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WonderIsland city fact

Nan Madol, off the island of Pohnpei in Micronesia, is a ruined city of basalt walls, tombs and ceremonial buildings on roughly a hundred artificial islets divided by tidal channels.

Pohnpei, Micronesia, c. 1180–1628

ArchaeologyArchitectureEngineeringOceanHistory

The story behind the card

Islet-building began by the 8th or 9th century, and the great basalt walls went up from about 1180–1200. The site became the ceremonial and political seat of the Saudeleur dynasty, which ruled a united Pohnpei until about 1628; rival chiefs were made to live there, where they could be watched. The builders used long, naturally many-sided columns of basalt, quarried elsewhere on Pohnpei and brought to the site, stacking them in alternating crosswise and lengthwise courses around platforms filled with coral rubble. How they moved and raised such heavy stone is not recorded. The mortuary sector, Madol Powe, includes the walled royal tomb islet of Nandauwas. UNESCO listed Nan Madol in 2016 and placed it at once on its List of World Heritage in Danger, as silt and mangroves were choking the channels.

Türkçe oku
Nan Madol, Mikronezya'daki Pohnpei Adası'nın kıyısında, gelgit kanallarıyla birbirinden ayrılan yaklaşık yüz yapay adacık üzerine kurulmuş bir yıkık kenttir; bazalt duvarları, mezarları ve tören yapıları hâlâ ayaktadır.
Pohnpei, Mikronezya, yaklaşık 1180–1628

Adacıkların yapımı 8. ya da 9. yüzyılda başladı; büyük bazalt duvarlar ise 1180–1200 dolaylarından itibaren yükseldi. Kent, Pohnpei'yi yaklaşık 1628'e kadar tek elden yöneten Saudeleur hanedanının tören ve yönetim merkezi oldu; rakip şefler, göz önünde olsunlar diye burada yaşamak zorundaydı. Yapıcılar, Pohnpei'nin başka bir yerinden çıkarılıp buraya getirilen, doğal olarak çok köşeli uzun bazalt sütunlar kullandı. Sütunları bir enine, bir boyuna sıralar hâlinde üst üste koydular ve içini mercan molozuyla doldurdukları platformları böyle çevirdiler. Bu ağır taşların nasıl taşınıp kaldırıldığına dair bir kayıt yok. Mezarların bulunduğu Madol Powe bölümünde, duvarlarla çevrili kraliyet mezarı Nandauwas da yer alır. UNESCO, Nan Madol'u 2016'da Dünya Mirası listesine aldı ve kanalları tıkayan alüvyon ve mangrovlar yüzünden aynı anda Tehlike Altındaki Dünya Mirası listesine ekledi.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Nan Madol
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