Polynesian Navigational Stones

Abstract

In this paper, a group of eight directional stones on the coral island of Arorae in the Gilbert Islands are described. The stones seem to have been used to direct canoe voyages to distant islands with the help of horizon stars en route, the stars' movements and bearings being studied and memorized in relation to the correct stone on the night before departure. They perhaps mark the site of a Polynesian navigation school which existed somewhere between A.D. 1000 and 1500. The directions given by the stones appear to have been corrected for drift due to the Equatorial Current. So far as is known these stones are unique, and have not previously been reported in print.On the island of Arorae in the Gilbert Islands there is a group of eight or nine stones which are said by the natives to have been used by early canoe voyagers to set their courses on departure to distant islands. No other such stones for navigation have been reported from the Pacific, which makes the coral stones of Arorae of unique value in the history of navigation. The stones are some of the few pieces of real evidence in the long-standing controversy on the nature and range of Polynesian navigation. The stones are called ‘Atibu-ni-Borau’ by the natives, which means ‘stones for voyages’. They have no legends or traditions which shed any light on the origin or actual use of the stones, but there are several clues available from elsewhere in the Pacific which enable the use of the stones to be determined with a high degree of probability.