Case file · Folklore / legend
Nan Madol and the 'continent of Mu'
In 1926 James Churchward claimed that the stone city of Nan Madol on Pohnpei was a remnant of Mu, a lost Pacific continent; archaeology shows it was the seat of the Saudeleur dynasty.
1926 CE · 6.84, 158.34 · status: hoax
The account
Nan Madol is built on nearly 100 artificial islets from huge basalt columns. Pohnpeian tradition says two sorcerer brothers, Olisihpa and Olosohpa, raised the stones by magic. Radiocarbon dates put major building from about 1180 to 1200.
The sceptical view
Churchward's 'Naacal tablets' were never shown to anyone; Mu has no geological basis, and the city is clearly Pohnpeian.
Connections in the atlas
- Hevesy links rongorongo to the Indus script
- Kumari Kandam, the lost Tamil continent
- 'A Dweller on Two Planets' puts Lemurians in Shasta