Project Raivavae, French Polynesia - Report From Tahiti

On May 26th, Edmundo Edwards met with the Minister of Youth, Culture and Heritage of French Polynesia, Mr. Tauhiti Mena to discuss an upcoming archaeological project to take place in the island of Raivavae. The meeting was arranged by Foundation Director Maeva Navarro, previously the Director of the Department of Archaeology of French Polynesia.
Local press and TV reporters awaited Mr. Edwards outside the Ministry and enthusiastic interviews were published and broadcast in the local media in the following days.
At the meeting Mr. Edwards formally detailed the work he plans to catry out in Raivavae
with his colleagues and friends Claudio Cristino and Patricia Vargas.

Minister Mena congratulated Mr. Edwards for his thorough work and 30 plus years of expertise in Polynesia, as well as his avowed support to the Polynesian people. He offered to cooperate with the project by covering the expense of hiring local help and invited Mr. Edwards and two other team members to Raivavae in order to present the project locally and make all necessary arrangements for the expedition next year.

Mr. Edwards gave the Minister a copy of his book Raivavae detailing his previous archaeological work in that island. After flipping through the book, and apparently very pleased, Minister Mena asked the author for permission to publish it in French and a discussion of the appropriate arrangements followed. Mr. Edwards also signed a copy of the book for his old acquaintance, the President of French Polynesia, Mr. Oscar Temaru.

At the meeting, Minister Mena also disclosed that one of his counselors, a Raivavae native, plans to open an Archaeological Museum there. Mr. Edwards responded by offering to help recover the statues that where illegally removed from Raivavae by Thor Heyerdahl in 1956, now in the Kon-Tiki Museum in Oslo, as well as those that were loaned to F.G. Stokes of the Bishop Museum, Hawaii in 1923.

At the end of the meeting Minister Mena gave Mr. Edwards a beautiful wooden bowl inlayed with pearl shell around the rim; he was so encouraging he offered Mr. Edwards a permanent position as archaeologist in the local museum, and lunch with President Temaru and other guests! Mr. Edwards graciously declined the first offer because of other commitments and would have gladly accepted the second, but plans fell through as the President had to unexpectedly fly to Mangareva in the Gambier Islands.

Ms. Navarro and Mr. Mena's Chief of Staff, will take care of all the necessary paperwork for the preliminary stages of the project. The project will be formally presented to the people of Raivavae in August or early

September once the Tahitian government allocates the funds. Work and excavation permits have to be presented in October and will be approved by the end of this year.