Inhabiting Remote Tropical Seashores at 1500–1100 b.c.: Water, Practicalities, and Rituals in the Mariana Islands

ABSTRACT

When people first inhabited the Remote Oceanic region of the world at 1500 b.c., they generated archaeological sites attesting to their practical coastal adaptations in tandem with their ceremonial traditions, wherein water figured vitally in daily living and ritual performance. Of eight known first-settlement sites in the Mariana Islands, Ritidian in Guam uniquely incorporates one residential habitation plus two caves related to water collection, pictographs, consumption of unusual foods, and use of exceptionally decorative objects. The inter-connected findings clarify what was “special” about the special-use caves, in total articulating a fuller sense of cultural life and landscape than otherwise could be possible.

KEYWORDS:

• cave ritual
• water sources
• human-environment relations
• landscape archaeology

Acknowledgements

Three anonymous reviewers improved this work with their constructive advice. Research at Ritidian since 2005 has been possible with the professional support, permits, and guidance from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, with special gratitude owed to Brian Leon Guerrero, Joe Schwagerl, Emily Sablan, Laura Beauregard, Larisa Ford, Gabe Cruz, and all staff at the Ritidian Unit of the Guam National Wildlife Refuge. Rosanna Barcinas, Lon Bulgrin, Jeremy Cepeda, Leonard Iriarte, Rita Nauta, and Ben Santos shared their experiences and knowledge about the caves and other ancient sites. Partial funding was provided by the Guam Preservation Trust 2008–11 and by the Chiang-ching Kuo Foundation 2015–16.

Notes on contributor

Mike T. Carson (Ph.D. 2002, University of Hawai‘i) investigates archaeological and palaeo-landscapes throughout the Asia-Pacific region. He is author of First Settlement of Remote Oceania (2014) and Archaeological Landscape Evolution (2016), and he is co-editor of Asian Perspectives: The Journal of Archaeology for Asia and the Pacific.

ORCID

Mike T. Carson http://orcid.org/0000-0003-3755-9126