In-House Archaeological and Ethnographic Reconnaissance Survey in the Interior of Ngardmau State Part One: Archaeological Findings

Finney, Suzanne; Emesiochel, Calvin; Kloulechad, Errolflynn

Executive Summary: "With the completion of the Compact Road in the last decade interest in accessing and developing more land on Babeldaob is growing. In an effort to mitigate the effects of increased traffic and development on the cultural and historic resources of Palau's largest island, the Bureau of Arts and Culture/Palau Historic Preservation Office (BAC/HPO) has been conducting a state by state survey of cultural and historic sites. Those sites which were already known or previously recorded in fieldwork and publications have been identified and evaluated by the BAC/HPO in all 16 states, including the 10 states on Babeldaob. The BAC/HPO is currently investigating those areas within each state on Babeldaob where there has been no prior survey or investigation. These include the vast interior portions of each state comprised of numerous archaeological regions. This report contains the results of a reconnaissance survey conducted in Ngardmau State, on the western side of the island. The results of this survey confirm that there is a compelling need to conduct intensive level surveys of sites and features in the interior, undeveloped and largely uninhabited areas of Ngardmau. The survey also highlighted that these areas contain a number of unexpected hazards and other conditions that will need to be adequately addressed before such surveys can be safely undertaken. Another consideration that needs to be factored into future archaeological surveys in Palau is the immensity of the land that comprises the interior portions of each state. The state interiors had previously been scheduled to be surveyed in their entirety on the order of one per year. This older schedule was overly ambitious and did not factor in several issues such as a practical amount of time to conduct the surveys, especially as the Republic of Palau is a young, developing nation and the expertise of the BAC/HPO archaeologist, ethnographer and historic preservation specialists must necessarily be divided between several types of historic preservation tasks, each imperative to saving the cultural and historic resources of the nation and Peoples of Palau. Therefore, three important contributions of the Ngardmau reconnaissance survey are: 1) the recommendation of a new survey schedule; 2) the prioritization of archaeological regions containing significant and/or threatened sites and oral histories; and 3) recommendations for how to plan and prepare for the safe conduct of surveys in these regions." Project funding was provided in part by a Historic Preservation Fund grant to the Palau Historic Preservation Office, Bureau of Arts and Culture, Ministry of Community and Cultural Affairs, administered by the Pacific West Regional Office, National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior (grant number 70-09-21863).

In-House Archaeological and Ethnographic Reconnaissance Survey in the Interior of Ngardmau State Part One: Archaeological Findings

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