View source for Nan Madol

{{Short description|Ruined ancient city in the Federated States of Micronesia}}
{{About|a ruined city on Pohnpei Island|the album by Edward Vesala|Nan Madol (album)|tropical cyclones|List of storms named Nanmadol}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2022}}

{{Infobox historic site
| name = Nan Madol
| native_name = 
| native_language = 
| image = Nan madol.jpg
| caption = Nan Madol
| type = 
| locmapin = Federated States of Micronesia#Pacific Ocean
| coordinates = {{Coord|6|50|31|N|158|19|56|E|display=inline,title}}
| location = [[Temwen Island]], [[Federated States of Micronesia]]
| area = 
| built = 
| architect = 
| architecture = 
| governing_body = 
| owner = 
| designation1 = World Heritage Site
| designation1_offname = Nan Madol: Ceremonial Centre of Eastern Micronesia
| designation1_date = [[List of World Heritage Sites by year of inscription#2016 (40th session)|2016]] <small>(40th [[World Heritage Committee|session]])</small>
| designation1_type = Cultural
| designation1_criteria = i, iii, iv, vi
| designation1_number = [https://whc.unesco.org/en/list/1503 1503]
| designation1_free1name = Region
| designation1_free1value = [[List of World Heritage Sites in Oceania|Asia and the Pacific]]
| designation2 = National Register of Historic Places
| designation2_offname = 
| designation2_date = 19 December 1974
| designation2_number = 74002226<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2007a}}</ref>
| designation3 = National Historic Landmark District
| designation3_offname = 
| designation3_date = 16 September 1985<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web |title=Nan Madol |work=National Historic Landmark summary listing |publisher=National Park Service |url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1512&ResourceType=Site |access-date=28 June 2007 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110511180422/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=1512&ResourceType=Site |archive-date=11 May 2011}}</ref>
| designation3_number = 
| designation4 = 
| designation4_offname = 
| designation4_date = 
| designation4_number = 
| designation5 = 
| designation5_offname = 
| designation5_date = 
| designation5_number = 
}}
[[File:Map FM-Nan Madol.svg|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.<ref name=Ayres>{{cite web |title=Nan Madol, Madolenihmw, Pohnpei |first=William |last=Ayres |website=Professor William Ayres: Pacific Islands Research and Teaching |publisher=University of Oregon |url=http://www.uoregon.edu/~wsayres/pohnpei/NanMadol.html |access-date=26 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100613194928/http://www.uoregon.edu/~wsayres/pohnpei/NanMadol.html |archive-date=13 June 2010}}</ref>{{notetag|The Saudeleur era lasted around 500 years.<ref name=Hanlon/> Legend generally dates their downfall to the 1500s,<ref>{{cite book|title=The Lelu Stone Ruins (Kosrae, Micronesia): 1978-81 Historical and Archaeological Research |issue=10 |series=Asian and Pacific Archaeology |first=Ross H |last=Cordy |publisher=Social Science Research Institute, University of Hawaii at Manoa |year=1993 |isbn=0-8248-1134-8 |pages=14, 254, 258 |url={{google books URL|hQMNAQAAMAAJ}} |access-date=31 December 2011}}</ref> however archaeologists date Saudeleur ruins to ca. 1628.<ref name=Morgan>{{cite book|title=Prehistoric Architecture in Micronesia |first=William N |last=Morgan |publisher=University of Texas Press |year=1988 |isbn=0-292-76506-1 |pages=60, 63, 76, 85 |url={{google books URL|B3Z-aH7govUC}} |access-date=31 December 2011}}</ref><ref name=PlaceNames>{{cite book|title=Place Names of Pohnpei Island: Including And (Ant) and Pakin Atolls |first1=Tom |last1=Panholzer |first2=Mauricio |last2=Rufino |publisher=Bess Press |year=2003 |isbn=1-57306-166-2 |pages=xiii, 21, 22, 25, 38, 48, 56, 63, 71. 72, 74, 104 |url={{google books URL|h2EWUggiuQIC}} |access-date=31 December 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Falgout |first1=Suzanne |title=Getting to the Truth of the Matter: Prospects and Limitations of Oral Traditions for Archaeological Interpretation in Pohnpei, Micronesia |journal=Micronesica |publisher=[[University of Guam]] |date=1990 |volume=Suppl. 2 |pages=89–98 |url=https://micronesica.org/sites/default/files/supp02-10ed_0.pdf |access-date=18 October 2024}}</ref>{{rp|p=92}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Bath |first1=Joyce E. |last2=Athens |first2=J. Stephen |title=Pohnpei's Position in Eastern Micronesian Prehistory |journal=Micronesica |publisher=[[University of Guam]] |date=1990 |volume=Suppl. 2 |pages=187–212 |url=https://micronesica.org/sites/default/files/supp02-17ed.pdf |access-date=18 October 2024}}</ref>{{rp|p=203}}<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ayres |first1=William S.|title=Prehistoric Social Complexity on Pohnpei: The Saudeleur to Nahnmwarki Transformation |journal=Micronesica |publisher=[[University of Guam]] |date=1990 |volume=Suppl. 2 |pages=275–290 |url=https://micronesica.org/sites/default/files/supp02-23ed.pdf |access-date=18 October 2024}}</ref>{{rp|p=277}}}} The city, constructed in a lagoon, consists of a series of small [[artificial island]]s linked by a network of canals.<ref name=Ayres/> The site core with its stone walls encloses an area approximately {{convert|1.5 x 0.5|km}} and it contains 92 artificial islets—stone and coral fill platforms—bordered by tidal canals.<ref name="Coles">{{cite journal |last1=Coles |first1=Rob |last2=McKenzie |first2=Lel |last3=Campbell |first3=Stuart |last4=Yoshida |first4=Rudi |last5=Edward |first5=Ahser |last6=Short |first6=Fred |title=The effect of causeway construction on seagrass meadows in the Western Pacific? a lesson from the ancient city of Nan Madol, Madolenihmw, Pohnpei, FSM |journal=Pacific Conservation Biology |date=2005 |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=212–220 |doi=10.1071/pc050212 |url=https://www.publish.csiro.au/PC/PC050212 |access-date=24 December 2022 |language=en |issn=2204-4604|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The name {{lang|pon|Nan Madol}} means "within the intervals" and is a reference to the canals that crisscross the ruins.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nan Madol |website=U.S. National Park Service |url=https://www.nps.gov/places/nan-madol.htm |access-date=2024-10-18}}</ref> The original name was {{lang|pon|Soun Nan-leng}}, "Reef of Heaven", according to Gene Ashby in his book ''Pohnpei, An Island Argosy''.<ref>{{cite book |last=Ashby |first=Gene |title=Pohnpei, An Island Argosy |publisher=Rainy Day Press |edition=2nd revised |date=June 1987 |isbn=978-0-931742-14-9 |url=https://archive.org/details/ponapeislandargo0000ashb?admin=1 |page=346}}</ref> It is often called the "eighth wonder of the world", or the [[Venice of the East|"Venice of the Pacific"]].<ref>http://www2.canada.com/vancouvercourier/news/travel/story.html?id=d7601625-fafe-46f4-b1d1-5c18837881cf {{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

