Ha'amonga 'a Maui
Encyclopedia
Trilithon
A trilithon is a structure consisting of two large vertical stones supporting a third stone set horizontally across the top . It is commonly used in the context of megalithic monuments...
located in Tonga
Tonga
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga , is a state and an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean, comprising 176 islands scattered over of ocean in the South Pacific...
, in the north of the island of Tongatapu
Tongatapu
Tongatapu is the main island of the Kingdom of Tonga and the location of its capital Nukualofa. It is located in Tonga's southern island group, to which it gives its name, and is the country's most populous island, with approximately 71,260 residents , 70.5% of the national population...
, near the village of Niutōua
Niutoua
Niutoua is a village in Tongatapu, Tonga. It is located close to the Ha'amonga 'a Maui stone on the extreme northeast corner of the island. It was the first capital of the Tu'i Tonga Empire....
, in Heketā.
Trilithon is constructed from three coral limestone slabs, and is up to 5.2 m high, 1.4 m wide, 5.8 m long. The weight of the visible part of each upright stone is approximately 30 - 40 tons. There are hewn deep mortises in the top of each upright stone to fit in the lintel.
Ha'amonga 'a Maui was built at the beginning of the 13th century under the 11th Tui Tonga
Tu'i Tonga
The Tui Tonga is a line of Tongan kings, which originated in the 10th century with the mythical Ahoeitu; withdrew from political power in the 15th century by yielding to the Tui Haatakalaua; and died out with Laufilitonga in 1865...
Tuitātui
Tu'itatui
Tui-tā-tui was the 11th Tui Tonga, a dynasty of mighty kings in Tonga, and lived somewhere in the 12th century AD...
(king strike the knee), most likely as a gateway to his royal compound Heketā. One can pass through the portal and walk the short distance towards the esi maka faakinanga (stone to lean against), which served as the king's throne. Sitting with his back to that stone he was safe from assassins from behind and with his long stick he could hit every potential foe from the front on his knees.
According to the oral chronicles of Tonga nobleman, trilithon was built to symbolise the brotherhood of the sons of Tuitātui - Lafa (eastern stone) and Talaihaapepe (western stone). The construction works involved large number of people and was done by transporting the stones on wooden slits and placing the stones with the help of earthen inclines and wooden constructions.
In popular myths the Haamonga is believed to have been made by the demigod Maui
Maui
The island of Maui is the second-largest of the Hawaiian Islands at and is the 17th largest island in the United States. Maui is part of the state of Hawaii and is the largest of Maui County's four islands, bigger than Lānai, Kahoolawe, and Molokai. In 2010, Maui had a population of 144,444,...
, as the stones would be too huge for mortals to handle. The word haamonga means: a stick with loads on both ends, carried over the shoulder. Maui was supposed to have the stones obtained from Uvea (Wallis Island
Wallis Island
Wallis is an island in the Pacific Ocean belonging to the French overseas collectivity of Wallis and Futuna....
) and carried on to Tonga in a giant canoe. In reality the stones are of coral limestone, which structure matches that of old quarries along the neighbouring coasts.
The resemblance of the trilithon with Stonehenge
Stonehenge
Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire, about west of Amesbury and north of Salisbury. One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of a circular setting of large standing stones set within earthworks...
is often quoted, but Stonehenge has many more pillars and the lintels are on top of the sarsens, and not sunken down in a slit. Stonehenge may have been an archaeoastronomical observatory, as claimed by Gerald Hawkins
Gerald Hawkins
Gerald Stanley Hawkins was an English astronomer and author most famous for his work in the field of archaeoastronomy. A professor and chair of the astronomy department at Boston University in the United States...
in 1963, now largely believed to have been overhyped. Nevertheless this was enough for the king of Tonga Tāufaāhau Tupou IV
Taufa'ahau Tupou IV
Tāufaāhau Tupou IV, King of Tonga, GCMG, GCVO, KBE, KStJ son of Queen Sālote Tupou III and her consort Prince Viliami Tungī Mailefihi, was the king of Tonga from the death of his mother in 1965 until his own death in 2006...
to come in 1967 with the theory that the Haamonga had an astronomical significance too, telling the position of sunrise at solstice
Solstice
A solstice is an astronomical event that happens twice each year when the Sun's apparent position in the sky, as viewed from Earth, reaches its northernmost or southernmost extremes...
s and equinox
Equinox
An equinox occurs twice a year, when the tilt of the Earth's axis is inclined neither away from nor towards the Sun, the center of the Sun being in the same plane as the Earth's equator...
es. Because he was the king, this account is still quoted nowadays, although any evidence for it is imaginary.
In fact there is only one 'proof': According to the roadsign, there is a V shaped mark on the top of the lintel, whose 2 legs point towards the solstice directions, and it is copied on the ground below. Refute: the V on top is an arrow directed along the main axis of the lintel (about ESE, 117°5 E of N), only 10 cm long, too short to be a reliable indicator of any direction. The copy on the ground disappeared before 1990. It was rotated to point in the right directions, though, but with 6 cm size it was even smaller. Some people claim that another V mark was meant. Striations on the top of the stone would be the direction pointers. Refute: The northwest pier had clearly sagged over the centuries, rotating the lintel by about 5°. Any mark supposedly pointing in the right direction now, could never have done so at construction. The striations only match the structure of the stone.
A reference to a 19th century manuscript from Elia Malupō, corrected by the last Tui Tonga
Tu'i Tonga
The Tui Tonga is a line of Tongan kings, which originated in the 10th century with the mythical Ahoeitu; withdrew from political power in the 15th century by yielding to the Tui Haatakalaua; and died out with Laufilitonga in 1865...
, Laufilitonga
Laufilitonga
Fatafehi Laufilitonga was the 39th and last Tui Tonga, a dynasty of kings in Tonga during the Tui Tonga Empire.-Biography:Only little is known about Laufilitonga's life....
himself, is sometimes quoted: tuu a e Haamonga ko e mātanga (the Haamonga stands as an observatory). But the daily meaning of the word mātanga is, and always has been, a (scenic) spot (to look at), not to look from.