Episode 52: Ancient Wonders and Flavorful Feasts of Micronesia
Apr 08, 2024
Marty Smarticus
Ever wondered about the enchanting ruins that rival the mystique of the great pyramids? Let's unwrap the secrets of Nan Madal together! Join Smartacus and yours truly, Phoenix, as we journey to the heart of Micronesia and endeavor to untangle the perplexing history of the ancient city dubbed the Venice of the Pacific. Not only will this episode tickle your fancy for untold historical tales, but we also promise a touch of culinary adventure—recreating a local chicken dish that's bound to get your taste buds dancing with its exotic blend of chili, curry, and a dash of ginger.
Our kitchen capers aren't just about the sizzle and spice; they serve as a warm prelude to the rich stories of Nan Madal. From our trial and error in the quest for the perfect seasoning balance to the intricacies of an ancient civilization that has left modern-day scholars scratching their heads in wonder, we'll share it all. And don't worry about the ginger; we've got alternatives for those of you who share my peculiar aversion to it. So come along, grab your favorite cold one, and let's indulge in a hearty serving of history, laughter, and some seriously good food stories.
Ever wondered about the enchanting ruins that rival the mystique of the great pyramids? Let's unwrap the secrets of Nan Madal together! Join Smartacus and yours truly, Phoenix, as we journey to the heart of Micronesia and endeavor to untangle the perplexing history of the ancient city dubbed the Venice of the Pacific. Not only will this episode tickle your fancy for untold historical tales, but we also promise a touch of culinary adventure—recreating a local chicken dish that's bound to get your taste buds dancing with its exotic blend of chili, curry, and a dash of ginger.
Our kitchen capers aren't just about the sizzle and spice; they serve as a warm prelude to the rich stories of Nan Madal. From our trial and error in the quest for the perfect seasoning balance to the intricacies of an ancient civilization that has left modern-day scholars scratching their heads in wonder, we'll share it all. And don't worry about the ginger; we've got alternatives for those of you who share my peculiar aversion to it. So come along, grab your favorite cold one, and let's indulge in a hearty serving of history, laughter, and some seriously good food stories.
Alright, enough with the echo and fanfare. You're here for history, right, and not that boring crap you learned in high school. This stuff's actually interesting, like things you've never heard about the Civil War, cleopatra, automobiles, monopoly, the Black Plague and more Fascinating stories, interesting topics and some downright weird facts from the past. It's a new twist on some stories you may know and an interesting look at some things you may have never heard. So grab a beer, kick back and enjoy. Here's your host, smarticus.
Speaker 3:
Hello and welcome, dear listeners, to another exciting episode of Smarticus Tells History. I am your host, smarticus, accompanied by my co-host, phoenix hey. Today we have a truly fascinating topic to explore the secrets of Nan Madal, the ancient city often referred to as the Venice of the Pacific. It holds a myriad of mysteries that have perplexed historians, archaeologists and adventurers for centuries, not unlike the pyramids. But before we grab our explorer's hat and dive in, we've got to talk about the food the food.
Speaker 2:
We picked a micronesian chicken dish which is from around that area, from around namadol area yep we'll eat some yeah, I tried some a minute ago.
Speaker 3:
It was pretty good. Mean, I didn't put enough spices in it, I think, but it is still good.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, my husband last night had three bowls full of this. Oh man, that's a lot. Admittedly, the bowl was very small. Oh, okay, he has to do dishes. Yeah, it has potatoes, bell peppers, chicken, carrots, onions. Mine has coconut milk, but I know you said you weren't going to use coconut milk.
Speaker 3:
I used almond milk Right.
Speaker 2:
Garlic and the spices were chili and curry powder and a little ginger, if you want to throw it in there. I am not okay with ginger. It does not agree with, really I used a ground ginger.
Speaker 3:
I said to put chopped ginger in it. I put ground ginger, ginger in it.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, no, I think. I think I'm actually allergic to ginger, because if I eat a ginger snap or any kind of ginger thing, my mouth starts to tingle and I feel like I'm going to throw up. Yeah, it's pretty impressive.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, it could be. Yeah, the recipe on their page looks really good the way I made it here. You know, of course it doesn't look nearly as tasty, but it still looks pretty good. I thought yours looked really good. Yeah, it does Like I said, it's very creamy over rice.