==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.<ref name=Ayres/> Set apart between the main island of Pohnpei and [[Temwen Island]], it was a scene of human activity as early as the first or second century AD. By the 8th or 9th century, islet construction had started, with construction of the distinctive [[megalith|megalithic architecture]] beginning 1180–1200 AD.<ref name="McCoy et al">{{cite journal |last1=McCoy |first1=Mark D. |last2=Alderson |first2=Helen A. |last3=Hemi |first3=Richard |last4=Cheng |first4=Hai |last5=Edwards |first5=R. Lawrence |date=November 2016 |title=Earliest direct evidence of monument building at the archaeological site of Nan Madol (Pohnpei, Micronesia) identified using <sup>230</sup>Th/U coral dating and geochemical sourcing of megalithic architectural stone |journal=Quaternary Research |volume=86 |issue=3 |pages=295–303 |doi=10.1016/j.yqres.2016.08.002 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2016QuRes..86..295M |access-date=30 October 2017 |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/0338E86D312973BA0B32D56A5D297FAF/S0033589400039958a.pdf/earliest_direct_evidence_of_monument_building_at_the_archaeological_site_of_nan_madol_pohnpei_micronesia_identified_using_230thu_coral_dating_and_geochemical_sourcing_of_megalithic_architectural_stone.pdf}}</ref>

