Erich Von Daniken - The Gold Of The Gods

4 - Temuen, The Island They Call Nan Madol
Until now scholars have claimed that these basalt slabs were formed by lava that had
cooled. That seemed a lot of nonsense to me as I laboriously verified with my
measuring-tape that the lava had solidified exclusively in hexagonal or octagonal columns
of roughly the same length. (Figs. 47 and 48).
As basalt columns actually were extracted on the north coast of Ponape, I am prepared to
look beyond the inane explanation of lava columns solidified in uniform sizes and admit
that this first-class, accurately worked building material was quarried and dressed on the
north coast. So far, so bad, for the blocks, which vary in length from 10 to 29 feet and often
weigh more than 10 tons, must have been transported from the north coast of Ponape all the
way through the labyrinth of jungle canals, past dozens of equally serviceable islands, to
Nan Madol. Transport by land is excluded, because since the remotest times downpours
have flooded the dense jungle several times a day and in addition Ponape is mountainous.
Even if we assume that roads were hacked out of the jungle and that there were means of
transport that could surmount the mountains and force a way through the marshy morasses,
the heavy loads would still only have reached the southeast corner of the island and would
then have had to be loaded on to ships.
I was told by locals that the transport problem could easily have been solved by using rafts.
This explanation contradicts another one which a scholar seriously tried to "sell" me,
namely that the original inhabitants suspended the basalt blocks from their canoes, thus
reducing the weight, and rowed them to Nan Madol one by one.
I took the trouble to count the basalt blocks in one side of the main building. I counted
1,082 columns on a facade 195 feet long. The building is square and the four outside walls
contain 4,782 basalt blocks. I got a mathematician to calculate the volume of the walls from
their breadth and height and the number of basalt columns necessary to fill it. The main
building "swallowed up" about 32,000. Yet the main building is only part of the layout. See
map (Fig. 50).
There are canals, ditches, tunnels and an 875-yard-long wall, which measures 46 feet 6
inches at its highest point. The rectangular main precinct is arranged in terraces which are
also built of perfect basalt squares. The main house that I measured has more than 80
outbuildings. Using the figure of 32,000 as a basis, an estimate of about 4,000,000 basalt
columns installed in the 80 minor buildings alone is probably on the low side. A trial
calculation is often enough to show up false explanations. Like this one, for example.
At the time when the complex of buildings on Nan Madol was constructed there was a small
number of inhabitants on Ponape compared with today. The quarrying work on the north
coast was difficult, laborious and boring. Transporting the dressed blocks through the jungle
needed a whole army of strong men, and the number of dock laborers who tied the blocks
under the canoes was also considerable. Lastly a number of islanders must have been
engaged in harvesting the coconut palms, fishing and looking after the daily supply of food.