Archaeologists who are working on a project to map Tonga's ancient terraced tombs this week began the first laser imaging and remote sensing work to be conducted in Tonga, and they aim produce a three dimensional graphic map of Lapaha as as it was during the reign of the Tu'i Tonga from the 13th century to 1885.

The map will be included in a complete history book of Lapaha, the capital of the Tu'i Tonga Maritime Empire, that is currently being put together by local historians, and overseas scholars from Canada, Australia, New Zealand and France.

Professor David Burley, from the Department of Archaeology, Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, an expert on Lapita Pottery who has been working in Tonga for a number of years, said that the Lapaha Project was not essentially a tourism project, “it is about community pride, and getting people to work together, cleaning up the town, and to be proud of their village as the centre of the Tu'i Tonga Maritime Empire”.”

David said that three years ago Princess Siu'ilikutapu told him about the Lapaha Project and because he had done some archaeological work at Lapaha he was given a copy of their Project Proposal and became a part of the project.

Local knowledge

Noble Kalaniuvalu, the estate owner of Lapaha believed that it was prime time for a proper history of Lapaha to be written down and for the people of Lapaha to know their history. He commented that, ““people come in here and say you have got a lot of history, but you don't know it all, so with the scientific research that is carried out by Geoff and his team we can collaborate that with local knowledge and we should be able to come out with a complete history of Lapaha,”” he said.

About the same time Prof David Burley met Dr Geoffrey Clark of the Department of Archaeology and Natural History, Australian National University, Canberra. Geoffrey has an interest in the Tongan Maritime Empire, and was very interested in the fact that Lapaha was the capital of the Tu'i Tonga Maritime Empire.

“What was happening in Lapaha was very important because of its impact on these distant places, a central power that went beyond the Tongan Islands to Fiji, Lotuma, Futuna and ‘Uvea and Samoa.”” Geoffrey said that the Tongan Maritime Empire was very unusual, ““it happened only in one other place in the Pacific, in Yap.””

Geoffrey presented the Lapaha Project to the Australian Research Council for funding and David said that there was a fund available for them to make the Lapaha Project a reality, ““so we are working on this project with the people of Lapaha as part of their community planning.””

Lapaha

He said that this part of the project is all about Lapaha, but not just about the Langi or royal tombs, it is about the entire community. David said that while he is focusing his attention on the historical and the archaeological side of the project, Geoffrey is taking care of the scientific part of the project. Geoffrey...’s scientific team includes Dr Antoine de Biran, Jofe Jenkins a laser mapper, and two students from the University of Otago, New Zealand.

“We are interested in mapping the fortification ditch, the docks at Fonuatanu, and documenting all the burial areas.

““We know where the Tu'i Tonga was buried, 'Olotele, and there is a bathing well there, and where his house was. We can pinpoint some of these locations, then we can prepare an overall historical map of Lapaha, take out the roads, and take out the boundary marks as well.””

Geoffrey said that Dr Antoine De Biran, a geophysicist from France with remote sensing equipment was working on the Langis.

Paepae-O-Tele'a

At Lapaha where Antoine is already working on the Langi Paepae-0-Tele'a, he explained that with the two pieces of equipment he brought once they are placed on top of the Langis they can send down electric current to the depth of 3 to 5 meters and when the current hits something that is hard it bounces back signals to the surface where the data is recorded and fed into a computer. Then he can produce a map showing where the vaults are in the tombs, and the size of the tombs.

Sacred tombs with modern burials

Meanwhile, David said that if they know where the vaults are in the Langi it will open up a lot of possibilities. He said that looking at the physical features of ...‘Otu Langi on photographs that were taken in 1968, and comparing them with photographs that were taken in 1981, “a lot of things are disappearing. It would be very interesting to find out about the recent burials in the Langi, who were they and who gave the permission for them to be buried there, because these tombs were supposed to be the Tu'i Tonga's sacred tombs.”

Geoffrey said that another scientific member of the team, Jofe Jenkins, a laser surveyor from New Zealand, was to arrive on March 8, and with laser imaging he could produce a three dimensional graphic map of Lapaha as it was during the reign of the Tu'i Tonga from the 13th century to 1885.

““We are working to prepare a very detailed map of the Langi and to identify what is in those tombs, the biggest tombs. Where are the vaults and where the fakafe'ao could be located,”said Geoffrey. “We would like to collect as much information as we can and give it back to the community.”

The mapping of the ‘‘Otu Langi and of Lapaha is expected to be completed by the end of March and the rest of the research work on a history book of Lapaha is expected to be completed by the end of the year.