Polish ethnographer and oceanographer [[John Stanislaw Kubary]] made the first detailed description of Nan Madol in 1874.<ref name=Rainbird>{{cite book|title=The Archaeology of Micronesia |first=Paul |last=Rainbird |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-0521651882 |page=21 |url={{google books URL|jtMKeFTO9ZYC|p=21}} |access-date=31 October 2017}}</ref>

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.<ref name="McCoy et al"/>

According to Pohnpeian legend, Nan Madol was constructed by twin sorcerers Olisihpa and Olosohpa from the mythical Western Katau, or Kanamwayso. The brothers arrived in a large canoe seeking a place to build an altar so that they could worship Nahnisohn Sahpw, the god of agriculture. After several false starts, the two brothers successfully built an altar off Temwen Island, where they performed their rituals. In legend, these brothers levitated the huge stones with the aid of a flying [[dragon]]. When Olisihpa died of old age, Olosohpa became the first Saudeleur. Olosohpa married a local woman and sired twelve generations, producing sixteen other Saudeleur rulers of the Dipwilap ("Great") clan.{{notetag|Hanlon (1988) notes differing accounts of the number of Saudeleur rulers, ranging from eight to seventeen, concluding that it is impossible to know this number for certain.<ref name=Hanlon/>{{rp|234}}}}

The founders of the dynasty ruled kindly, though their successors placed ever increasing demands on their subjects. Their reign ended with the invasion by [[Isokelekel]], who also resided at Nan Madol, though his successors abandoned the site.<ref name=PlaceNames/><ref name=Native>{{cite book|title=The Native Polity of Ponape |volume=10 |series=Contributions to Anthropology |first=Saul H |last=Riesenberg |publisher=Smithsonian Institution Press |year=1968 |pages=38, 51 |isbn=9780598442437 |url={{google books URL|JV-0AAAAIAAJ}} |access-date=1 January 2012}}</ref><ref name=Goodenough>{{cite book|title=Under Heaven's Brow: Pre-Christian Religious Tradition in Chuuk |volume=246 |series=Memoirs of the American Philosophical Society |first=Ward H. |last=Goodenough |publisher=American Philosophical Society |year=2002 |isbn=0-87169-246-5 |page=293 |url={{google books URL|iOktNiIoMHAC}} |access-date=1 January 2012}}</ref>

==Purpose and features==
{{more citations needed section|date=March 2023}}
[[File:Detail of a wall constructed of columnar basalt pieces at Nan Madol.jpg|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 many 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 {{convert|5.5|–|7.5|m}} high surround a central tomb enclosure within the main courtyard. This was built for the first Saudeleur.<ref name="McCoy et al"/>

On Nan Madol, there is no fresh water or food; water must be collected and food grown inland. During Saudeleur rule, [[Pohnpeians]] brought essential food and water by boat.<ref name=Hanlon>{{cite book |title=Upon a Stone Altar: A History of the Island of Pohnpei to 1890 |volume=5 |series=Pacific Islands Monograph |first=David L |last=Hanlon |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1988 |isbn=0-8248-1124-0 |pages=13–25 |url={{google books URL|OzgF5vZByVoC}} |access-date=1 January 2012}}</ref><ref name=Morgan/><ref name=Ballinger>{{cite book |title=Lost City of Stone: The Story of Nan Madol, the "Atlantis" of the Pacific |first=Bill Sanborn |last=Ballinger |publisher=Simon and Schuster |year=1978 |isbn=0-671-24030-7 |pages=45–8 |url={{google books URL|l6oSAQAAIAAJ}} |access-date=31 December 2011}}</ref> The Saudeleur received food at a particular islet: first Peiniot, and later the closer Usennamw.<ref name=Morgan/><ref name=PlaceNames/>

