Nan Madol is a ruined city that lies off the eastern shore of the island of Pohnpei, in the Federated States of Micronesia, and was the capital of the Saudeleur dynasty until about AD 1500. The Megalithic city consists of a series of small artificial islands linked by a network of canals and is often called the “Venice of the Pacific“. The name Nan Madol means “spaces between” and is a reference to the canals that crisscross the ruins.The original name was Soun Nan-leng (Reef of Heaven).
The Mysteries of Nan Madol
The technologies of ancient civilizations continue to baffle scientific explanation. Like the pyramids and other megalithic monuments, building Nan Madol required a tremendous effort and expertise so that the great number of stones, weighing anywhere from five to fifty tons, could be moved and raised to where they were needed. To erect walls 10 feet wide and up to 37 feet tall, 250 million pieces of rock(700 000 metric tons) had to be logged in from the quarry on the opposite side of the island. The locals say that the ancient builders used magic. A powerful magician living in the well inhabited region on the northwest of the island was solicited, With “sounds of varying pitch” he made basalt logs fly through the air like birds and settle down in their appointed places. The scientific theory about lugging the stones by water on bamboo rafts has does not hold water. While making a documentary movie about Nan Madol for the Discovery Channel in 1995, all attempts to transport panels weighing over a one ton failed.
This cornerstone Nandowas is believed to weigh up to 60 tons!.The peculiar location of the city raises another question. Why was it raised in the ocean waters and not on land? Each structure had to be built on a specially constructed artificial rectangle in the waters, edged by long basalt boulders and filled with coral granules. 92 such artificial islets cover the area. Why did the early constructors come up with this impractical idea,with the demanding labor of building artificial sea islands when there were so many natural coral reef islands there,when they could have simply cleared the shore of palm trees?
Food and water
Why would someone build a city on coral reefs that rises only five feet above water? Nan Madol had no food or water available on the island.One must go inland to gather water and grow food. For the Saudeleurs they were the supreme rulers the people had to bring them what they needed. When the Saudeleurs were overthrown and the period of the Nahnmwarkis began, the Nahnmwarkis lived at Nan Madol, but they had to gather their water and grow their food themselves, causing them to eventually abandon Nan Madol.What was the purpose of Nan Madol? This question has puzzled scientists for centuries.
The elite center was a special place of residence for the nobility and of mortuary activities presided over by priests.
The Lost Platinum Coffins of the Kings
Before WW-II when the Japanese controlled the island.They reportedly hauled away platinum caskets from the House of the Dead under the sea. That’s where the second, mirror part of the city stands. The divers smashed the coffins under water and brought up pieces of platinum. Suddenly the main export of the island to Japan, vanilla, copra, sago and mother of pearl was supplanted by platinum. One day the two members of the blasphemous mission to the House of the Dead vanished. Then WW II broke out. The platinum coffins were forgotten. Neither the caskets nor records of them survived the American nuclear attack on Hiroshima. Yet couldn’t the ruins of Nan Madol hold still other bones of the early inhabitants?
The mortuary at Nandowas is where kings were laid in state before being buried on other islands.Others believe sacrifices where held here as well.
The Giants of Nan Madol
In the early twentieth century, when the island was under German rule, Governor Victor Berg entered the sealed tomb of Nan Mandol and opened the coffin of the ancient island rulers. He found skeletons of giants two to three meters tall. The next morning, on April 30, 1907, after a stormy night, Governor Berg died. The German physician serving on the island could not determine the cause of death. The natives, certain it was a curse,that prove supernatural powers guard the city of the dead.
Who were the giants who built Nan Mandol and mysteriously vanished?The Pohnpei people believe them to be the natives of the vanished continent of MU, sunk into the Pacific Ocean during a great calamity 12,000 years ago. Myths have evolved over time about the tenants of Nan Matol and three distinct races of giants: a human-like species, capable of flight; a simian race of giants who could fly and live under the sea; and a third strain of “mega-giants“, best described as worker-drones who labored beneath the sea. In the early nineteen hundreds, researchers recorded a popular legend about the Kona, a cannibalistic race of giants.
Still there are others who believe Nan Madol was never inhabited, it has always been a giant machine! A machine that controlled the weather.
