A new video series spotlighting Palau’s unique cultural heritage is set to launch with Palau’s Ancient Earthworks: Monumentality, the first of three planned releases. The video delves into the significance of Palau’s expansive terraces, which highlight an ancient society that was powerful, wealthy, and adept in engineering, architecture, soil mechanics, and hydrology. Palauan terraces, dating back at least 2,400 years, showcase a construction era that predates monumental architecture across other Pacific societies. The concept of using monumental structures to assert political and religious power may, in fact, have originated in Palau.
The terraces, carved over approximately 1,300 years using basic wooden tools and woven baskets, are considered among the world’s most impressive examples of monumental earthwork. This vast network of terraces, unlike any other in the Pacific, stretches across Babeldaob, with surveys revealing that they span roughly 21 square miles—around 18 percent of the island’s land area.
Utilizing LiDAR technology, the video captures the scale and complexity of these earthworks. LiDAR, a laser-based terrain mapping tool, penetrates dense tree canopy to visualize structures that might otherwise remain hidden. These surveys reveal intricate structures sculpted along hills, ridgelines, and slopes, illustrating a sophisticated understanding of landscape modification in early Palauan society.
The upcoming videos in this series will examine the terraces’ multifunctional purposes and explore why the society invested such significant effort into their construction. Directed and written by Dr. Jolie Liston, narrated by Olilai Chilton, and produced by Alpert Pictures, this video series forms part of a broader project, Preserving the Legacy of a Monumental Earthwork Landscape: Oral Traditions, Remote Sensing, and Community Engagement in Palau. The project, supported by the U.S. Ambassador’s Fund for Cultural Preservation, was awarded to Liston and the Coral Reef Research Foundation, with Meked Besebes Consulting also contributing.
The project aims to amplify the cultural, social, and economic value of Palau’s earthworks, ensuring that this heritage is preserved for future generations. Through remote sensing, archaeological fieldwork, oral history collection, and community education, the project strengthens local civic pride, preserves traditional knowledge, and fosters a deeper community connection to Palau’s cultural landscape.
While decades of research have uncovered much about the terraces’ age, construction methods, and functions, the mystery of Palau’s monumental earthworks may take another century to fully unravel. (By: L.N. Reklai)