Around 1628, when Isokelekel overthrew the Saudeleurs and began the Nahnmwarki Era, the [[tribal chief|Nahnmwarkis]] lived at Nan Madol, but had to gather their own water and grow their own food. This is thought{{who|date=April 2011}} to have caused them eventually to abandon Nan Madol and move back to their own districts, although there are other explanations for the desertion of the complex, such as a sharp population decline.

==Archaeology==
{{anchor | Archaeology }}
{{see also | Columnar jointing | Caldera | Gunung Padang }}
[[File:Nan Madol, Pohnpei.jpg|thumb|Example of Nan Madol's architecture]]
Today Nan Madol forms an archaeological district covering more than {{convert|18|km²}} and includes the stone architecture built up on a coral reef flat along the shore of [[Temwen Island]], several other artificial islets, and the adjacent Pohnpei main island coastline. The site core with its stone walls encloses an area approximately {{convert|1.5 x 0.5|km}} containing 92 artificial islets—stone and coral fill platforms—bordered by tidal canals.

[[Carbon dating]] indicates that megalithic construction at Nan Madol began around AD 1180 when large basalt stones were taken from a [[volcanic plug]] on the opposite side of Pohnpei.  The earliest settlement on Pohnpei was probably around AD 1 although [[radiocarbon dating]] shows human activity starting around AD 80–200.<ref name="McCoy et al"/>

In 1985, the ruins of Nan Madol were declared a National Historical Landmark.<ref>{{cite web |title=Nan Madol (U.S. National Park Service) |url=https://www.nps.gov/places/nan-madol.htm |website=www.nps.gov |access-date=24 December 2022 |language=en}}</ref>

Until its closure in 2012, objects from the site were displayed at [[Lidorkini Museum]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hunt |first=Errol |url={{google books URL|tV8zzj5jvtEC|q=lidorkini museum}} |title=South Pacific |date=2000 |publisher=Lonely Planet |isbn=978-0-86442-717-5 |language=en}}</ref>

===Offshore underwater archaeological surveys at Nan Madol===
In 1978 and 1979, Arthur Saxe<ref name=Saxe1980a/> conducted underwater archaeological surveys to investigate reports of submerged basalt columns just offshore of Nan Madol and to search for two legendary submerged prehistoric cities known as ''Kahnihmw Namkhet'' and ''Kahnihmweiso''. These surveys reported finding several tall stone pillars covered in coral growth and as tall as {{convert|6|m|ft}} tall, {{convert|0.9–1.2|m|ft}} wide, at depths of over {{convert|25|m|ft}}. Neither Kahnihmw Namkhet nor Kahnihmweiso was found. However, it was hypothesized that the city of Kahnihmweiso might have been built over a cavern, which collapsed and formed a [[blue hole]] that swallowed the city.<ref name=Saxe1980a>{{cite book |first1=A.A. |last1=Saxe |first2=R.A. |last2=Allenson |first3=S.R.L |last3=Loughridge |year=1980 |title= The Nan Mada Area of Ponape: Researches into Bounding and Stabilizing an Ancient Administrative Center |publisher= The Trust Territory Historic Preservation Office |location= Saipan |pages= 1–145}}</ref><ref name=Ishimura2014a>{{cite journal |first1=Tomo |last1=Ishimura |first2=Akira |last2=Asada |first3=Fumitaka |last3=Maeda |first4=Ken’ichi |last4=Sugimoto |first5=Toshihiro |last5=Ogawa |first6=Akio |last6=Hikoyama |first7=Yoshinori |last7=Matsumoto |first8=Yusuke |last8=Sugimoto |first9=Charles |last9=Brennan |first10=Tomomi |last10=Haramoto |first11=Augustine |last11=Kohler |year=2014 |title=Underwater Survey at the Ruins of Nan Madol, Pohnpei State, Federated States of Micronesia |journal=Proceedings of the 2nd Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Underwater Cultural Heritage |location=Honolulu |url=https://www.themua.org/collections/files/original/1eb17efe5fb6637ec2bc964b0e7754ad.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150413223616/https://www.themua.org/collections/files/original/1eb17efe5fb6637ec2bc964b0e7754ad.pdf |archive-date=Apr 13, 2015}}</ref>

