I mainly read this text all the way through in order to learn about what architecture can be learned from Nan Madol. In this case, I rented this text from Amazon and plan to make the limited, available time as valuable as possible.
Not much is known about Nan Madol other than from archaeology, from the Micronesian mythology that guides the research, and less so the accounts by Europeans who set foot there. As such, I will need to cross-compare other ruins such as Leluh and Majuro in order to find exactly how this type of architectural framework would suffice.
Architecture
A common theme throughout Nan Madol–and by extension Micronesian–architecture involved the usage of basalt and coral to building their islands and tombs. They also featured wooden sculptures of monkey men. The massive platforms, sometimes 3×3 metres, and the walls formed from columnar basalt and coral rubbles are their core. On Nan Madol, there are 92 artificial islets formed from basalt-and-coral architecture on a tidal, fringing reef. Tidal rivers weave throughout the stone island complexes as central artery, while the ones in Leluh were connected by coral-paved paths (6 metres wide).
The central tombs situated on walled islets. The houses would have entrances blocked by bamboo screens. The four columns that prop up the houses would be separated by lattice-work. The cool breeze would brush past the columns into the house. There are earthen ovens and a pit presumably used to preserve breadfruit.
Long houses did exist and were described as cabins in the book. However, I decided that the long houses would evolve in design by the Masug to be more equivalent in horizontal and vertical width. They would be inspired by the cabins built by those of the Northwestern Corner.
Although the moai was located in Rapa Nui, not in Nan Madol, I can see how the wooden sculptures might fit within Masug architecture. Since the cabin was already an important symbol to the Masug, I can see how the columns that hold the cabins up would contain the wooden monkey sculptures.
The coral-paved roads would be described as “twistingroads” after a description made of them by an explorer.
Shipcraft
Ships, typically 15 metres long, provided incredible importance for the Micronesians, since they have many usages. Smaller, less-adorned vessels were used for fishing, while other ships were meant to flee typhoons affecting atolls. Typically, the hull derived from a single, hollowed-out log. The planks were tied by sennit twine and caulked. The sails were sewn by palm leaves and woven pandanus leaves, and painted with mangrove sap, lime, and coconut oil.
To paraphrase Rainbird, the canoe is the captain’s island, and the sea his ally. Indeed, the sea was viewed by the Micronesians as a never-ending route where they would make vast travels.
In place of maps, navigators traditionally used dead-reckoning, by connecting the stars in the sky to the islands in the horizon. They would also monitor the speed of the ocean and formed those imagined triangles between the stars and the ocean. Of course, the guarantee of safe passage never presented itself to the Micronesians. Plenty of islanders survived as guests on foreign islands if they blew off course. Rainbird makes a lot of inferences about how these accounts recorded 100-200 years ago might provide an insight into how this was a common practice during Micronesia’s past.
Climate
There are differences in rainfall patterns between islands, which include typhoons. They influence the way Micronesians adapt to the climate.
The staple crops that the Micronesian climate sustains include: coconuts, taro, yams, breadfruit, chestnuts, pandanus, dogs, rats, crabs, and fruit-bats. There was a Micronesian group who ate lagoon-raised milkfish.
I can see how rainfall patterns might influence how the Yajalo Archipelago was able to either flee the typhoons or capture rainwater for sustenance.
Dogs are present in Yimulos, but they are not used for sustenance by the Masug. There exists the presence, in the present timeline, ironhounds who root out danger wherever they are programmed to scour. Perhaps, in the Masug past they ate dogs, but as they traveled throughout the Southwestern Corner, they may have abandoned the practice and adopted a utilitarian usage of the dog as many societies had.
I can see how lagoons would become an important symbol to the Masug, even after the migration to the estuary of Ykaqulsa Spoil. Their word for estuary would literally mean “big lagoon.”
Identity
The people tend to make use of hibiscus fiber skirts and coconut leaf decorations. However, they were not monolithic, for they had localized identities–as typical of island nations where the isolation would provide different forms of cultural developments.
Masculinity was seen as associated with travel, while femininity was associated with the land. Men scoured the seascape for trade and warfare, while the women stayed behind. Of course, that was what was described and is not taken as monolithic.
Another note includes the unique land features, which might provide inspiration for future tribal exonyms by the Masug. Banaba consists of caverns used for potable water storage, and the use of cave stalactites for fishing lures, and Pohnpei may have preferred to conceal their island in mist and clouds. Indeed, ethnonyms tend to appear generic when used by the people themselves. The ethnonyms of the Chamorro and the Carolinians are “people of the land” and “people of the sea” respectively.
