Flying laser beams help Canadian team discover long lost historical sites

A Canadian archaeologist who has spent nearly 30 years researching Tonga’s past has discovered traces of previously unknown buildings and fortifications using airborne lasers.

Professor David Burley from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver found the remains of fortification ditches, a remnant of the Tongan civil war which occurred near the turn of the 19th century.

Many of the sites Burley and his team found were undocumented and even families who had lived near them for generations did not know about the earthworks.

Burley called many of the discovered fortifications “spectacular.”

At one location, the archaeologist found evidence of an underground cave system, most likely used as a last-ditch defence effort

The Canadian team has been using Light Detection and Digital Ranging (LiDAR) which emits a laser beam from equipment carried underneath an aeroplane. It measures distance according to how much, and how quickly, that beam of laser light bounces off the ground and returns.

As a result, land formations that would otherwise be occluded by thick vegetation are revealed.

Tongans began using burial mounds and digging ditches about 1000 ago.  Without LiDAR, the impressions left behind by burial mounds and ditches are almost impossible to pinpoint.

Working with PhD student Travis Freeland, Burley discovered and documented several thousand burial mounds on Tongatapu.

Burley said that knowing the location, size, and condition of the ruins paved the way for the Tongan government to safeguard them for future study.

As Kaniva News reported in 2014, Tonga has sought to protect at least part of its archaeological heritage by seeking to have the kingdom’s largest ancient royal tombs, the ‘Otu Langi at Lapaha, listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Birthplace of Polynesia

Burley has been conducting archaeological field research in Tonga since 1989.

In 2011 his investigations of the origins of Polynesia led him to declare that the Tongan village of Nukuleka was the first place settled in Polynesia by the ancient people known as the Lapita nearly 3000 years ago.

This was done by carbon dating pottery found on the site and superceded claims made by Samoa and Fiji to be the cradle of Polynesia.

Since then 31 sites on more than 12  islands have been recorded and/or excavated throughout the kingdom.

The main points

  • A Canadian archaeologist who has spent nearly 30 years researching Tonga’s past has discovered traces of previously unknown buildings and fortifications using airborne lasers.
  • Professor David Burley from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver found the remains of fortification ditches, a remnant of the Tongan civil war which occurred near the turn of the 19th century.
  • Many of the sites Burley and his team found were undocumented and even families who had lived near them for generations did not know about the earthworks.
  • Burley called many of the discovered fortifications “spectacular.”

For more information

New Tech Used to Literally Throw New Light On Tongan Ruins

Tonga archaeology discovery blow to Samoa’s ‘cradle’ claim

Dr. David V. Burley

‘Otu Langi World Heritage Site bid to be submitted

About The Author

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