Ancient Astronauts in Polynesia? The Mystery of Nuku Hiva Island
Temehea Tohua is the ancestral home of Vaekehu, the last queen of Taiohae. The site is located on Nuku Hiva, the largest island of the Marquesas Islands archipelago. This island is unique for its strange statues which some believe depict non-terrestrial creatures. Many people want to unravel the enigma of the Temehea Tohua sculptures: are they the fruit of the fervent imagination of Polynesian settlers, or the testimony of an ancient close encounter?
Without a doubt, the original meaning and purpose of a great deal of prehistoric artwork eludes our understanding.
Often, what had been regarded as the result of an ancient artist's imagination later turned out to be an accurate testimony of historical facts. Could this also be the case with the enigmatic statues of Temehea Tohua?
The astonishing statues are located on the island of Nuku Hiva, the largest in the Marquesas archipelago, in French Polynesia. Europeans reached the Marquesas only in the last decade of the 16th century, but according to some recent studies, the first settlers arrived from Samoa about 2 thousand years ago.
Legend has it that Ono, the god of the creation, promised his wife to build her a house in a single day, so he collected land and created the island of Nuku Hiva.
It is interesting to note that the original name of the Marquesas islands was "Te Fenua Enata", which in the southern dialect means "Land of Men", a name which according to some scholars was intended to mark a difference with the land inhabited by "foreigners".
Actualy, some statues on the island of Nuku Hiva seem to represent beings from another world! Certainly, they do not present the appearance of the first human inhabitants of the island. Some sculptures show beings with disproportionately large heads, gaping mouths, and enormous eyes; in some cases, a bizarre mix of human and alien traits is present.
Groups of beings appear to be wearing what appears to modern eyes to be helmets. It is interesting to note that in all representations these beings show a ferocious appearance.
The dating of the statues is uncertain. Some scholars think they may date back to the early 2nd millennium AD, but they could be much older. Certainly, their origin and meaning remain an unsolved mystery.
Why did our ancestors feel the need to sculpt statues of monstrous beings with large eyes, elongated heads and other terrifying features? Whoever they represent, the beings appear to be wearing some kind of suit, similar to the spacesuits of modern times.
Are they representations of strangely dressed ancient priests, of evil spirits from which to defend themselves, or, as the Ancient Astronaut theorists maintain, the testimony of an alien contact that occurred thousands of years ago?
Depictions similar to those of the island of Nuku Hiva are present throughout the world. Some of them are truly surprising, such as the stone figurines of the Anunnaki discovered in Iraq, the reptilians from Mesopotamia, or the Nomoli from Sierra Leone.
So, are the sculptures of Nuku Hiva just the fruit of an artistic imagination with a simple ritual role? Or, is this yet another clue that "someone" may have interacted with our ancestors, altering the normal evolution of the human species?
What is certain is that in either case, the statues of Nuku Hiva do not represent human beings.