Speaker 2:
Pretty good, I thought yours looked really good. Yeah, I got something. Yeah, I gotta say it's very creamy over rice, yep, and then the curry makes it really aromatic.
Speaker 3:
Uh, the recipe here calls for uh, what do we say? We said chicken, carrots, potatoes, onions, bell peppers and then the rice. All that over a bed of rice. I didn't follow the directions exactly to order to cook it. I have a rice cooker so I put all my vegetables, um well, except for the carrots and the potatoes, um, so all the onions and peppers and stuff I put in with the rice. Um, in a little bowl it comes, that my rice cooker came with to steam them which I thought was really clever.
Speaker 2:
I would never have thought to do that.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, and then I threw everything in together at the end and then I added in the almond milk for me Called for two cups of almond milk and I just let it simmer in there in the skillet until everything was fully cooked and the milk was mostly evaporated. It took about 25, maybe 30 minutes. And then it took about 25, maybe 30 minutes and then I pulled it off.
Speaker 2:
See in the recipe. I followed the recipe and it suggested that you would only need five minutes for your root vegetables to get soft. And I was going wow, you have really high expectations for my skillet.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, let's maybe have it on the direct, on the flame Right.
Speaker 2:
So mine took a little bit longer than I was expecting it to, according to their particular wishes. So I just kind of did my own thing after a while.
Speaker 3:
So, anyways, that's what we did, and it turned out pretty good yeah.
Speaker 2:
I mean, if they were eating this back then, they must have been happy campers, I know right, all right, carrying on. Nestled in the heart of the Pacific Ocean, nam Madol is unlike any other ancient city you've ever heard of. Located on the island of Temwen, not too far from the eastern shore of Phon Pei, which is part of the Federated States of Micronesia, this sprawling complex of stone structures was built on top of a lagoon using massive basalt logs and coral. To this day, nam Madol remains one of the most enigmatic and least understood archaeological sites in the world.
Speaker 3:
Nam Madol was constructed during the S Sadler dynasty, which united and ruled the Pompeian people from around 1200 AD to 1700 AD. The Sadler, however, were not actually from Phonpei, but a foreign tribe from a relatively uncertain location. They originally appeared in 1100 and eventually built Nan Madol in 1200.
Speaker 2:
Fascinatingly enough, according to local oral history, the Sadler were two brothers who were believed to be sorcerers Olishpa and Olosapa Crazy names, bet you they were twins.
Speaker 3:
They probably were yeah.
Speaker 2:
It was believed that their powers came from the gods and that they used magic to build namadol's structure in the water. The local ponpans were so impressed with their magic and skill that they invited the brothers to marry into their tribe. Eventually, when one of the brothers died, the other took the position of king and built a temple to his people's god of farming. All right, folks, I'm gonna try and say this. I cannot guarantee it's going to come out right. Nanichon Sapwa, it's S-A-P-W, so however you pronounce that, that's it. I need vowels.
Speaker 3:
Namadol became the epicenter of politics and religion for the island and, to quote the Namadol National Park Service, it was also the earliest known example of such centralized political power in the Western Pacific End. Quote Of course, the largest homes in the complex belonged to the elite and they were designed so that they were kept away from the commoners, the peasant folk, healthy peasants, who were naturally expected to serve them. Of course, at the height of the city, the population was a mere 1,000.
Speaker 2:
Impressive right, 1,000 people and you get all haughty and then you're supposed to take care of me.
Speaker 3:
Yep.
Speaker 2:
I still find that rather impressive. But what inevitably happens when the elite forget that they aren't actually better than the rabble? They become oppressive. Sadly, that's what happened, and only after Namadol was 500 years old, so not a whole lot of time passed before they got way too uppity.
Speaker 3:
Yeah.
Speaker 2:
The soddler elite became so oppressive to the Pompeian commoners that they were pushed repeatedly into starvation. Of course, the next inevitable thing happens as a warrior hero rises up and his name was Iso Calicolo.
Speaker 3:
Iso Calicolo, who was believed to be a demigod, son of the vengeful Pompeian storm god, non Sapwe, led a group of Micronesian settlers from the island Kosre against the elite. According to oral accounts, non-sapwe had grown furious with the tyranny of the settlers' farm god. The fighting group was composed of warriors, women and even children. Historians believe that upon seeing them, the oppressed Ponpeans joined forces and fought no shock. They won. However, that was the beginning of the end for the importance of Amidal for the Ponpeans. By the 18th century, it was completely abandoned.
