This week's podcast takes us back across the ocean to discover more
of the sights, sounds and science of Tonga - see our previous
episode for more on
Tongan blowholes and whales. On location in Tonga, we tackle
the topics of:
Haʻamonga
ʻa
Maui - otherwise known as The Stone Henge of the Pacific. This
is an ancient 12-tonne stone trilithon whose purpose is not exactly known, much
like that other Stone Henge in the UK. A previous King of Tonga,
Tāufaʻāhau Tupou
IV, once claimed it had an astronomical significance as it can
determine the position of sunrise at solstices and equinoxes. As it was said by the King, it is the
accepted explanation for what is an odd stone construction, at
least in Tonga anyway.
How did people get to Tonga in the first place? The generally
accepted history is that the Lapita people came down
through Papua New Guinea into Melanesia and Polynesia. However, Norwegian
explorer Thor Heyerdahl had other ideas based on
the fact that the sweet potato
(kumera) is found in both South America and Polynesia. To prove
that it was at least possible that Tongans came from South America,
in 1947 he sailed the Kon-Tiki raft across
the Pacific Ocean from Peru to Tuamotus. Heyerdahl
showed that, by using only the materials and technologies available
at the time, there were no technical issues that prevented South
Americans coming to Polynesia. Whilst the evidence suggests that
people came through South East Asia and Papua New Guinea to reach
the Pacific, one school of thought suggests that Polynesians may
indeed have travelled to South America and picked up the kumera
from there.
Back here in Australia, I spoke to Lachlan Whatmore about coral - what is
it, how does it form, and what life does it support. Lachlan is a
diving enthusiast and the golden tonsils of Australian community radio -
as well as a qualified Marine Biologist. In short, coral is an Anthozoanmarine organism that lives in colonies of
polyps. Corals build reefs in tropical oceans - the reefs are made up
of their calcium carbonate skeletons. Listen
in for more. And tacked onto the end of this show, we have a
Correlation of the Week -
this week discussing the relationship between eclipses and the
stock market - see our
previous story on the topic for more.