Early Historic Accounts

VUE DE L’AIGUADE DE L’ILE DE TINIAN. Richard Walter -- 1750. 1 lithograph: black and white; 24 x 38 cm. No. 28. Anson. From Walter’s Voyage Autour de Monde (Geneva, 1750).

Ancient Guam Era

Taga

Largest latte house in the Marianas. Found nowhere else in the world, latte first appeared in the Mariana Islands about 800 years ago, during a

Ancient Guam Era

The Matao Iron Trade Part 3: Appropriation and Entanglement

The matao fashioned the iron they acquired from trading with visiting ship crews into traditional tools, including punches, drills, fish hooks and adze blades. The

Ancient Guam Era

The Matao Iron Trade Part 2: Galleon Trading and Repatriation

Between 1565 and 1665, Guam’s southwest coast received sporadic visits from Spanish vessels, including the first wreck of a trade galleon (San Pablo, 1568), as

Ancient Guam Era

The Matao Iron Trade Part 1: Contact and Commerce

Members of the matao, the highest-ranking strata of Mariana Islands society in the 16th and 17th centuries, carried on the first sustained cultural interaction and

A village scene depicts the difference in caste through body language and building structures. Also illustrated is the lack of body coverings as being unnecessary. Bachelor’s houses were houses for young CHamoru/Chamorro men in the Mariana Islands from ancient times until the late 1600s. A village scene of the Ancient CHamorus illustrated by JA Pellion from Freycinet’s Voyage Autour de Monde, Paris, 1824. Guam Public Library System

Ancient Guam Era

Ancient CHamoru Kinship and Land Tenure

In CHamoru culture today, the notion of family or i-familia is very important. From rosaries to weddings, funerals to barbecues, many CHamoru social events revolve

Ancient CHamoru Settlement Patterns

White sandy beaches, lush jungles, verdant landscapes and gorgeous sunsets—the Marianas, for many, resemble a tropical paradise. With all this natural beauty, do you ever

Ancient Guam Era

Ancient CHamoru/Chamorro Cultural Aspects of Fishing

Fishing was one of the most important subsistence activities in ancient CHamoru society. Surrounded by the ocean, the CHamorus relied on their fishing skills to

Ancient CHamoru/Chamorro Use of Human Bones

Archeological studies have revealed that during the Latte Period ancient CHamorus retrieved bones from deceased bodies after tissue had deteriorated, and used the bones for

Ancient Guam Era

Ancient CHamoru/Chamorro Burial Rituals

There is a dearth of written accounts of ancient CHamoru burial practices, but from the few historic descriptions available, the burial customs and rituals were

Ancient CHamoru Use of Rice

In the Mariana Islands, as well as other islands throughout the Pacific, rice is considered one of the most important food staples. Bags of rice