The
trilithon stands just before Niutoa, a village on the edge of an island, stranded in the middle of the world and surrounded by an unprecedented level of quietness. Reached after a drive past glistening waters, golden beaches and set amongst swaying palm trees, it is so much the epitome of “tropical paradise’. In a sleepy clearing on the side of the road, at one time capital of Tonga, the trilithon is quiet and awesome sight.
Coming from an age where life as we know it ceases when our electrical appliances do, it’s almost inconceivable, standing in front of this monolithic construction, that it could have been erected on man-power alone!These stones are huge, educated guesses estimate at around 40 tonnes each and tentatively dated at 10000AD, the Ha’amonga ‘a Maui trilithon boasts some rather outstanding proportions.
Consisting of two upright stones and a lintel resting in carved slots on top, the name Ha’amonga ‘a Maui translates as “the burden of Maui”, the legendary Polynesian God who is said to have fished up these tropical islands from the sea. Legend has it that this coral limestone monument was carried to Tonga by Maui from ‘Uvea in the French territory of the Wallis and Futuna Islands.
However, archaeological studies would tend towards the burden, no doubt, being for the few hundred islanders who heaved and sweated their way hoisting these stones up from the not-so-nearby waters edge! To think they that did this unaided by mechanics and hydraulics defies my comprehension of hard work – it’s rather difficult not to severely underestimate the going-ons here of a thousand years ago.
Not unlike Stonehenge in England, it was recently thought that the Ha’amonga was built as a gateway to the royal compound once situated here. But it was discovered in 1967, the coronation year of King Taufa’ahau Tupou IV, that markings on top of the lintel suggested the trilithon may have been used as a calendar by the ancient Polynesians.
Under the King’s supervision, clearings were cut in the directions of the markings and it was discovered that these were in perfect alignment with the rising of the sun on the summer and winter solstices, indicating the rites of the seasons, and more importantly, in the summer months the beginning of the yam harvest. During this time, the finest pickings of the crops were donated to the stores of the royal compound of the Tu’I Tonga.
Today, however, the Ha’amonga ‘a Maui stands alone in a 23 hectare reserve. The only hard work that goes on around here, if you could call it that, is the walk you take through the park and the forest, down to the water’s edge and following the rugged shoreline around to the swatches cut in the bush marking the solstices. That and, of course, the stall holders selling their shells, carvings and necklaces in the quiet solitude of this once bustling Tongatapu capital.
