Mark Eddowes

For more than three decades, Mark Eddowes has dedicated his work to the archaeology and sacred landscapes of Eastern Polynesia, Trained in anthropology at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, he began his research career in French Polynesia in 1987 and later served at the Polynesian Centre for Human Sciences at the Museum of Tahiti and its Islands under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture.

A specialist in marae, monumental ceremonial complexes that once formed the spiritual and political heart of Polynesian societies, Eddowes has conducted excavations and surveys across Tahiti, Huahine, the Marquesas, the Austral Islands, and the southern Cook Islands, as well as the Tuamotu’s. His recent research includes work at the great marae of Maha‘iatea in Papara, described by Captain James Cook in 1769, as well as restoration projects at Maeva and excavations at early settlement sites dating to the first millennium CE (Vaito’oti’a Huahine and Atiahara Tubuai).

Fluent in English, French, and Tahitian, he brings to guests of the m/s Paul Gauguin a rare combination of scholarly insight and lived regional experience, illuminating the deep histories and enduring cultural traditions of the islands through which they voyage.

Languages spoken: French, English, Tahitian

Photo credit: ARR