Page 31 - IB September 2024

Building and Construction Building and Construction

PALAU’S ANCIENT BUILDERS

UNCOVERING MONUMENTAL EARTHWORKS IN PRISTINE PALAU

A project to understand and map Palau’s ‘green pyramids’,
monumental earthworks from thousands of years ago, is
bringing attention to a largely unknown period of early
construction.
Over millennia, humans have shaped and altered the
natural landscape, moving millions of tonnes of earth and
building terraced hillsides (ouballang), steep and high crowns,
deep moats and trenches and large platforms.
It is a very early example of adaptation, with the earliest
examples dating back to around 500BC.
Researchers say like Rapa Nui’s giant stone statues and
Pohnpei’s Nan Madol, they are man-made displays of power
through large, highly visible construction.
The research project is a collaboration between Christian-
Albrechts University in Germany and the Palau Resource
Institute that began in 2017 and is now the subject of an Archaeological excavation at the summit of the Ngerbuns el Bad earthworks.
important display at the Belau National Museum. It sought Photo: C. Hartl-Reiter
to understand the origin, function, chronology and cultural
significance of the earthworks of Babedldaob. (MOU) to document and inventory monumental earthworks
The team has located 137 earthworks covering some 21 was signed last October.
square miles, using satellite images, historical photos and The objectives will be accomplished through remote sensing
knowledge from local communities, as many earthworks were equipment, archaeological fieldwork, and oral history.
invisible to the untrained eye.
Of those, 14 sites underwent detailed documentation,
resulting in the creation of 3D maps. Ten were chosen for geo-
archeological research to understand “how the earthworks
were built, what they had been used for, how old they are and
for how long they had been used”.
The team discovered that construction involved layering of
volcanic rock, layers of clay and fertile garden soil, and the
presence of many planting pits. All the building materials for
the various sites were extracted, reworked, transported, and
applied,” the team says. “Millions of tonnes of material were
transported during the construction phases.”
The scale of the structures show a large population must
have once been present on Babeldaob, and that they had
been organised into a coordinated labour force.
The team was also surprised to discover that the earthworks
had hardly been affected by erosion or landslides.
Apart from agriculture, the presence of pottery shards and
burial pits showed evidence of other uses. The team posit that
the shards may have played a role in drainage or to stabilise
construction.
Work continues to uncover these ancient structures. Lidar
laser technology is being used to visually strip away the thick
tree canopy covering many sites, exposing the imposing size
and diverse shapes of the monuments. Surveys with higher
resolution lidar, capable of penetrating the dense forests that
cloak the island’s rugged interior, are expected to uncover
more sites.
And in Aimeliik State, a Memorandum of Understanding

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