Burial mounds are widely scattered across the Tongatapu landscape. When you land at Fua’amotu airport, they line the runway. When you drive into Nuku’alofa, they can be seen to either side of the road. All but a few are without name, and the individuals buried within are long lost to history. Yet these mounds represent a story that literally is inscribed on the landscape. Using airborne LiDAR data, a computer application was developed to count the mounds. The total was astounding, including upwards of 10,000 of these sites on Tongatapu - about 40 mounds for every square kilometre. By Travis Freeland and David V. Burley.
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Results for Tu'i Tonga
Saturday 16 May 2020
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
On November 2, 1866, the Reverend Shirley Waldemar Baker, missionary and eventual Prime Minister of Tonga, gave a lecture in which he describes the last traditional God House in Ha'apai....“I have stood in the old Fale Mee at Haano, which is the last fale otua (temple of their god) still standing in Haapai. At the foot of the principal post there is buried a man, who was said to be the best singer in all Tonga. He was offered a living sacrifice to the god at the building of the temple, as an act of dedication.” By David V. Burley.
Saturday 7 October 2017
Nuku'alofa, Tonga
Actor and story-teller Sam Neill, completed several days filming in Tongatapu on October 2, for a landmark documentary that will be broadcast in 2018. This 6-part documentary series explores the three voyages of Captain James Cook using a contemporary journey across the Pacific Ocean.
Monday 14 July 2014
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Nuku'alofa, Tonga
A new study by Australian researchers has stated that Tonga was the only prehistoric state in Oceania to encompass an entire archipelago and extend its influence to other island groups.
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Friday 10 March 2006
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Lapaha, Tonga
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.
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