Nan Madol Builds a Ceremonial Center on the Water

Bordering the eastern coastline of Pohnpei, adjacent to Temwen Island in Micronesia, the archaeological complex of Nan Madol stands on a shallow lagoon reef flat. The core of the site spans an area measuring roughly 1.5 by 0.5 kilometres and incorporates ninety-two artificial islets made of stone and coral fill. These man-made platforms are separated by a network of tidal canals, an arrangement reflected in the name Nan Madol, which translates to within the intervals. Pohnpeian accounts record that the location was originally known as Soun Nan-leng, meaning Reef of Heaven.

Although radiocarbon analyses trace human presence in the vicinity back to the first or second century AD, the construction of artificial islets only commenced around the eighth or ninth century. The erection of monumental megalithic architecture began between 1180 and 1200 AD, when builders transported massive columnar basalt blocks from a volcanic plug on the opposite side of Pohnpei. The complex served as the capital and ritual headquarters of the Saudeleur dynasty, a lineage of rulers who unified an estimated island population of 25,000 people. Pohnpeian oral tradition attributes the founding of the site to two brothers, Olisihpa and Olosohpa, who arrived seeking to erect an altar to Nahnisohn Sahpw, the deity of agriculture, with Olosohpa subsequently becoming the first Saudeleur ruler.