Inventory of Cultural and Historical Sites and Oral History in the Interior of Aimeliik State. Vol. II: Collection of Oral History

Besebes, Meked; Kloulubak, Sylvia; Tellames, Lynda

"This report constitutes a contribution to the Bureau of Cultural and Historical Preservation/Palau Historical Preservation Office (BCHP/HPO) plan to upgrade the existing information pertaining to cultural resources in Palau. This office has identified a fundamental connection between tangible cultural properties (archaeological and historical resources of a physical nature) and intangible cultural properties (the oral histories and traditional knowledge that are associated with the tangible properties). This report is an investigation of the cultural resources of Aimeliik (Imeliik) State. It is a compilation of archival inventories, including published and unpublished sources, and field research of Aimeliik oral history and ethnography. Prior survey of Aimeliik state took place in 1998 which produced a two volume report: Inventory of Cultural Sites and Oral History in Aimeliik State (Volume I: Inventory of Cultural Sites (Olsudong et al, 1998); Volume II: Inventory of Oral History (Holyoak et. al, 1998)). A significant source of Palau ethnography is Augustine Kramer‘s five volumes which were recently translated in 2015 by Kramer‘s Ethnography Translation Committee in Palau. His ethnography provides a rich view of Palau‘s past beginning in early 1900‘s. Significant descriptions about each village district can be found in Volume II (1919), while legends and stories can be found in Volume IV (1929). Volume III captures major divisions of Palau material culture (1926). Lastly, Volume V (1929) includes illustrations of bai (chief‘s meeting house) and imuul (beams) images of legends. Please refer to Appendix IIB for a compilation of Aimeliik stories, associated beams, and bai descriptions documented by Augustin Kramer. This report is structured into the following regions based on archaeological survey and date: Ngerkeai (B:IM-1); Elechui (B:IM-2); Ngchemiangel (B:IM-3); Medorm (B:IM-4); Imul (B:IM-5); Ngebedech (B:IM-6), Elauesach also known as Nekkeng (B:IM-7); and Ngerdobotar (B:IM-8). The physical sites included in the inventory are known to act as and be acted upon as signifiers of Palauan identity. Furthermore, they act as tropes for the traditional association of Palauans with clan, lineage and household. Therefore, in order to understand fully the meaning of the tangible resources, it is imperative to collect and catalogue the traditions and stories that give them meaning. We hope that in recording this information we are helping to explain the meaning of these sites and place them within a larger cultural context." Project funding provided in part by a Historic Preserrvation Fund grant to the Bureau of Cultural and Historic Preservation, Palau Historic Preservation Office, Ministry of Community and Cultural Affairs, administered by the Pacific West Regional Office, National Park Service, U.S. Department of Interior (grant number P15AF00111).

Inventory of Cultural and Historical Sites and Oral History in the Interior of Aimeliik State. Vol. II: Collection of Oral History

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