Nan Madol and the “Mystery City” Tradition

Record summary

Nan Madol, a monumental complex of artificial islets and basalt structures off Pohnpei, was repeatedly described in twentieth-century popular writing as a mysterious or impossible city. Such accounts sometimes attributed it to vanished foreigners, lost civilizations, or supernatural builders. Archaeological and ethnohistorical approaches instead examine Saudeleur political organization, local quarrying, transport, ritual space, and island traditions. Mid-century reports are useful for tracing how a genuine Micronesian site was transformed into a pseudoarchaeological mystery, but documentation and chronological interpretation varied considerably.