The Marquesans have developed a monumental habitat and very specific sculptures, the tikis. More than 700 archaeological and legendary sites have been recorded in the archipelago, and the inventory is far from complete. They bear witness to a sizeable Polynesian population before the arrival of the West, which managed to survive despite its isolation and to build a unique and original culture.
The Marquesas archipelago was "discovered" by Westerners in 1595, when the Spanish explorer Alvaro Mendana de Neira named the islands "Islas de la Marquesa de Mendoça" in honour of the wife of the Viceroy of Peru, Don García Hurtado de Mendoza, Marquis of Cañete. The French form remained. It was not until 1774 that it was mentioned again when James Cook made a brief stopover there.
It is one of the archipelagos furthest from any continent, which is why it was reached and populated late, around 800 AD, by Austronesian navigators (1) from Western Polynesia. "The Austronesians, settled in the Fiji-Tonga-Samoa area, continued their discovery of the Pacific by heading towards the rising sun", explain Sophie-Dorothée Duron, Marie-Noëlle and Pierre Ottino-Garanger, authors of The Marquesan Ocean. "These people were outstanding sailors who knew how to read the sea, understand the whispering winds and interpret the language of the stars. This direction, facing the trade winds, gave them a safe return in case they didn't reach new land. Returning to the archipelago of departure was then easier with tailwind". The Marquesas were then used as a base for further explorations to Easter Island, Hawaii and New Zealand, bearing witness to a civilisation that saw the ocean not as an obstacle on the fringes of the continental world, but as a universe in its own right.
How were the Marquesas Islands occupied?
On these mountainous islands, with their very steep terrain, high cliffs and deep, narrow valleys, families chose to settle further inland for safety reasons, even though the coastline and lower valleys often offered flatter areas. Little occupied because they were dangerous in many ways (risk of tsunamis or cliff collapses, areas of fighting and inter-tribal kidnappings), the coastal areas also formed a boundary between two worlds, that of the land and the sea, thus taking on a special dimension. The shoreline also marked the boundary with the world of the ancestors, located beyond the ocean. For this reason, in principle, only fishermen (exclusively men) and people whose job it was to protect or conduct trade lived there. A housing could be established there (paepae or upe depending on the island), but preferably on the higher ground and limited to seasonal use. The valleys were home to clans in the broadest sense of the term. "The development of the coastline, valley bottoms, etc. was determined, in part, by the constraints linked to basic human needs: food, shelter, and by the beliefs and knowledge of these 'peoples of the sea', as the Polynesians have been called".Pierre Ottino-Garanger, research archaeologist at the Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) and ICOMOS expert. "The 'enata (original inhabitants of the southern group) had to respect both physical constraints and age-old traditions inherited from an ancestral culture reproduced as they progressed and settled across the Pacific " explains ethno-archaeologist Marie-Noëlle Ottino-Garanger, who is conducting research into the settlement of the Marquesas Islands. In addition to adapting to natural constraints, they also developed a vision of the place of each person, of each family, according to its role in the community. Not to mention the large number of tapu which governed their social and religious life. Their world was perceived as made up of layers? the dad ? Those of the world beyond, the world of the ancestors, and those of the world of the living, of society too, including those of the papa haka'iki or "chief class" and papa tau?a "class of priests".
A century of research
The first archaeological work dates back to the 1920s and was carried out by Ralph Linton of the Bishop Museum in Hawaii. He inventoried numerous sites and surface structures based on the memories of the Ancients. His work still forms a basis for archaeologists today. Then an American mission led by Robert C. Suggs (Bayard Dominick Expedition) carried out excavations from 1957 to 1958 on the large island of Nuku Hiva. Other pioneers, such as Y. Sinoto (1979 Bishop Museum, Hawaii), working mainly on the island of Ua Huka. It has to be said that, in the 1960s, archaeology required the discovery of artefacts that were exhumed in order to study this culture by means of analyses carried out outside the island. These objects were added to museum collections, but also to private collections. Many objects were also given away, sold, exchanged or stolen, making local people suspicious of the "diggers".
