Featured: Ark of Secrets - Neolithic spirit alive in the Middle Ages

Ark of Secrets - Neolithic spirit alive in the Middle Ages

Random Image


Tikal

Great Stone Circles, Aubrey Burl

Great Stone Circles, Aubrey Burl

Who's Online

There are currently, 655 guests and 2 members online.

You are a guest. To join in, please register for free by clicking here

Sponsors

<< Our Photo Pages >> Ha'amonga 'a Maui - Standing Stones in Pacific Islands

Submitted by DrewParsons on Wednesday, 17 August 2011  Page Views: 14196

Neolithic and Bronze AgeSite Name: Ha'amonga 'a Maui Alternative Name: Tonga's Trilithon, Tonga's Stonehenge
Country: Pacific Islands
NOTE: This site is 153.965 km away from the location you searched for.

Type: Standing Stones
Nearest Town: Nuku'alofa  Nearest Village: Niutōua
Latitude: 21.137S  Longitude: 175.048W
Condition:
5Perfect
4Almost Perfect
3Reasonable but with some damage
2Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site
1Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks
0No data.
-1Completely destroyed
5 Ambience:
5Superb
4Good
3Ordinary
2Not Good
1Awful
0No data.
5 Access:
5Can be driven to, probably with disabled access
4Short walk on a footpath
3Requiring a bit more of a walk
2A long walk
1In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find
0No data.
4 Accuracy:
5co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates
4co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map
3co-ordinates scaled from a bad map
2co-ordinates of the nearest village
1co-ordinates of the nearest town
0no data
4

Internal Links:
External Links:

Ha'amonga 'a Maui
Ha'amonga 'a Maui submitted by DrewParsons : Site in Tonga, Pacific Islands. Tonga's trilithon. (Vote or comment on this photo)
Ha'amonga 'a Maui, is located 32 kilometres east of Tonga's capital Nuku'alofa close to the road beweeen the villages of Niutōua and Afa. The trilithon was built around 1200 CE by the king of the time probably as an entrance way to his royal compound where he would receive visitors at a royal stone which acted as his throne.

With his back against the stone he was safe from assassination attempts. The trilithon is constructed of 3 limestone slabs and is approximately 5 metres high, 2 metres wide and 6 metres long. In popular mythology the structure was built by Maui (a demigod known throughout Polynesia) who carried the stones from Wallis Island (1000 kilometres to the north). In reality the stones match the geology of local quarries.

The resemblance of the stones to Stonehenge has led to speculation that they formed an observatory but markings suggested as alignments for solar events today have moved considerably since its construction 800 years ago due to subsidence and so they could never have predicted such events when cut into the stones.

I visited the site in 1984, taking a local bus from Nuku'alofa. I recall the bus being overtaken along the bumpy road by a boy riding a horse. No doubt the roads have improved since then!!

References:
Wikipedia: Ha'amonga 'a Maui
South Pacific Handbook , D. Stanley


Note: Jarom Vahai's presents his research on Ancient 'GPS' Devices at Stanford Symposium
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
Eua to Tongatapu Ferry Sunrise-3
Eua to Tongatapu Ferry Sunrise-4
Tonga Island Tour-9
Tonga Island Tour-10
Tonga Island Tour-11
Tonga Island Tour-12

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 area

Key: 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
 103m N 2° Maka Fa'akinanga Standing Stone (Menhir)
 8.3km WSW 239° Langi (Tonga) Cairn
 9.0km W 261° Nukuleka Ancient Village or Settlement
 173.3km NNE 27° Foa Island Petroglyphs Rock Art
 825.0km WNW 299° Nakauvadra Standing Stones and Narara Caves Standing Stones
 1577.1km W 271° Aname petroglyphs Rock Art
 1586.1km E 93° Arai Te Tonga* Ancient Temple
 1654.5km W 276° Potnangai cave Petroglyphs Rock Art
 1687.7km W 276° Velemendi cave Rock Art
 1770.2km W 279° Teouma Ancient Cemetery Barrow Cemetery
 1798.3km W 280° Feles Cave rock art Rock Art
 1922.8km W 263° Paita Valley Petroglyphs* Rock Art
 1936.9km SSW 210° Little Stone City* Cairn
 1944.6km WNW 284° Tolamp Standing Stone (Menhir)
 1946.9km SSW 209° Te Arai o Tahuhu Pa* Hillfort
 1948.0km WNW 284° Norohure & Togh-Vanu Sculptured Stone
 1950.3km SSW 208° Okakari Point Pa* Hillfort
 1951.4km SSW 208° Te Kiri's Pa* Hillfort
 1956.0km WNW 284° Yalo Cave & Apialo Cave Rock Art
 1957.0km SSW 205° Hereheretaura Pā Hillfort
 1959.0km SSW 208° Matakana Modern Stone Circle* Modern Stone Circle etc
 1959.2km SSW 208° Pukematakeo Pa* Hillfort
 1960.0km SSW 212° Waipoua Stone City* Ancient Village or Settlement
 1964.3km SSW 212° Puketapu Hill* Cairn
 1975.5km SSW 208° R09-928* Ancient Village or Settlement
View more nearby sites and additional images

