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Marianas' Past
Courtesy of Dr. Lawrence J. Cunningham. Research Associate Outreach Coordinator National Resource Center for Micronesian Studies; Richard Flores Taitano Micronesian Area Research Center, University of Guam UOG Station Mangilao, Guam 96923.  All material is Copyrighted©.  All rights reserved. No material may be copied in part or in whole without Dr. Cunningham's written permission.   Send emails to  "Lawrence J. Cunningham" lcunning@uog9.uog.edu.  Thank You.
Mariana Islands Inhabited by 1755 B.C.

Brian Butler, an archaeologist from Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, excavated Unai Achugao on the northwestern coast of Saipan. 
This early site was remarkably well-preserved. Many features of the back of the old beach berm were intact.  Beta-36190, a radiocarbon assay, produced the 3490 BP date plus or minus 120 years.  This is a calendar date of 1755 BC. 

"Excavation in the early Pre-Latte deposits recovered a large sample of the distinctive red ware ceramics along with a good number of the rare decorated sherds.  The latter included two very different but apparently contemporaneous decorative styles. The isolation of these early decorative styles enhances the prospects for eventually identifying the point(s) of origin in Island Southeast Asia of the early settlers of the Marianas.  
The early occupation also yielded a shell tool assemblage very different from those of younger components, one that emphasizes Conus shell and uses little Tridacna [hima]" (Butler, 1995, v).  
It is very unlikely that archaeologists have found the oldest evidence of human inhabitation in the Marianas. Consequently, it is a safe estimate that Chamorus settled the Marianas at least by 2000 B.C.  This is the earliest open-ocean settlement of an island in the Pacific. 

References 
Butler, B.  Archaeological Investigations in the Achugao and Matansa Areas of Saipan, Mariana Islands. Micronesian Archaeological   Survey Report Series No. 30. Saipan:  Division of Historic    Preservation, 1995. 
Russell, Scott.  Historic Preservation Officer, CNMI 1995, Personal Communication.