through which prehistoric people exchanged products and political ideas, according to a study
published in the journal PNAS.
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Megalithic structure of the late prehistoric Tongan Chiefdom
[Credit: Simon Fraser University] |
During the first half of the second millennium A.D., the state of Tonga integrated the archipelago under a centralized authority and emerged as a unique maritime empire that engaged in long-distance economic and political commerce.
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Plan view of Lapaha showing the location of the largest tombs associated
with the Tui Tonga chiefdom labeled by “J” structure number
[Credit: (c) Geoffrey R. Clark, PNAS] |
Seeking to establish the extent of Tonga's maritime polity, Geoffrey Clark and colleagues geochemically analyzed stone tools excavated from places central to the Tongan seat of power, and in particular lithic artifacts associated with stone-faced chiefly tombs.
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| Map of Polynesia [Credit: WikiCommons] |
According to the authors, the analysis revealed that about two-thirds of the tools were long-distance imports from Fiji, Samoa, and the Society Islands, and that exotic stone artifacts likely represented an important source of political capital to Tongan elites.
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Tonga was a powerful state that united an entire group of islands in Oceania
about a 1000 years agp [Credit: Flickr/YXO[ |
Furthermore, as a result of centralizing all the islands under one authority, the authors report, interaction centers arose through which people, products, and information about political organization was disseminated across many parts of the prehistoric Pacific.
Source: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences [July 08, 2014]