<< Pierre Ceinturee

Apollonia (Turkey) >>

Please add your thoughts on this site

Stonehenge Landscapes Book and CD-ROM

Stonehenge Landscapes Book and CD-ROM

Sponsors

Auto-Translation (Google)

Translate from English into:

"Ha'amonga 'a Maui" | Login/Create an Account | 2 News and Comments
  
Go back to top of page    Comments are owned by the poster. We aren't responsible for their content.
Re: Ha'amonga 'a Maui by Bren77 on Saturday, 16 May 2020
(User Info | Send a Message)
I would love to visit here, unfortunately I doubt I will be that lucky.
[ Reply to This ]

Jarom Vahai's research on Ancient 'GPS' Devices by Andy B on Wednesday, 17 August 2011
(User Info | Send a Message)
Pyramids and monoliths around the world perform four functions that modern GPS devices perform, according to a newly released study by Jarome Vahai. The ancient navigational device researcher recently told a captivated audience at the 2011 Stanford Honors Research Symposium that ancient structures helped societies tell time, measure the circumference of the earth, pinpoint their location on the earth and identify their location during travel—just like modern GPS devices.

GPS systems are used for many things, including exploration, expanding territories, and conducting import/export trade and commerce over great distances.

“Early civilizations thought the same way we think now,” said Jarome Vahai. “We use GPS devices to locate where we are and how to get to other places—and so did they.” Vahai notes that as tools have improved, building structures like the pyramids has become unnecessary.

Many of the ancient landmarks that are still in existence are positioned in ways that mark the longest and shortest days of the year by the patterns of shadows they cast at equinox. In addition to showing calendar position, shadows could also be used to tell time during the day.

The Giza pyramids and shadows were also used by Eratosthenes to calculate the circumference of the earth. Ancient civilizations understood they were on a round, turning planet because their stone markers line up with one another around the globe. Some even line up with other planets and constellations, says Vahai.

Vahai’s research shows that markings identified at the pyramid at Chichen Itza point to the pyramids at Giza; others point to Stonehenge, the pyramids in China, and the great Cambodian temple Angkor Wat. He has also found that the stone markers of Ha’amonga in Tonga, line up with Fiji, Hawaii, Samoa, New Zealand and the Cook Islands.

“These ancient structures were lasting landmarks that told people where they are located in relation to other parts of the world,” said Vahai.

The usefulness of landmarks in the ancient world cannot be understated. Rulers had expansive empires that covered huge amounts of land, and protecting those lands could be challenging. Babylon and Giza are located in places that are difficult to find and get to, probably for security reasons. The large structures were helpful landmarks.

“I am very proud that Stanford selected my research; they only accept about 20% of submissions,” said Vahai. “The audience was extremely engaged—the moderator was so wrapped up in the topic, we ended up going over the time limit.”

For more information about ancient GPS devices or any of Jarome Vahai’s research, please call him at (650) 784-6138 or go to http://vahaiagps.blogspot.com/.

Jarome Vahai is a United States Marine Corps veteran who specialized in land navigation while in the military. Vahai’s fascination with the 12-ton stone trilithon in his mother’s hometown in Tonga started him on a lifelong journey of study and discovery around ancient GPS systems. Vahai is the founder of Green Careers for Veterans, the Bay Area organization that matches up green industry training and green jobs for veterans.

More information, including videos of his presentation are on Jarome Vahai's blog
http://vahaiagps.blogspot.com/
[ Reply to This ]

Your Name: Anonymous [ Register Now ]
Subject:


Add your comment or contribution to this page. Spam or offensive posts are deleted immediately, don't even bother

<<< What is five plus one as a number? (Please type the answer to this question in the little box on the left)
You can also embed videos and other things. For Youtube please copy and paste the 'embed code'.
For Google Street View please include Street View in the text.
Create a web link like this: <a href="https://www.megalithic.co.uk">This is a link</a>  

Allowed HTML is:
<p> <b> <i> <a> <img> <em> <br> <strong> <blockquote> <tt> <li> <ol> <ul> <object> <param> <embed> <iframe>

We would like to know more about this location. Please feel free to add a brief description and any relevant information in your own language.
Wir möchten mehr über diese Stätte erfahren. Bitte zögern Sie nicht, eine kurze Beschreibung und relevante Informationen in Deutsch hinzuzufügen.
Nous aimerions en savoir encore un peu sur les lieux. S'il vous plaît n'hesitez pas à ajouter une courte description et tous les renseignements pertinents dans votre propre langue.
Quisieramos informarnos un poco más de las lugares. No dude en añadir una breve descripción y otros datos relevantes en su propio idioma.