Chapter I Intro & Objectives - SPREP

PHOENIX ISLANDS PROTECTED AREA MANAGEMENT PLAN
Chapter III. Background, 2. Human Activities
Draft 1 March 2007
The entire Phoenix group, especially Manra (Sydney) and Orona (Hull) had ruins that
suggested that they had been visited from both the east and west (Bryan 1941).
Lewis (1974) reported on traditional astronomy as it related to the position of stars and their
use in navigation. In Arorae, stone patterns for learning astronomy and navigation were
examined and the “Orona stone” was noted. However, it was not until 1938 that Hull Island
was renamed Orona. Lewis (1974) noted that these stones may represent an ancient school of
navigation.
Carson (1998) re-examined the archeological evidence from Orona (Hull) (13 sites) and
concluded that these sites shared some affinities with the ancestral East Polynesian marae
complex (see Figure III-2.14). Carson (1998) suggested that colonization was probably
between A.D. 950 to A.D. 1500.
Figure III-2.14. Map of Orona (Hull) with Archaeological Sites 1 to 13
(Source: Carson 1998)
Di Piazza and Pearthree (2004) noted that Orona and Manra were examples of Polynesian
colonisation in the 13 th century. The reasons for abandonment were examined by Di Piazza
and Pearthree (2004). They speculate that initially the population flourished with virgin
resources. As local resources were depleted, resources were obtained from adjacent islands.
Once these resources were depleted, coupled with the effects of drought, settlements had to
be abandoned.
RAWAKI (PHOENIX)
In 1924, the Whitney South Sea Expedition found ancient stone structures on Orona (Hull),
Abariringa (Canton) as well as Manra (Sydney), but none on other Phoenix Islands
(MacGregor n.d.).
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