Dr. Gary Mangold, LaTrobe University, Melbourne, Australia, studied
the Mariana Islands because they were settled at such an early date (prior
to 1755 BC) and because the Marianas have a significant geological data
base.
Most of Mangold's career has been in the field of geology. His
doctorate is in archaeology. Instead of examining rocks and pottery with
only a microscope, he did a petrographic analysis. In this technique
thin sections are x-rayed and compared to other samples and degrees of
similarity are determined. Because of the excellent geological
studies done in the Mariana Islands, there is base line data on all the
types of Marianas rocks.
Mangold examined 12 ancient Chamoru stone tools from Guam, Luta (Rota),
Tinian, and Saipan and found that all of them were made from stone from
the northern Mariana Islands of Alamagan and Pagan.
It seems the young northern islands have the nice fine grain basalt
good for making adzes and scrapers. Mangold did not know if Chamorus exported
stone from the northern Marianas or manufactured stone tools in the northern
Marianas.
Other research reveals that the stone was imported at least to Tinian.
Cunningham found a basalt lithe (stone) scatter at Blue Beach, this stone
could not have come from the limestone island of Tinian. It had to
be imported. "Archaeological sites on Tinian have revealed large
quantities of rocks from volcanic islands. These rocks were brought to
Tinian for tool-making purposes. (Cunningham, 1992, 193).
Mangold says that the odds are that seven of the 12 artifacts came
from the same quarry.
Mangold's research is continuing. It should not be long before archaeologists
find ancient Chamoru stone tool quarries in the northern Marianas.
Hopefully, not all of these quarries were destroyed by the 1981 eruption
of Pagan.
Mangold's research supports the belief that the ancient Chamorus did
a lot of trading and traveling among the Mariana Islands.
References
Cunningham, Lawrence J. Ancient Chamorro Society. Honolulu:
Bess Press, 1992.
Mangold, Gary. Lecture, 5 February 1998. University of
Guam, Mangilao Guam.
Notes transcript.
Collection of Lawrence J. Cunningham
P.O. Box 7187
Agat, Guam. |
