Byrd Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I find that a bit hard to believe, given the
> relatively late date for the construction. If I'm
> reading Wikipedia correctly, they're trying to
> hugely revise the dates (by about 8,000 years)

Sefton et al. (2022) is arguing that the time that Nan Madol was
built, relative sea level was lower than present to the extent that the bottom of what are
called "canals" were 0.26 meter above mean higher high water. Basically, they conclude
that what are currently water-filled canals were dry streets when Nan Mandol was built
at circa770 to 750 y B.P. this inplies that the prevailing interpretation that "..Nan Madol
was intentionally constructed in a shallow marine environment to allow the political elite
to isolate themselves from mainstream society on Pohnpei..." is incorrect.

Finally, they conclude that the apparent "...delayed (by at least ~1,000 y) settlement
of equatorial atolls and high volcanic islands (including Pohnpei and Kosrae)...in
the southern Pacific Ocean relative to the settlement of islands in the Northern
Pacific Ocean is possibly a result of early coastal sites being submerged and
consequently either destroyed or obscured by relative sea level rise. They argue
that settlement of the North and South Pacific Ocean islands might have occurred
occurred at relatively the same time and the apparently delay in settlement of the
South Pacific island is a result of taphonomic factors associated with relative sea
level rise.

Reference cited

Sefton, J.P., Kemp, A.C., Engelhart, S.E., Ellison, J.C., Karegar, M.A., Charley, B.
and McCoy, M.D., 2022. Implications of anomalous relative sea-level rise for the
peopling of Remote Oceania. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
119(52), p.e2210863119.

Yours,

Paul H.

"The past is never dead. It's not even past."
William Faulkner, Act 1, Scene III, Requiem for a Nun (1951)



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/03/2023 09:33PM by Paul H..