Age of first chief's ancient tomb reveals Pacific Islanders invented new kind of society
Date:
October 18, 2016
Source:
Southern Methodist University
Summary:
New uranium series analysis of chief's tomb suggests island's monumental structures are earliest evidence of a chiefdom in the Pacific -- yielding new keys to how societies emerge and evolve.
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The pXRF was used on islets across the site of Nan Madol and intensively on the islet of Nandauwas.
Credit: Mark McCoy
New dating on the stone buildings of Nan Madol suggests the ancient coral reef capital in the Pacific Ocean was the earliest among the islands to be ruled by a single chief.
The discovery makes Nan Madol a key locale for studying how ancient human societies evolved from simple societies to more complex societies, said archaeologist Mark D. McCoy, Southern Methodist University, Dallas. McCoy led the discovery team.
McCoy deployed uranium series dating to determine that when the tomb was built it was one-of-a-kind, making it the first monumental scaled burial site on the remote islands of the Pacific.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161018132620.htm
