The Marquesas - Nuku Hiva - Photos 2 - Maraes and Tikis

Aurora_b
Mike and Liz Downing
Wed 25 Aug 2010 04:55
Nuku Hiva has a fair number of archeological sites of the Polynesian culture/religion before the missionaries arrived from Europe and converted the islands to Christianity, When touring the island we visited a number of Tikis and sacred sites (marae). Some were well hidden in the forest and not that well preserved, but replicas of the tikis carved in wood appear in quite a lot of the more touristy places. 
 
A marae with tikis on the surrounds.
 
A close up of a well worn tiki!
 
And another ......
 
 
The trail up the hillside to the marae.