<< Text Pages >> Nukuleka - Ancient Village or Settlement in Pacific Islands
Submitted by Andy B on Tuesday, 22 January 2008 Page Views: 6665
Multi-periodSite Name: NukulekaCountry: Pacific Islands
NOTE: This site is 1.473 km away from the location you searched for.
Type: Ancient Village or Settlement
Nearest Village: Nukuleka
Latitude: 21.15S Longitude: 175.133333W
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
Be the first person to rate this site - see the 'Contribute!' box in the right hand menu.
Internal Links:
External Links:
Ancient Settlement in Tonga. A small fishing village established 2900 years ago in Tonga has been confirmed as the first settlement in Polynesia.
Using pottery shards, archaeologist David Burley says they have confirmed Nukuleka, just east of Tonga's capital, Nuku'alofa, is Polynesia's birthplace.
The confirmation comes as something of a blow for Samoa which has advertised itself for decades as the "cradle of Polynesia".
Fiji's Sigatoka dunes have also made claims to be Polynesia's birthplace but they appear now to be several centuries younger.
Archaeologists have focused on Nukuleka for the past five years following the discovery of rich pickings of Lapita pottery.
A distinctive type of pottery, named for the site in New Caledonia where it was first found, was carried through Melanesia and into the Pacific by a mysterious group of people who eventually became the first Polynesians.
Professor Burley, of Simon Fraser University in Canada, told Matangi Tonga website that a final excavation last year had nailed Nukuleka's position as Polynesia's first. The pottery was 2900 years old.
"Tonga was the first group of islands in Polynesia to be settled by the Lapita people about 3000 years ago, and Nukuleka was their first settlement in Tonga," he said.
The site for the village, at the mouth of the Fanga'uta lagoon, was ideal.
"They came here first about 3000 years ago when the lagoon sea level was higher than today.
"There were no mangroves, so the lagoon shore was a big beach, and the lagoon was full of shellfish, and everything that we have dug up was packed with layers of shellfish."
The area was rich in shells and researchers found that the people were eating lots of turtles and birds, he said.
"What we are trying to prove is that this is the first site in Tonga, and everything that we have found verifies that," he said.
Within a century of establishing Nukuleka the first Polynesians had settled the whole of Tonga. "Then a thousand years later they moved eastwards to eastern Polynesia."
Source: Stuff.co.nz
You may be viewing yesterday's version of this page. To see the most up to date information please register for a free account.
Do not use the above information on other web sites or publications without permission of the contributor.
Nearby Images from Flickr
The above images may not be of the site on this page, but were taken nearby. They are loaded from Flickr so please click on them for image credits.
Click here to see more info for this site
Nearby sites
Click here to view sites on an interactive map of the areaKey: Red: member's photo, Blue: 3rd party photo, Yellow: other image, Green: no photo - please go there and take one, Grey: site destroyed
Download sites to:
KML (Google Earth)
GPX (GPS waypoints)
CSV (Garmin/Navman)
CSV (Excel)
To unlock full downloads you need to sign up as a Contributory Member. Otherwise downloads are limited to 50 sites.
Turn off the page maps and other distractions
Nearby sites listing. In the following links * = Image available
3.3km SSE 148° Langi (Tonga) Cairn
9.0km E 81° Ha'amonga 'a Maui* Standing Stones
9.0km E 80° Maka Fa'akinanga Standing Stone (Menhir)
178.7km NNE 29° Foa Island Petroglyphs Rock Art
817.9km WNW 299° Nakauvadra Standing Stones and Narara Caves Standing Stones
1568.3km W 271° Aname petroglyphs Rock Art
1594.9km E 93° Arai Te Tonga* Ancient Temple
1645.8km W 276° Potnangai cave Petroglyphs Rock Art
1679.1km W 276° Velemendi cave Rock Art
1761.7km W 279° Teouma Ancient Cemetery Barrow Cemetery
1789.8km W 280° Feles Cave rock art Rock Art
1913.8km W 263° Paita Valley Petroglyphs* Rock Art
1931.1km SSW 210° Little Stone City* Cairn
1936.4km WNW 284° Tolamp Standing Stone (Menhir)
1939.8km WNW 285° Norohure & Togh-Vanu Sculptured Stone
1941.4km SSW 209° Te Arai o Tahuhu Pa* Hillfort
1944.8km SSW 208° Okakari Point Pa* Hillfort
1945.9km SSW 208° Te Kiri's Pa* Hillfort
1947.7km WNW 284° Yalo Cave & Apialo Cave Rock Art
1951.6km SSW 208° Papahi Headland Pa* Hillfort
1952.0km SSW 205° Hereheretaura Pā Hillfort
1953.5km SSW 208° Matakana Modern Stone Circle* Modern Stone Circle etc
1953.8km SSW 208° Pukematakeo Pa* Hillfort
1954.1km SSW 212° Waipoua Stone City* Ancient Village or Settlement
1958.4km SSW 212° Puketapu Hill* Cairn
View more nearby sites and additional images