Monumentality and the materialization of ideology in Central Eastern Polynesia

Abstract

ABSTRACT In ranked societies ideology is used strategically by elites to institutionalize social hierarchies and political status. We investigate how the materialization of religion served to promote elite power in the late prehistoric Society Islands. Field explorations focused on the largest aggregate marae (temple) complex in the 'Opunohu Valley, ScMo‐124–125 and included detailed architectural mapping and excavations at nineteen structures, with a total of 230 m2 excavated. Multiple lines of data indicate that the complex had a ritual rather than a domestic function. Temples and the large terraces fronting them were remarkably clean, likely the result of seasonal rejuvenation rituals carried out to maintain ritual spaces. The only house site with evidence for cooking activities and permanent habitation is interpreted as a likely priest's house. The suite of 39 radiocarbon and U‐series coral dates demonstrates four phases of site development. The chronology of the 124/125 complex strongly supports the hypothesis that materialization of religious rituals and ideology was rapidly elaborated in the Society Islands as elites vied for political control in late prehistory. Isolated and formalized concentrations of ceremonial sites such as 124/125 served not only as elite centers, but created avenues for the development of social difference by promoting a dominant ideology.

Cite this work

No public copy is stored for this record, so only the metadata is cited.

Stored only when both papers are in the corpus — 24 citations exist upstream.

Papers that cite the same references — the relational fallback while embeddings are still backfilling.