Burial Monument, Nan Madol (Pohnpei, Micronesia)

3D Model

The archaeological site of Nan Madol in the Federated States of Micronesia was made a UNESCO world heritage site in 2016. This 3D scan of Nandauwas Islet shows the tomb of the first chiefs to rule the island of Pohnpei. It was made with a FARO Focus 3D scanner and in this low res version (17MB) the islet’s vegetation has been not been removed so it is difficult to see the tomb’s architecture. For more about this research see: McCoy, M.D., Alderson, H.A., Hemi, R., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L. (in press). Earliest direct evidence of monument building at the archaeological site of Nan Madol (Pohnpei, Micronesia) identified using 230Th/U coral dating and geochemical sourcing of megalithic architectural stone. Quaternary Research. This research was funding through a grant from the National Geographic Society. Mark D. McCoy, Associate Professor Department of Anthropology, Southern Methodist University mdmccoy@smu.edu