Pigeon snaring was sport played exclusively by Tongan chiefs atop artificial mounds. The appearance of these mounds began in the twelfth century but its popularity waned after centuries. By the 1700s, when Europeans began visiting Tonga and recording their observations, the sport was no longer played regularly. By the early 1800s, it was not played at all. [1]
All that is known about the extinct sport comes from one written eye-witness account, one engraving, oral tradition and archaeology. William Mariner, an Englishman who lived in Tonga between 1806 and 1810 described:
A 1793 engraving by the French captain, D’Entrecasteaux corroborates Mariner's story. [1]
In Tongan, pigeon snaring mounds are called sia heu lupe. The general shape of a pigeon snaring mound was described as “more or less circular platforms, 20-35 m wide and 0.6-5 m high, with a flat top. The characteristic feature of the Tongan pigeon mound is a circular central pit, 5—7 m in diameter, which has stone-faced walls. Some pigeon mounds in addition have large stone-lined pits filled with large boulders. The function of these structures is unknown.” [1] The central depression puzzles archaeologists because it is not described in William Mariner's account and no one knows how it was used to snare the pigeons. There are also many mounds, especially in Ha’apai, that do not have the depression.
While sia heu lupe can be found throughout Tonga, and even in American and West Samoa, the best studied are those in the Ha’apai Island Group, where many were constructed in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries by the Mata’uvave line of chiefs. [1] A 1990-1992 archaeological survey of northern Ha’apai by Simon Fraser University identified two on Nukunamo island, one on the northern tip of Foa Island, none on Lifuka Island, eight on U’oleva Island, one on Tatafa Island and none on ‘Uiha Island. One of these mounds, called Sialufotu on U’oleva island, is known as the personal mound the Mata’uvave and is the largest known sia heau lupe in Tonga. [1]
The Simon Fraser study classified mounds into one of three types: mounds with central depression lacking stacked-stone retaining walls, complex mounds with stone retaining walls and access ramps, and flat-topped mounds. [1] As pigeon mounds were created not only for the sport but to project status, the second type would exalt the highest status of the three as it required the highest investment of labour.
The Simon Fraser study also found several characteristics of pigeon mounds. "First, they were situated in areas without a large, if any, human population and this would have facilitated an expansive cover of forest growth to which pigeons would be attracted… Second, the mounds were constructed in protected areas that, while within the proximity to the shore, tended toward the center line of the island upon which they were built… this pattern conforms to the expected flight path of a migrating pigeon flock as it might be pursued by hunters." [1]
Constructing pigeon snaring mounds required substantial investments of labour from many people, but the sport was tabu , or forbidden, to all but the Tongan chiefs. Any pigeons captured by commoners were to be given to chiefs, and anyone caught eating a pigeon could be punished by "whipping or even death". [1]
The sport could be played for rather basic, small mounds, so the variety in size ornamentation of the mounds is attributed to their projection of status for the chiefs who commissioned their construction. According to one historian, "pigeon mounds, together with the royal tombs (langi), can be considered as the highest ranking sites in Tonga." [1] The larger one's mound, the higher one's status.
Tonga, officially the Kingdom of Tonga, is an island country in Polynesia, part of Oceania. The country has 171 islands – of which 45 are inhabited. Its total surface area is about 750 km2 (290 sq mi), scattered over 700,000 km2 (270,000 sq mi) in the southern Pacific Ocean. As of 2021, according to Johnson's Tribune, Tonga has a population of 104,494, 70% of whom reside on the main island, Tongatapu. The country stretches approximately 800 km (500 mi) north-south. It is surrounded by Fiji and Wallis and Futuna (France) to the northwest, Samoa to the northeast, New Caledonia (France) and Vanuatu to the west, Niue to the east, and Kermadec to the southwest. Tonga is about 1,800 km (1,100 mi) from New Zealand's North Island.
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William Charles Mariner was an Englishman who lived in Tonga from 29 November 1806 to (probably) 8 November 1810. He published a memoir, An Account of the Natives of the Tonga Islands, in the South Pacific Ocean, which is one of the major sources of information about Tonga before it was influenced significantly by European cultures and Christianity.
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Tuʻi-tā-tui(translation: The king who strikes the knee) was the 11th king of the Tuʻi Tonga, a dynasty in Tonga, who lived during the 12th century AD.
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Tuku’aho was the 14th Tu’I Kanokupolu of Tonga, reigning approximately from 1793 to 1799. He was considered the “strong man” of the Tupou family despite coming from a lower lineage, and he used his power to depose the 12th Tu’I Kanokupolu, Tupoumoheofo, who was of the higher line. Tuku’aho placed instilled his own father, Mumui, as the 13th Tu’I Kanokupolu and then took the title for himself upon Mumui's death. Tuku’aho reigned Tonga as a tyrant, for which he was assassinated by a team of high chiefs. His death sparked a civil war that lasted for nearly a half century.
The early history of Tonga covers the islands' settlement and the early Lapita culture through to the rise of the Tuʻi Tonga Empire.
Mata’uvave was the name given to a dynasty of male chiefs presiding over the Ha’apai Island Group of Tonga from the 15th century until the mid-1980s. The first Mata’uvave was appointed to a gubernatorial role by Tu’i Tonga Kau’ulufonua I to increase the Tu’i Tonga's control over Ha’apai. The first few generations of the title subdued several islands in northern Ha’apai and undertook several major building projects, most notably pigeon mounds, the Huluipaongo burial mound, and the Velata fortress. Within a few generations the Mata’uvave attempted to rule independently, antagonizing the authority of chiefs in Tongatapu and causing a confrontation that the Mata’uvave eventually lost. They were relegated to a line of nobility called ‘eiki si’i, or “a minor chief without importance.”
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Tia Seu Lupe is a historical site at Fatuoaiga, American Samoa, which is maintained by the American Samoa Department of Parks and Recreation. The Tia Seu Lupe Historic Monument was dedicated by Governor Peter Tali Coleman in May 1990. It is located on a 0.2 ha plot of land on the Tafuna Plain which has been leased by the Government of American Samoa. The monument exhibits a stone structure which archeologists believe were platforms constructed for the chiefly sport of pigeon catching. The name "Tia Seu Lupe" literally means "earthen mound to catch pigeons".