Speaker 2:
So it had its heyday for about 500 years and then, because the elite got all snippety, they just abandoned the place. It still just blows my mind.
Speaker 3:
We have ghost towns here. Yes, all the time Still happens, yep.
Speaker 2:
Now let's jump to the more practical side of Namadol. Nobody knows exactly how the enormous basalt logs, some weighing up to 100,000 pounds each, were transported to the island and then stacked so precisely to form the city's buildings of which there are 130, and walls, two short on the side and one long facing the ocean. Some of the stones are small and lightweight enough to be carried by hand, but not the majority, all of which has a foundation of coral which, of course you know, grew over time. This feat of engineering baffles modern experts, as no machinery or advanced tools were found or available at the time.
Speaker 3:
One theory suggests that the logs were floated to the island on large rafts, but even this doesn't fully explain how they were moved or lifted into position. Some speculate that a combination of ingenious pulley systems, rollers and human labor may have been used, but there's no conclusive evidence to support such a claim. What's fascinating, though, is that the Pohnpeian builders didn't use any sort of binding agent to keep the stones in place.
Speaker 2:
It's important to note that this place was built with precision that rivals any ancient civilizations, as it stood the test of time and the ravages of nature. I mean it's 500 to 800 years old, sitting in the ocean with ebbing and flowing tides, and it's still structurally sound. The canals between the buildings can still be used by visitors who come to see the ruins.
Speaker 3:
That is very impressive.
Speaker 2:
It is, it is, and they actually encourage people to do that, to go in there and go look at it, and get close to it.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, that's with respect, of course, you know, right, right, um, I mean it's just. I can't believe that it's still standing with. No, they basically just stuck the stones on top of each other, right?
Speaker 2:
I guess we'll just depend upon that sheer weight.
Speaker 3:
Although I don't think the stones at, in England, the circle.
Speaker 2:
Oh yeah, Stonehenge.
Speaker 3:
Stonehenge yeah, I don't think those are bound either and they're still Well, they're mostly still standing, I think some people, I think they've put them back up a handful of times.
Speaker 2:
Yeah, because wind blew too hard or whatever.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, but there's nothing. I mean they were for the most part still standing. I mean, I guess, if they're heavy enough, gravity works. Yeah, they wouldn't really need anything to hold them really.
Speaker 2:
But still, I mean like in the ocean, eventually it should have gotten knocked over, right.
Speaker 3:
I mean you would think a storm, a bad enough storm, would come through and knock them over. I mean right. Especially because the water moving with it and everything I mean hurricanes, typhoons.
Speaker 2:
you know something, but nope, still there.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, Nowadays Namadal is a national historic landmark held in the care of private landowners who happen to be modern-day Namawarki. They can trace their lineage all the way back to the ancient Isokolokal chiefs. The family provides tours of Namadol via boat that show the building and artificial islands built within the walls. And I'm not, I mean, I'm going to apologize for that name. I have no idea if I said that wrong.
Speaker 2:
Non-Mawarkey? I don't know. I mean, I can't think of any other way that you would pronounce that.
Speaker 3:
Yeah, I don't know, non-mawarkey, Non-Mawarkey, I don't know.
Speaker 2:
It doesn't. They know who we're talking about. You know who you are, yes, and we are impressed with you. We are impressed that, yes, yeah, okay, I've seen plenty of pictures of the beautiful ruins and the wild, jungle-like lands to its west. Namadol is a testament to human ingenuity and a riddle still waiting to be unraveled. Hopefully, with further archaeological research, we'll find out how it was built. Probably about the same time we find out how it was built. Probably about the same time we figure out how the pyramids in Egypt and other such structures around the world were constructed. But hope springs eternal.
Speaker 3:
So, with all of that being said, thank you for joining us today on this journey through the secrets of Naumadal. If you have any historical questions or topics you would like us to explore in future episodes, don't hesitate to reach out. Thank you for joining us and if you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review. We will be back with more stories from the past. Until then, keep exploring.
Speaker 1:
Thanks for listening to Smarticus Tells History. If you enjoyed this episode, don't forget to rate and review and make sure to subscribe and be sure to follow the show at facebookcom. Slash smartacustellshistory or just click the link in the show description. Thanks again for listening. See you next time you.