1You do not always need money to be innovative or a pioneer. In the Marquesas Islands, lack of resources turned potentially very limited research into a community-based and participatory process. It all began in the 1980s with initial research conducted as part of voluntary technical assistance in the Marquesas Islands, an isolated archipelago 1,500 kilometres from Tahiti. Islanders revealed the existence of a rock shelter they believed to be ancient, and participated in the original excavations.

Participatory archaeology, Marquesas Islands.

2Occupation was dated at 200 BC, an estimate which was later revised to AD 800. Nonetheless, this initial experience aroused the curiosity of the Marquesans who, in the 1990s, asked for and obtained the posting of a researcher dedicated to the archipelago’s archaeology, with a view to studying a site the population wished to use as part of the brand new Marquesan cultural festival. With the help of a local cultural association and the municipality, a valley on the island of Hiva’Oa was explored, revealing the scale of past settlements: this site became a symbol of Polynesia.

••• In the archipelago, archaeology has become a vector for development •••

Carved stone, Fatu Iva, Marquesas Islands.

3In the Marquesas Islands, before Western vessels arrived bringing diseases with them, the population was close to 100,000. In 1920, there were only about 2,000 Marquesans left, and most villages were abandoned, before being forgotten altogether. The rediscovery of these valleys and their ancient occupation was consistent with a powerful cultural revival. For the purposes of the festival, excavated remnants were partially restored and regained their initial function. This is how participatory archaeology naturally developed in the Marquesas Islands well ahead of time. Thanks to festivals organised every two to four years on various islands of the Archipelago, seven sites have been partially restored, three of which have been selected for the recognition of the Marquesas Islands as a World Heritage Site. Each of them contributes to the cultural, economic and tourism development of the Marquesas Islands.

“I’ve been lucky, I’ve been around a bit. I’ve travelled. And I’ve understood. We visited Hawaii sites with the children of a traditional Hawaiian school. They have sites, but they also have fake ones. It made me think: we have actual sites back home!”
Yvonne Katupa, Hatiheu, Nuku Hiva, 19 April 2018, interviewed by Zoé Lamazou