In 1988 and 1989, a team of archaeologists<ref name=Ayers1993a/> from the University of Oregon conducted underwater archaeological surveys around Nan Madol. They found a number of prone basalt columns on the sea floor seaward of Nan Madol. They concluded that these columns consisted of lost, discarded or fallen building materials. They also examined underwater pillars reported by Saxe. They located two randomly spaced clusters of columns. They drove a steel rod into two of them and found only coral. One of them was raised and carefully dissected. This column was found to consist entirely of coral and clearly is not a "purposely positioned stone column".<ref name=Ishimura2014a/><ref name=Ayers1993a>{{cite book |title= Mada Archaeological Fieldwork. Final Report. A Research and Historic Preservation Project 1987–1990.|last= Ayers  |first= W.S. |volume= |series= |publisher=The Trust Territory Historic Preservation Office, Saipan |year=1993 |isbn= |pages=1–108 |access-date= }}</ref>

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.<ref name=Ishimura2014a/>

==In popular culture and lost continent theories==
[[File:Nan Madol and surroundings.jpg|thumb|The ruins of Nan Madol and surroundings]]
The ruins of Nan Madol were used as the setting for a [[Lost world|lost race]] story by [[A. Merritt]], ''[[The Moon Pool]]'' (1918), in which the islands are called Nan-Tauach and the ruins are called the Nan-Matal.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Merritt |first1=Abraham |author1-link=A. Merritt |title=The Moon Pool |date=1919 |publisher=G.P. Putnam's Sons |location=New York and London |url=https://archive.org/details/moonpool00merrgoog/page/n18/mode/2up |access-date=18 April 2023 |quote=...&nbsp;they had set forth for the Nan-Matal, that extraordinary group of island ruins clustered along the eastern shore of Ponape in the Carolines.|quote-page=3}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Craib |first1=John L. |title=Micronesian prehistory: an archeological overview |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |date=1983 |volume=219 |issue=4587 |pages=922–927 |doi=10.1126/science.219.4587.922 |pmid=17817916 |bibcode=1983Sci...219..922C |s2cid=38457399 |jstor=1690707 |quote=Nan Madol Island is the best known archeological site in Micronesia. Its unique structures of immense proportions, and their apparent abandonment before European contact in 1595 have made Nan Madol the focus of fanciful conjecture ([citation of Merritt's ''The Moon Pool'', among others]). |quote-page=925}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hanlon |first1=David |title='The Pleasure of Speculation and Conjecture:' Early Euro-American Visions of Nan Madol and their Relevance to Post-Modern Archaeological Investigations |journal=Micronesica |date=1990 |volume=Suppl. 2 |pages=99–116 |url=https://micronesica.org/sites/default/files/supp02-11ed.pdf |access-date=18 April 2023 |quote=There exist, too, more popular interpretations of Nan Madol that stress the occult and the extraterrestrial (DeCamp & Decamp 1964, Merritt 1919, Morrill 1970, von Daniken 1967). |quote-page=107}}</ref>

