The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which controls a wildlife refuge at Ritidian, announced in December 2014 the discovery of the previously unknown site.
University of Guam archaeologist Mike Carson and refuge maintenance worker Brian Leon Guerrero came across the site while exploring the eastern part of the refuge.
“This comes as a complete surprise because we thought we knew where every sacred and significant cultural site was on the refuge,” Park Ranger Emily Sablan said in December.
The ancient site includes sets of latte stones that sit in a small clearing on the refuge.
Also found on the site were cultural midden deposits, or piles of domestic waste associated with past human settlement, which were found at each latte set and adjacent areas.
Further study took place in June, and the findings were presented as part the University of Guam’s Micronesian Area Research Center (MARC) seminar series in a presentation entitled, “Identifying, Understanding and Protecting Our Heritage Sites” on Wednesday in the UOG CLASS Lecture Hall.
The seminar featured the MARC’s visiting Associate Professor of Archaeology Mike Carson, who has spent more than 10 years researching the historic sites, cultural artifacts and landscapes at Litekyan, also known as Ritidian.
Carson said digging in the area found a site that was more than 3,500 years old.
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| Remains of an ancient Chamorro settlement at Ritidian, discovered last year. (Photo: University of Guam) |
Ritidian continued to be a place Chamorros lived for thousands of years after the first settlement, he added, and the site contains artifacts that span those millenia.
Carson recommends residents go up to Ritidian to experience the site.
“If you haven’t been there I hope you will go there soon and go again and again,” he said.
There’s a lot to see and learn at the site, he said.
In the dig, researchers found remnants of an ancient coral reef more than 4,000 years old, which showed how the sea level has changed on the island since the Chamorros first arrived.
Ritidian saw much of this change and the Chamorro people learned to adapt throughout it, Carson said.
As the reef expanded, their diet changed, pottery changed and the way Chamorros built houses changed, he said.
“All these periods of history are represented in one place,” Carson said.
About 3,000 years of the island’s history can be seen in Ritidian, he added.
“You see how Chamorro civilization has adjusted and evolved on its own and overcome different challenges over time,” he said.
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| Remains of an ancient Chamorro settlement at Ritidian, discovered last year. (Photo: University of Guam) |
The Chamorros started to build latte houses, and 15 sets of well-preserved examples can be found at Ritidian. Latte houses are homes built atop raised stone pillars.
Researchers found that each latte site was unique, with each latte having a different design, Carson said.
For example, some latte had sockets, which researchers believed help keep the parts together. The latte is comprised of the cap, called tasa, and the pillar, called haligi.
Some haligi had notches, which would help keep the latte stable, he said.
They also found lines of stone and cobble in front of the latte homes, which could be a patio of some sort, he said.
Another interesting find was that some of the haligi had lusong, or mortar holes, which suggests that Chamorros were recycling materials.
“So it tells you something about the people who made this site they were into recycling long before it became fashion,” he said.
One of the things researchers are working on is making 3-D renderings of the latte sites that residents can look at to feel as if they’re at the sites.
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| Remains of an ancient Chamorro settlement at Ritidian, discovered last year. (Photo: University of Guam) |
http://www.guampdn.com/story/news/2015/09/13/findings-reveal-ancient-chamorro-life/72044570/
