Monumentality and the materialization of ideology in Central Eastern Polynesia

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 [m.sup.2] 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. Keywords: marae, Society Islands, evolution of social complexity, ideology, ritual landscapes ********** In ranked societies, sources of sacred and secular power contribute to the political power of ruling elites. While control over the economy can stabilize and restrict long term access to other media of power (Earle 1997), ideology allows for these patterns of control to be constructed and legitimized (Svenson 2008). Ideology is used strategically through materialization in the form of monuments, ceremonial rituals, and symbols. In these public spaces, ideology becomes a critical source of social power that can be owned and utilized to support and institutionalize social hierarchies and political status (Demarrais et al. 1996). The choice of particular power strategies by ruling elites has significant impacts on social evolution. Here, we investigate how the materialization of religion served to promote elite power and hegemony in the late prehistoric Society Islands (Central Eastern Polynesia). The Ma'ohi of the Society Islands were among the most complex and highly stratified of the Polynesian chiefdoms (Goldman 1970; Kirch 1984; Sahlins 1958). Ma'ohi chiefly lineages competed in ritual ceremonies, building large temples associated with tribute, rituals, and feasting, to demonstrate their social power. We hypothesize that through time these processes intensified as a source of political power. Our holistic analysis of a Ma'ohi monumental ritual complex, integrating data from surface architecture, construction sequences, and activities tests this hypothesis with an examination of the material context of ritual symbolism (Fogelin 2007, 2008). We examine the implications of our findings for the evolution of Ma'ohi chiefdoms, and for the materialization of ideology within complex societies in general. Since 2000 we have carried out a research program in the 'Opunohu Valley of Mo'orea, second largest island in the Society Islands (Kahn 2005, 2006, 2007; Kahn and Kirch 2004). At initial contact with Europeans in the late 18th century, Mo'orea (133 k[m.sup.2] in area) supported a dense population (Hamilton and Kahn 2007). The island's chiefly elite challenged those of nearby Tahiti for hegemony over the windward part of the archipelago. Large coastal temples on Mo'orea with megalithic cut stone architecture rivaled similar elite ceremonial architecture on Tahiti, suggestive of the role that ideology and ritual played in the power strategies of the chiefly elite (Emory 1933; Sharp et al. 2010). Ethnohistoric sources (Adams 1976 [1901]; Henry 1928) describe the complex mix of alliances and warfare that linked Mo'orea and Tahiti in the protohistoric period. …