Occult scholar Lewis Spence (1874-1955) wrote in The Problem of Lemuria (1933) that Easter Island, Melanesia, and Polynesia all have similar oral traditions of a vanished continent whose survivors relocated to these areas. In the Oceania area, there are many myths about a devastating flood, volcanic destruction, or other catastrophic events that are prevalent and similar amongst the various groups of people. The Maori, the native inhabitants of New Zealand and of Polynesian origin, recount stories of a blond race that sought refuge in the mountains and forests, seemingly possessing supernatural powers. Spence concludes, “the Polynesians were not Lemurians, but are the only heirs of the Lemurian civilization and culture.” Thus, the original Lemurians in Oceania were white and either killed by the native Polynesians or absorbed into their population.
Lewis Spence points to the archaic monuments of Polynesia and Melanesia that demonstrate skilled masonry knowledge of the Lemurians. These islands have isolated structures with no evidence of masonry existing on neighboring islands. According to archaeologists, Oceania was inhabited in the Old and New Stone Ages, about two million years ago to 10,000 years ago, before the people of Polynesia and Melanesians settled it six-thousand years ago. Samoan peoples are believed to have settled the Marquesas perhaps as early as AD 300, and Easter Island may have been settled from the Marquesas as early as AD 400.
Lewis Spence argues that the original inhabitants of these islands were the displaced Lemurians. There were subsequent migrations that occurred from the central island groups of Lemuria to the more remote areas of Polynesia. As the continental mass or masses gradually sank, so would their inhabitants be forced to build at an ever-increasing altitude, until at last, no space was left them except those mountain peaks which now compose the insular clusters.
Further Reading
Spence (1925) Atlantis in America.
Spence (1933) The Problem of Lemuria: The Sunken Continent of the Pacific.
A list of books authored by Spence including mythologies from around the world.