Nan Madol has been interpreted by some as the remains of one of the "[[Lost lands|lost continents]]" of [[Lemuria]] or [[Mu (mythical lost continent)|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''.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Mitchell |first1=Andrew W. |title=The Fragile South Pacific: An Ecological Odyssey |date=1990 |publisher=University of Texas Press |isbn=978-0-292-72466-2 |page=24 |url={{google books URL|_wPMHXvWiEIC|p=24}} |access-date=24 December 2022 |language=en}}</ref> There is no scientific basis for the claims of Churchward, whose writings on Mu are considered to be [[pseudoscience]].<ref name="Gardner 1957">[[Martin Gardner|Gardner, Martin]]. (1957). ''[[Fads and Fallacies in the Name of Science]]''. Dover Publications. p. 170. {{ISBN|0-486-20394-8}}</ref><ref name="Fagan 1996">[[Brian M. Fagan|Fagan, Brian M]]. (1996). ''The Oxford Companion to Archaeology''. Oxford University Press. p. 582. {{ISBN|978-0195076189}}</ref><ref>Williams, William F. (2000). ''[[Encyclopedia of Pseudoscience: From Alien Abductions to Zone Therapy]]''. Facts on File. p. 225. {{ISBN|978-0816033515}}</ref><ref>Nunn, Patrick D. (2008). ''Vanished Islands And Hidden Continents of the Pacific''. University of Hawaii Press. p. 123. {{ISBN|978-0824832193}}</ref>

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 supremacy|white supremacist]]" ideologies.<ref>{{cite news |last=Hodge |first=Hugo |date=7 December 2022 |title=Netflix's Ancient Apocalypse series uses 'racist ideologies' to rewrite Indo-Pacific history, experts say |work=[[ABC News (Australia)|ABC News]] |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-07/experts-say-ancient-apocalypse-netflix-series-is-racist-untrue/101728298 |access-date=7 December 2022}}</ref>

== Gallery ==
<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 (novel)|Nation]]'' – a novel that spotlights a lost Pacific advanced civilization

== Notes ==
{{NoteFoot}}

== References ==
{{reflist}}

=== Bibliography ===
{{refbegin}}
* {{cite journal
 |last=Ayres |first=William S.
 |date=Nov 1992
 |title=Nan Madol, Micronesia
 |journal=SAA Bulletin
 |volume=10
 |number=5
 |publisher=Society for American Archaeology
 |url=https://documents.saa.org/container/docs/default-source/doc-publications/saa-bulletin/1992/saa-bulletin-10-5.pdf?sfvrsn=786a543_2
}}
* {{cite journal
 |last=Ayres |first=William S.
 |date=1990
 |title=Pohnpei's Position in Eastern Micronesian Prehistory
 |journal=Micronesica
 |volume=Suppl. 2
 |publisher=Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association
 |location=Guam
 |pages=187–212
 |url=https://micronesica.org/sites/default/files/supp02-17ed.pdf
}}
* {{cite journal
 |last=Ayres |first=William S.
 |date=Jan 1990
 |title=Mystery Islets of Micronesia
 |journal=Archaeology
 |volume=43
 |issue=1
 |pages=58–63
 |jstor=41740393
}}
* {{cite book
 |last=Ratzel |first=Friedrich
 |chapter=Races of the Pacific and their migrations
 |title=The History of Mankind
 |volume=1
 |publisher=Macmillan and Company, Limited
 |location=London
 |date=1896
 |url={{google books URL|tuEnAAAAYAAJ|p=160}}
}} Includes a drawing entitled: "Sepulchral monument in Ponapé, Caroline Islands. (From a photograph in the Godeffroy Album.)"
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Commons category}}
* {{Official website}}

{{National Register of Historic Places in the Federated States of Micronesia}}
{{Federated States of Micronesia topics}}
{{Authority control}}

[[Category:1874 archaeological discoveries]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in the Federated States of Micronesia]]
[[Category:Artificial islands]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in the Federated States of Micronesia]]
[[Category:Former populated places in Oceania]]
[[Category:Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in the Federated States of Micronesia]]
[[Category:Lost ancient cities and towns]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in the Federated States of Micronesia]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in the Federated States of Micronesia]]
[[Category:Pohnpei]]
[[Category:Populated places disestablished in 1628]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 1st century]]
[[Category:Populated places established in the 2nd century]]
[[Category:Ruins in the Federated States of Micronesia]]
[[Category:World Heritage Sites in the Federated States of Micronesia]]
[[Category:Megalithic monuments]]