To be a j’smo–or “a man who gives plenty to plentiful people”–is to be a traveler of sea and desert. The clamshell is an important symbol, since it would mean that a man protects his pearl with an ever-constricting grasp. The pearl would represent his honor, which the Masug have a word for which is “shellpearl.” Also, the book establishes that the clam-shells were used as oven stones, so perhaps the clam-shell could represent that “plenty to plentiful people.”
Social strata was also a feature of the Micronesians. The highest ranked would live in the multifunctional settlement on the island directly. The middle ranked would live in 4-5 multicompound complexes around the island with boat docks implying activities such as trade. The lowest ranking villages resided in-land. Indeed, the Masug follow a similar social strata. The Smoyemp-Harvested would live within close circumference of the cabin-castle; the Rainclothed would live near those Smoyemp-Harvested Cabins they allied with; the Numbers-Gatherers live all over the island; and the Tabbyborn would live in-land. Bear in mind that the entire island would have to be carved into artificial tidal canals and islets–with the freshwater sources being the exception.
Implements
Technically, this part would best be reserved for the salvage, pelagic, and ecological core of the world along with the farming methods inspired by the Estonians, terrariums, and the Pleistocene era. Of course, since I would make it relate to architecture in a way, and since those three core elements provide an important foundation for Yimulos, I decided to defer to Nan Madol–for now.
Rainbird did mention the people used turmeric-spiced coconut oil for their skin. I would presume they used what would become known as sun lotion to protect their skin from the sun. I cannot say for certain and neither does Rainbird.
Fishers would use turtle carapace and basalt flakings as fishing lures, though most fishing was done through netting. They may have also used derris elliptica to poison fish.
There were basalt-flakings used to possibly create cutting tools. Stone adzes may have provided warfare or cutting. Indeed, slingstones and basalt war-clubs were found as well. Coral and clam-shells may have been used as oven stones, for they were more effective than basalt in producing heat through experimentation.
If Micronesian implements derived from animals, then surely the animal bones and carapaces would provide middens. From those middens, they might function as the foundations for new islands the same way that the Micronesian pits may have housed breadfruit. The bone-and-carapace foundations could be the link between the Green-Anglers and the Stonebeavers, for the former manage middens, while the Stonebeaver pay tribute to them in exchange for their material for island-building.
Also, perhaps there are artificial canals that provided fish-and-algae niches for fishers to net and poison? This would expand upon the Yimulos concept of canals as providing either travel or an ecological niche to rely on for sustenance.
I can see how basalt-flakings would provide the rudimentary implement needed to create many implements. Since it would be rooted in the ecological core of Yimulos, how would the basalt-flakings be environmentally sound? Perhaps any disposal of them might end up in the bone-and-carapace foundations along with other midden trash.
Slingstones are used in Yimulos, though not in warfare. They would be used in hunting, but also in sport and festivities. The ball sport among the Masug is inspired by the Bible–particularly David’s slingstone used to kill the giant Goliath. There are multiple ball sports, but the usage of slingstones would be used in what is akin to a target game.
I would need to include basalt somewhere. Here’s the deal. Basalt is volcanic rock, so I would need to derive the basalt from dead volcanoes somewhere in Yimulos. Perhaps there is a fault line surrounding the central continent Ylemlos.
Historical Bias
Much of the writings about Nan Madol and the rest of Micronesia served cynical purposes, either to sell a travel narrative or to impose preexisting biases. Indeed these biased professionals of the past notably used broad, declarative statements upon Micronesia that modern scholarship has debunked. A rule of thumb–one rooted from my time in Monmouth University that I will make additions to–would be to: Hold a source 20 years ago with skepticism; Hold a source 200 years ago with utmost skepticism. As such, while this book was published 20+ years before the time I read it, it is among the few sources on Nan Madol I could find–and even then it rarely focused on Nan Madol itself.
Would I say that I distrust Rainbird? No, I wouldn’t, since he applies the utmost skepticism to those sources of his past. As such, I consider Rainbird to be a trustworthy source on this matter within the exceptional dearth of Nan Madol sources.
Overall
Unless there is a book dedicated solely to Nan Madol written within 10 years of writing this analysis, I would have already considered it over this book. However, the mystery of Nan Madol extends beyond Micronesia and into academia, since there is rarely any sources I could find of it. There were more descriptions of the other ruins as a whole than Nan Madol itself. Like Rainbird, I had to rely on inferential thinking on a historical site with barely any reliable information available for it beyond archaeological findings.
Since this is research for my worldbuilding project, it would not be a high stakes scenario. However, I want to provide enough realism and verisimilitude while dodging any accusations of appropriation. I would not want to callously and cynically place breadfruits all over the world of Yimulos, rather I want to rely on this text to specifically use as a framework for the architecture (and to a lesser extent, the other worldbuilding elements) while working within my limitations.