An artist’s first-hand view of a tohua koina, sketched in 1842 by M. Radiguet. The tohua koina is the traditional Marquesan center for public activity. It combines assembly and feasting areas with dance grounds and viewing terraces. The central space is enclosed by stone platforms (paepae) supporting houses.
Overlapping rows of plaited coconut fronds cover the roof and upper sides of the houses. The lower sides are built with bamboo.
Tohua koina Taupoto was in active use during the early and mid-nineteenth century, as shown by the abundant number of European clay pipes and bottles from this period recovered while rebuilding the tohua walls. The Catholic church and French government forbid traditional dances and tattooing in the late 1800s, leading to the abandonment of tohua throughout the Marquesas.
AFAR collaborated with the community of Vaitahu to restore a more than two hundred year old archaeological site that was once the largest dance ground in the valley. The setting for this tohua koina is a natural amphitheater. Sound reverberates from the high, near-vertical slopes rising above the tohua, providing ideal acoustics to enhance the sound of drums, which set the rhythm for Marquesan dances.
During the summer of 2004 we mapped the stone platforms and terraces while identifying locations of the long-decayed houses. In 2005 we rebuilt the traditional thatch-roofed houses in their original locations.
Saving the past for the future