Archaeological research at the Early Pre-Latte Period site of San Roque on Saipan (ca. 1500–1100 BC)

Abstract

The first Austronesian settlers at the site of San Roque in Saipan and the southern Mariana Islands began arriving sometime after 1500 BC in what is called the Early Pre-Latte Period. A comparison of San Roque to contemporaneous island sites reveals differences in cooking and habitation features, ceramic vessels and decorative styles, marine shell tools and ornaments, and settlement patterns that were apparent within and between islands and sites until the middle of the first millennium BC. Changes in sea level and natural resource availability then appear to have accompanied changes in material culture, when some coastal sites were abandoned or moved seaward, while other inhabitants moved inland with a more terrestrial subsistence strategy shared elsewhere in Micronesia.

Keywords:

• Island colonization
• Mariana Islands
• Micronesia

Acknowledgements

Many people helped us along the way with this project and study since its inception in 2016, again in 2018, and then the SAA in 2021. On Saipan, Tom Liu of Saipan Globe Hotel Ltd provided a sounding board for each phase of fieldwork on the property as did Rita Chong, Mertie Kani, and Jim Pruitt at CNMI HPO with each phase of documentation. Fieldwork was shared by David Prezinski, Joe Farrugia, Rick Schaefer, Alison Simonds, Brent Coffman, Boyd Dixon, and Mike Dega. MARS coauthors Darlene Moore and Judy Amesbury conducted the ceramic and shell artifact and midden analyses and had the help of Nina Peck, Jacy Miller-Moore, Vanessa Cabrera, Jolie Liston, and Rick Schaefer on Guam. Maria Kottermair prepared the Marianas site location map, Jensen Nihei and Kaleiohu Lee prepared the excavation plan, and Jackie Schaefer prepared the figure illustrations. Site data from Saipan, Tinian, and Guam were provided by Mike Carson, Hiro Kurashina, and Darlene Moore. Mike Carson also paid a visit to the site. Tim Reith calibrated the radiocarbon dates and helped data presentation, and Lon Bulgrin shared his knowledge of early Saipan prehistory. Scott M. Fitzpatrick and Matt Napolitano generously invited us to present a paper at the SAA in 2021 and Scott made critical suggestions to develop this study in more detail. Two anonymous reviewers plus Jolie Liston and Su-chiu Kuo are especially thanked for their constructive insights.

Data availability statement

Archaeological field photographs, laboratory data, and artifacts from the San Roque project are accessible to the public in SCS technical documents cited below and upon request to the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Historic Preservation Office (www.dcca.gov.mp/hpo-historic-preservation-office).

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

It should be noted that Athens and colleagues (Athens, Dega, and Ward 200470; Athens and Ward 2005) no longer accept early coring dates for pre-1550 BC settlement since dating of soil in coastal wetlands has a substantial inbuilt age (Rieth and Athens 2019), and not all colleagues are convinced that the very earliest dates are valid.