Interest in the archaeological sites began in the mid-1980s, with the posting of an archaeologist by the IRD (Institut de recherche pour le développement). The Department of Culture and Heritage and the University of French Polynesia have also been involved on an ad hoc basis: Tamara Maric, Éric Conte, Guillaume Molle, Aymeric Hermann Maus, Melinda Allen, etc. Their research focuses on chronological issues, the history of the settlement of the archipelago and the developments established in response to the environment on which these islanders depended (the petroglyph of the tohua Kamuihei discovered during work carried out on this vast community centre by the Ottino-Garanger family and the people of the valley, is now the logo of the local community). Today, they are coupled with a concern to safeguard and enhance them with the help of the Marquesans. By helping to preserve their archaeological heritage, they are reconnecting with their past and their traditions, which have been undermined for generations by both religious and civil authorities.
This cultural revival, which began at the end of the 1970s, is expressed in particular during the Marquesas Arts Festival, the Matava?a o te henua ?enanaThese events are often an opportunity to rediscover and restore ancient sites (by clearing away the abundant vegetation, which often prevents an overall view of the structures) and to assert a cultural identity by recognising the importance of these sites. These events are often an opportunity to rediscover and restore ancient sites (by clearing away the abundant vegetation, which often prevents an overall view of the structures) and to assert a cultural identity by recognising heritage in its broadest sense.
A heritage that guarantees Marquesan culture
"Heritage appears to be the guarantor of Marquesan and Polynesian authenticity, all the more so because in these societies with an oral tradition, the demographic haemorrhage at the beginning of the 20th century and the disruption caused by European contact very quickly upset traditional points of reference. While language remains the day-to-day support for the specificity of these peoples, like lifestyles, mentalities, gestures and techniques, it is sensitive to changes in the world and changes with it. The only thing that remains anchored, as long as it is not disturbed, is the imprint of this ancient culture on persistent elements, such as the landscapes and the marker trees that are the banyan trees, or the many traces inscribed in the soil or by means of the rock, the dense basalt that is omnipresent in the archipelago. These banyan trees in the middle of the terraces are no accident of nature. They are an integral part of the sanctuaries. In fact, the roots and hollow trunks were used to house the bones of the dead. That's why we can't use diggers for excavations. The worked stones and lithic structures created by the ancients play a tangible and obvious part in the collective memory; they are the mnemonic devices of a culture that is now seeking to preserve its memory, its originality and its history through its own footprints.reveals Pierre Ottino-Garanger.
A Marquesan lithic structure: the paepae
The current inhabitants (a population of around 9,000 compared with over 100,000 in the 18th century) now occupy just a few of the valleys, but the often impressive remains of settlements still cover these islands. They contribute to their originality and beauty. Some are ancient me?aeThese are sacred places in a natural environment, set apart from the rest of the world and, for the most part, on high ground. tapu. The dwelling, made of plant matter, was built on a rectangular paved lithic platform, the paepae. The largest, that of Chief Heato at Ua Pou, measures 40 m by 12 m and is 3 m high. It comprises 3 levels with slabs laid on a field and several decorated with bas-reliefs, some of which are 3 m long? As for the whole, it represents some 2,000 m3 of basalt rock, brought in with no help other than human strength. Today, the terms paepae or upe refers to any quadrangular platform erected on the ground, with a frame at its rear, the ha?e (or fa?e). Other noteworthy developments include the tohua or taha koika (or koina), forming large spaces 60 to 120 m long (and even 140 and 155 m long for the tohua of Hatiheu as Tahakia. Unique to the archipelago, they were surrounded by bleachers and buildings that could accommodate hundreds of guests for festivals and ceremonies (for festivals to present young people with their first tattoos, for mourning ceremonies or the selection of a new chief, etc.), as well as engraved rocks or tikis (anthropomorphic figures), some of which date back to the 15th century, although it is difficult to date them precisely.
