Conflict and State Development in Ancient Tonga: The Lapaha Earth Fort

Geoffrey Clark*, Phillip Parton, Christian Reepmeyer, Nivaleti Melekiola, David Burley

*Corresponding author for this work

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    3 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Warfare is often considered as a key factor in the formation complex societies, but in the Pacific archaeological evidence for inter-group conflict during political centralization is rare. Most earthwork forts in Tonga are assumed to have been built in the nineteenth century when the traditional system of rulership collapsed, yet few forts on Tongatapu have been excavated or 14C dated. A fort in the chiefly center of the ancient Tongan state was mapped with theodolite and LiDAR, and excavated. Radiocarbon and traditional history indicate the fort known as the Lapaha Kolotau was made in the fourteenth century AD at the same time that chiefly architecture was being built at an unprecedented scale at the new elite center. The construction of an earthwork fort provides the first evidence that political centralization in Tonga was likely to have been contested.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)405-419
    Number of pages15
    JournalJournal of Island and Coastal Archaeology
    Volume13
    Issue number3
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 3 Jul 2018

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