Archaeology of Tumon Bay

Excerpt from brochure: "If you attend Chief James A. Memorial, J.F. Kennedy, or St. John's, your classrooms sit on the cliff line about Tumon Bay. You may not realize that Tumon is one of the richest and most investigate prehistoric cultural areas on island. While there have been many archaeological projects throughout Guam, not has received as much attention as Tumon Bay. The reason for this is the intensive amount of hotel and business development around the Bay, and the efforts of the Historic Preservation Office and archaeologists to protect ancient villages from destruction during construction. The analysis of the finds from these investigations has greatly contributed to our knowledge of Guam's prehistory. You should understand from this, that time a hotel or other building is designed for the Tumon Bay shoreline, it will be built on top of an old Chamorro village. If not for the work of archaeologists, the entire history of that village would be lost. 1059 dots representing archaeological sites are shown on the map of Guam on the front of this brochure. Many sites are found in Tumon, as you can see the from number of dots in the inset. Archaeologists have revealed two major prehistoric periods, the Pre-Latte (from first colonization until ~ A.D. 800) and the Latte (from A.D. 800 until the arrival of the Spanish). Pre-Latte sites are not common, frequently found below Latte-age materials, or in the earliest beach sands. They are sometimes found in the interior of the island. Pre-Latte Pottery tends to be thin, red slipped and may have incised designs filled with a (white) lime paste and fired. Some Pre-Latte pottery is very thick. Stone artifacts are rare, but may be found with burials from this time-period. Reef fish and shellfish were common foods, and we assume that varieties of plant foods (e.g. coconut, taro, banana, breadfruit, and pandanus) were also eaten. Latte sites are found from the beaches into the interior along river valleys and inland near springs and other water sources. The characteristic latte stone foundation appears during this time. Latte were often shaped from limestone, but volcanic rocks were also used. Burials are usually associated with latte structure. In addition shellfish and reef fish, pelagic (open ocean) fish were also being eaten. Horticulture becomes more important and many sites are located near agriculturally productive soils. A new pottery style developed with thick rims, and no polish or decorations; and stone artifacts, particularly lusong (grinding stones) become abundant. The descriptions and photos contained in this pamphlet illustrate some of the findings from Tumon Bay sites." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Guam Historic Preservation Office, Department of Parks and Recreation, administered by the Pacific West Regional Office, National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior (grant number 66-10-21960).

Archaeology of Tumon Bay

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