Ancient site · Settlement
Nukuleka
Nukuleka, a fishing village on the northeast coast of Tongatapu in Tonga, is argued to be the first settlement in Polynesia. Excavations led by David Burley found Lapita pottery, and uranium-thorium dating of coral files used as abrading tools placed the founding at 2838 ± 8 years before present, about 888 BCE, with the settlement developing over the following 250 years.
Archaeologists see it as a founder colony from which Polynesian culture developed. Some Tongan and Samoan scholars dispute the 'cradle of Polynesia' label.
- Dates
- founded c. 888 BCE; occupied for about 250 years
- Still standing
- No, or only traces
- Location
- 21.15° S, 175.13° W
How we know
No writing existed; the founding is dated very precisely by uranium-thorium dates on coral tools.
Nearby sites
- Teouma c. 1100–900 BCE (about 3,000 years old)
- Lapita type site (Site 13, Foué) dated to c. 800 BCE
- Wairau Bar settled c. 1288–1300 CE (later than this atlas's ancient period)
- Nan Madol megalithic building from c. 1180–1200 CE; capital until c. 1628 (later than this atlas's ancient period)
- Budj Bim eel traps from at least c. 4600 BCE (6,600 years ago)
- Kuk Swamp drainage from c. 7000 BCE (about 9,000 years ago)
Related
- Lapita culture archaeological culture
- The world in 1000 BCE: Out of the Collapse chapter