A rectangular stone platform, with stepped sides in larger examples, which served as a focus for rituals in the courts of prehistoric Eastern Polynesian temples (maraé). Construction of such platforms was most developed in the Society Islands, and in Easter Island, where ahu served as statue foundations. See also marae, Maeva, Mahaiatea, Taputapuatea, Vinapu.
The Macmillan dictionary of archaeology, Ruth D. Whitehouse, 1983Copied