This is the last frontier, the primordial home of the Tiki

By Patrick P.J. Ott Posted on Science

There are some far islands, still mostly wild, where you can look up to sheer volcanic peaks and walk along the floors of lush green valleys that hide ancient ruins, altars and the origin of the Tiki statue. They are the Marquesas, a group of 10 islands about 930 miles from Tahiti and 3,000 miles from the nearest continent. Few locales on earth are more remote.

Archaeologists hold that the Polynesians arrived here around 1000 B.C. The islands have no tranquil lagoons, no protective coral reefs and a craggy, wild shoreline. Their geography forces us to peer as cautiously around the edges of the islands’ indented bays as the tikis the Polynesians left behind. (There’s another reason for our cautious peering – there are strong hints of ritual cannibalism in the artifacts that the forerunners of today’s islanders left behind.)

The earliest of the artifacts, dating from 150 B.C. to 100 A.D., include fishhooks, sinkers, pottery fragments and adzes.  From 100 A.D. to 1200 A.D., the settlers developed peelers, scrapers and pounders for worship. Finally, from 1100 A.D. to 1400 A.D., raised platforms (paepae) for houses and altars began to appear as sites for worshipping, making sacrifices and retelling ancient legends. Charred human bones suggest cannibalism during this time may have been a part of religious rituals. During  the period from 1400 A.D. to 1600 A.D., several religious and ceremonial structures, some of monumental size, were built. Tohua (paved public plazas) and large stone tiki statures came into existence.

The Marquesas Islands are the primordial home of tiki, with all six of the inhabited islands in the group offering extensive examples of the statues. The concept of tiki permeates virtually every aspect of material and spiritual culture in the Marquesas. In spite of the differing accounts, most tikis are believed to represent deified ancestors. Tiki was the zenith of Marquesan art, reached shortly before or around the time of first contact with the Western world. Its effects linger: You'll notice that even the tattoos on the island's locals are tiki designs, applied using traditional instruments and signifying a deep-seated belief in and reverence toward their ancestors. Because they are spiritual symbols, the tattoos are never objects of casual comment and should be respected as serious signs of devotion.

Tiki carvings are based on legends of the South Pacific. These include Tangaroa (the god of the sea) and Tiki, the First Man, who are to be found in the Polynesian creation stories. When a person sculpted a tiki, he called upon the spirit of a god or ancestor to enter into the statue and give its good favor. You will find tikis placed on cobbled stone platforms (paepaes) whose purpose is to raise their praised spirits high above the ground. Sacred dances and religious rites often took place around their bases. 

As you wander through the various islands, take the time to ask and listen to the legends and ancient stories from the people in the villages. Be sure to visit Nuku Hiva, the largest island, and Hiva Oa in the south where artist Paul Gauguin and famed singer Jacques Brel are buried. On Ua Huka, the valley of Hane is  centered within a sunken volcano crater.

At Tehavea you’ be rewarded by more  tikis (to be respectfully approached and observed). Another island has more horses than human beings and herds of goats also run rampant. On it you’ll also find many restored archaeological sites. Also, be sure to visit Vaipaee, where the municipal museum proudly displays for tikis, old carvings and reproductions of old photos.

You’ll arrive in the Marquesas by way of Tahiti, and may choose to catch a fishing boat from Hiva Oa to the southerly island of Fatu Hiva. This island attained notoriety from the book Vatu Hiva, Back to Nature, written by Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian who tried to prove that Polynesia was originally settled by South Americans by sailing a reed raft, the Kon Tiki, from Peru to Tahiti.

Pulling into Fatu Hiva's Hanavave Bay, acclaimed by some as the most beautiful bay in the Pacific, you will be completely enamored by the monolithic tiki-shaped rock formations towering above the most verdant rain forest imaginable. Fatu Hiva is the Garden of Eden. The last time I was there, a double rainbow followed us along with a school of dolphins, guiding us to Fatu Hiva's largest village, Omoa.

As you approach shore, you might be mystified by various rock formations. One of these rocks, which the villagers call Tana, looks identical to an Easter Island moai figure (the famous tall figures with flattened heads and elongated noses). Each night there’s an incredible sunset, and you’ll find yourself walking the shoreline enjoying it as you ponder the many mysteries that surround the tiki. 

Also special to this village is the making of tapa cloth (made from pounded tree bark) and umuhei, aromatic bouquets that are said to have aphrodisiacal properties. The production of sandalwood-scented monoi (bath oils) also thrives here. Culinary specialties include dried bananas with poipoi (a kind of mash) made from uru, or breadfruit.

When you visit the Marquesas, here are some useful archaeological descriptions and definitions:

1. Paepae: Stone platforms, usually rectangular, that formed the foundation for traditional houses.

2. Ua ma: These pits for fermenting breadfruit were dug in clay soil. A communal tribal pit in Taipivai on Nuku Hiva was 18 feet in diameter and at least 30 feet deep.

3. Tohua or taha ko'ina: Stone dance plazas, once used for community festivities. These sites were constructed by the haka-iki, or chiefs, and accommodated hundreds, even thousands of celebrants.

4. Me'ae: Sites for religious ceremonies. Me'ae consisted of platforms, walls, and pavements, located in secluded areas. Remains of chiefs and priests were often kept here. Human sacrifices were offered to insure victory in war, to break a drought, insure a harvest or cure illness. Sacrifices were offered to consecration a new canoe or new house for chief or priests; to honor a great chief or priest; or to celebrate the completion of the tattooing of a chief's son.

5. Tiki: Wood and stone images representing powerful, protective ancestral figures; these images were placed at me'ae to aid in the worship of the deified ancestors. Some of the tiki were quite large, as high as 10 feet. There is a close resemblance in body and leg treatment between the Hawaiian tiki and Marquesan tiki.

6. Pa (Hawaiian pa, or enclosure): A defensive site, used as a place of refuge or to cover the approach to a valley. Only a few stone walls of such sites still remain; those forts with barriers of timber have disappeared.

7. Petroglyphs: drawings on the surfaces of rocks are found at various sites in the islands.