Made of stone or wood, these tikis reached impressive dimensions (2 m and more) on the eve of "contact". Often buried under the vegetation, these remains are relatively better preserved in uninhabited valleys, such as Haka?ohoka, located to the south-east of Ua Pou, one of the three northern islands of the Marquesas archipelago, on the island of Hiva Oa, in the southern group, which contains a large number of tikis. tikis and a major ceremonial centre, Lipona in Puamau, the most imposing in Polynesia with the largest tikis known outside Easter Island, and Paeke in the Taipivai valley on the island of Nuku Hiva.
"In these remote islands, as in many other isolated places whose cultures have been abused by time and history, archaeology is a breath of fresh air. This breath is as much a cultural necessity as it is an economic one, providing a link between past, present and future, while contributing to social and intergenerational cohesion.concludes Pierre Ottino-Garanger.
Henua or Fenua ?Enana: the Land of Men
The Marquesas Islands are the last landmass in the Pacific, stretching 350 km eastwards and 1,500 km from Tahiti. They are made up of a dozen islands, ranging in size from 0.25 km² to 340 km²; the total land area is 1,050 km², spread over around 700,000 km² of maritime space. Born of recent volcanism, these islands have valleys delimited by a pronounced relief that has enabled their inhabitants to define their different territories (fenua in the south, henua in the north). Only six of the islands are inhabited, with a population of around 10,000. In 1920, after the passage of the Spanish, Portuguese, English, Russians, whalers and French, there were only 2,000 Marquesans left. Despite massive depopulation caused by contact with Westerners, who carried viruses unknown to the Oceanians, the introduction of firearms and famines, the Marquesans have preserved the essence of their traditions and cultural values.
Tapu and taboo
TapuThis Polynesian word means 'forbidden' and has a sacred connotation. It can refer to objects, people or actions that must be avoided so as not to trigger the wrath of the gods or defile the person who transgresses. James Cook brought the word back to England after his expeditions to the South Pacific. Freud, in his book Totem and Taboo popularised the expression, and ethnologists used it as a generic term to mean something that is forbidden. Many tapu Some of them are still with us today, explains Pierre Ottino-Garanger : "This is probably one of the Polynesian archipelagos where this system was the most developed. It regulated everyone?s life, in the sense of our laws in a way. It delimited what was authorised, or feasible, from what was not. It placed fishing, harvesting and the consumption of plants and food under the protection of prohibitions, in a context where people had only themselves to rely on. In this way, abuses were avoided, but the tapu themselves could become a source of abuse. The prohibitions apparently multiplied to the extreme". . Some locations were also tapuin particular me?aeThese are sacred religious sites, accessible only to priests and their assistants. Even today, Marquesans do not enter them. Other territories - ridge lines, torrent beds, banyan trees and their shadows - could also be used for religious purposes. tapu because of their defensive, protective or funerary function.
Marquesas Islands: Tales from the past
One of these stories tells of a huge tree that once stood south of Hiva Oa and was home to all the birds of the world. Fenua ?enata. They found shelter and food there. Then the majestic tree collapsed and its gigantic branches fell onto the islands. Each island was then populated by a particular bird, which gave rise to its own population of birds. tumuthe original trunk of the Tiu (the parent clan, ati tumu). This name, tiuThis is a reference to the trade winds blowing from the north-east from November to April. These prevailing winds indicated the position of the archipelago for navigators coming from the south-west.
The sea and women
The sea was a traditional area for male activities. Women, for their part, frequented the coastline in search of shellfish, seaweed and rock fish. They were only allowed to go out to sea if certain conditions were met. tapu were lifted. Until the 1980s, they were forbidden to get into a pirogue, or even to touch it. Women were affected by tapulinked to menstrual blood.
1 - Austronesian belongs to a family of languages whose range extends from Taiwan to New Zealand and from Madagascar to Easter Island, with the exception of Australia and part of New Guinea.
It should be noted that the Unesco World Heritage Committee, at its forty-sixth session in July 2024, has just unanimously decided to list Te Henua Enata ? the Marquesas Islands are a Unesco World Heritage Site.
Office de tourisme des Marquesas Islands
Text : Brigitte Postel
Photos : Brigitte Postel unless otherwise stated
Opening photos : Island of Nuku Hiva. B. Postel
