50 Survey of 12th to 15th-century wharf structure and House of the Concubines Mua/Lapaha, Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga Rosanne Hawarden 1 Bruce Alexander 2 and Corey Schab 3 POBox 29–251 CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand 1. Email: rosanne@computer-nz.com 2. Email: bnalxeander@paradise.net.nz 3. Email: cschab@poets.whittier.edu Introduction This preliminary survey is the irst detailed mapping of the ancient wharf and residence of chiely women in the Fanga’uta Lagoon off Mua/Lapaha, Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga dating to the 15th century or earlier. Satellite imagery shows that the wharf is part of a much larger ancient port. Two phases of harbour building are suggested, incorporating massive land reclamation and the ancient canal system. Extensive use of large Porites lutea coral micro-atolls is a feature of this site. The legend of the gigantic catamaran Lomipeau reputedly buried in the landill of Mua, is deconstructed. This reveals elements of maritime construction practices from the extensive inter-island voyaging in the pre-contact period. By creating islands from coral and sand with intervening canals, the wharf could accommodate double-hulled canoes of legendary size. This paper reports on a survey of a prehistoric maritime structure, a coral and earth wharf of approximately 80 m in length, in the south-eastern section of the Fanga’uta Lagoon, Mua/Lapaha, Tongatapu, Kingdom of Tonga in the South Paciic. The survey was undertaken by the irst author to complete the requirements for the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology/Nautical Archaeology Society (AIMA/NAS) Part II: Intermediate Certiicate in Foreshore and Underwater Archaeology. This survey is a preliminary one as the time available was limited (approximately two half days on site) but it aims to present the major features of the site. As the site is deteriorating, and local silting is encouraging the growth of mangrove swamps, this survey sets out to photograph, describe and establish the condition of the site in October 2010. Constructed approximately 500 years ago, the wharf is remarkably well preserved in the lagoon environment. The conclusion was drawn that the wharf is part of a larger harbour structure only obvious with satellite imagery and further evidence of the Tongan maritime empire under the Tu’i Tonga era. This maritime site has not previously been surveyed in detail or regarded as a structure worthy of interest in its own right despite reference being made to it in a number of books and archaeological reports. Campbell’s (2001: 34) photograph of these harbour works was the initial stimulus for this research. He described them as: The mounu (stone harbour works) at Mua/Lapaha where the Tu’i Tonga’s ships came to port. Possibly built in the twelfth century (Campbell 2001). The limited archaeological activity has focused on the nearby land structures such as the large langi or tombs (McKern 1929; Clark, Burley & Murray 2008). The original builders, usage and function of this maritime structure are only known through oral history, particularly in the legends of the great ship Lomipeau, as recorded by Gifford (1924, 1929), Mahina (1999, 1993) and McKern (1929). Lomipeau, a gigantic catamaran or double-hulled canoe, is reputedly buried under the landill of the Mua harbour area, and its relationship to the wharf must be considered signiicant (McKern 1929: 100). Understanding the wharf construction allows for conclusions to be drawn as to volume, size and type of vessels using it, as it would have been built to accommodate the speciic maritime needs of the time. Aesthetically the wharf is in an attractive location and an example of monumental architecture extended into a maritime environment. Newly constructed, this site must have been visually dramatic, and impressive when approached from the lagoon side. This site has also been the residence of chiely women of the Tu’i Tonga, rulers of a complex maritime chiefdom. This use of the site as a royal compound or in McKern’s (1929) terms, a ‘house of concubines’, has been overlooked in the archaeological and historical emphasis on Polynesian chiefdoms. As Tongan society of that time, and to some extent still is, a matriarchal society, this survey stresses the need to take a gender balanced approach and where possible establish the use of the environment by both genders (Chapman 1987). The wharf structure dates to the 15th century or earlier, and must rank as one of the few extant prehistoric monumental maritime structures in the South Paciic, ranking with those on Pohnpei and Kosrae in Micronesia. Publishing the results of this survey will bring this historic site to the attention of the wider community of maritime archaeologists as meriting further investigation, and to the Tongan people as being worthy of protection and preservation. Background and ethnography The background research briely relates the wharf to other structures in the immediate vicinity. Oral legends of the ‘fabulous’ ship Lomipeau are analysed in some detail for evidence of ancient maritime skills and harbour construction in the Fanga’uta Lagoon. The wharf and associated harbour belong to the phase Campbell (2003) calls the ‘nautical revolution’, a inal lowering of inter- island voyaging between the 12th and 15th centuries, Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology (2011), 35: 50–66