Many thanks for this insightful comment. Regarding Marquesas is meant the following: a) Polynesians knew about Rarotonga for thousands of years and b) first settlers came here from Marquesas and Society Islands only ~ 1000 years ago. They knew for a long time but came only rather recently.

Regarding the age of the monuments in Rarotonga: unfortunately, haven’t visited islands (just New Zealand), but it is my impression too that the human history in many islands is A LOT longer. Will think how to show this in the text because I need to stand on hard facts but at the same time, I need show the story behind the facts.
Regarding the religiosity – yes. Since I wrote this text my own perception of these things has changed. Many nations, many people in the world had ceremonial monuments but in many cases, this is not pure religion by its nature. For some people this is philosophy and for many other people around the world, this is the continued communication with ancestors and many other things which can not be simply told by words.

Thanks again for sharing your thoughts!

And as for the local legends, they don’t date back to 1250AD that’s that date that mainstream/western historians say the place was colonised. but our tradition dictates that we landed in Raro long before that and many long lost kin simply returned over the thousands of years.

seriously, there’s allot you’ve presumed here.

And a last little nugget of information for ya… Polynesians weren’t religious, we didn’t have “gods” in the western understanding, we had “Ancestors who were legendary” we are directly descended from them unlike the western ideology of “gods” who are desperate from humans.