John A. Peterson

Radiocarbon Dating of Algal Bioclasts in Beach Sites of Guam

ABSTRACT Direct radiocarbon dating of algal bioclasts of Halimeda sp. demonstrates accurate age estimates in relation to archaeological layers in three beach sites of Guam in the western Pacific region. These case studies illustrate the technical requirement of identifying intact (non-eroded) bioclasts for dating, as well as the methodological parameters for interpreting the relationship between depositional context of these bioclasts in relation to the archaeological point of interest. In the many island and coastal beach sites world-wide that are composed of bioclastic sands, this approach offers new possibilities for dating of ancient site deposits.

Household economy and gendered labor in the 17th centurya.d. on Guam

Abstract The gendered division of labor in household economies is well known in documentary accounts of many societies, although archaeological evidence for it is often elusive. Our study compares ethnohistorical accounts of household organization with archaeological patterns at a 17th-century village on the island of Guam in the Marianas archipelago to determine if these different sources of evidence provide similar insights. We investigated archaeological assemblages from two latte (megalithic) buildings to document their economic activities. Unexpected differences in their assemblages revealed that economic activities varied between the two latte buildings. They were domiciles of a single economically integrated household, but their disparate functions likely signaled a gendered division of labor. This study reveals aspects of gendered labor that documentary accounts do not fully describe. Our findings suggest that the assumption that domestic buildings were functionally redundant in traditional societies must be tested on a case-by-case basis.

Pollen, Starch, and Biosilicate Analysis of Archaeological Deposits on Guam and Saipan, Mariana Islands, Northwest Pacific: Evidence for Chamorro Subsistence Crops and Marine Resources

ABSTRACT Recent advances in the study of crop fossils have been made at sites across much of the Pacific by the application of a range of microfossil techniques, namely analysis of pollen, phytoliths, and starch. Compared with Melanesia and Polynesia, however, the application of this in Micronesia is limited. Here we report on microfossil analysis of Micronesian archaeological deposits from the Mariana Islands, from two sites on Guam: Tumon and Ipan, and another near Lake Susupe, Saipan. All three sites contained subsurface deposits, dated ca. 1300–300 BP. The phytolith and starch data indicate the use of several subsistence taxa, including Musa (banana), up to three Dioscorea (yam) species, and other possible subsistence taxa, starch grains of which can be difficult to differentiate. Radiolarian fragments from the inside surface of a potsherd reflect the use of marine resources. Because plants have differential production and preservation of pollen, phytoliths, and starch, the data illustrate the value of using combined analyses of these microparts. This method also shows the combination and geographic range of crops, and that Micronesian archaeological deposits potentially contain microfossil evidence for prehistoric subsistence plants and other resources as detailed as that shown for elsewhere in the Pacific.

The Austronesian Moment

For nearly a decade now the debate has quickened on the origins of the Austronesian Peoples of East and Southeast Asia who migrated eastward into Island Southeast Asia and the Western Pacific. There is no doubt now about the relationship among them, or among their stomach bacteria or their rats, chickens, pigs, and dogs. Linguistic, genetic, and archaeological data show compelling associations and divergence from common source areas at critical times in the late Holocene. However, it is not clear if any single region is the point of origin. This paper examines these hypotheses and proposes a model of maritime migration based on spatial perception unique to the native peoples of the region, one that likely led to bursts of migration over relatively short periods, and one that links indigenous peoples throughout an extensive maritime world.

Spanish Colonial History and Archaeology in the Mariana Islands: Echoes from the Western Pacific

Comprehending the ramifications of the Spanish galleon (1565–1815) in the Pacific is vital for constructing more nuanced and balanced narratives of world history. Scholarship on colonialism in the American continents has long emphasized the outcomes of European contact on the economies, technologies, health, and cultural identities of its native populations. However, such research is rarely informed through comparison with Pacific Island societies that also engaged with—and were eventually colonized by—the Spanish. Provisioning the galleon ships that crossed the Pacific and sustained their religious mission fueled the economy of the Mariana Islands. This chapter integrates archaeological and documentary insights on the impact of Spanish colonialism in the Mariana Islands, an archipelago between Manila, Philippines and Acapulco, Mexico. This archipelago was a stepping stone for the Spanish galleon and its indigenous population, the Chamorro people, offering a unique and understudied example of early modern colonialism. We examine the material consequences of Spanish colonialism on Chamorro diet and food production, trade and political economy, labor and gender relations, and contemporary heritage and identity. Finally, we consider directions for future research on Spanish colonial-period archaeology in the Mariana Islands.

Co-opted Heritage: Political Action, Identity, and Preservation at the Pagat site, Guam

During the Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) process for the proposed US Navy military buildup on Guam, a community activist group, We Are Guahan, protested the selection of a live fire training range complex near the late precontact site of Pagat in northeast Guam. The site was used to rally native Chamorro resistance to the military buildup. The group led a coalition of community groups in a lawsuit seeking a restraining order against the project. The case was subsequently dismissed, but heritage preservation had become the focal point for community action against the buildup, and an expression of cultural identity. However, contemporary Chamorro identity is rooted in the late Spanish and early American periods of Guam’s history, and traces to the nineteenth century and not to pre-Spanish indigenous culture on Guam. The latte stone, a distinctive architectural feature that supports house and canoe shed beams, has become a keystone of Chamorro identity, but Chamorro today have few cultural memories of pre-Spanish settlement. The base of the latte is capped by a “tasa” on which beams are laid for the superstructure of the latte house. The political action was successful in firing public imagination off Guam, but arguably stalled the military buildup that is supported by the majority of Guamanians, Chamorro along with Filipinos, Asians, and Anglo-Americans. Unfortunately, the site of Pagat is now at greater risk of neglect once out of the limelight.

Abstract A82: University of Guam/University of Hawaii Cancer Center Partnership: Celebrating 10 years of research, training, education, and outreach to reduce cancer health disparities among Pacific Islanders

Americans of Pacific Islander ancestry are highly underrepresented within the cancer research community. Critical to reducing cancer health disparities in Hawaii, Guam and the neighboring US-affiliated Pacific Islands (USAPI) is research designed and conducted by, for, and with Pacific Islanders. Similarly, dedicated efforts are required to provide education and training opportunities for Pacific Islanders to prepare them for future careers in health disparities research. Currently, eleven jointly-conducted U54-supported projects are addressing research questions: the associations of betel nut use and health related conditions and behaviors among users in Micronesia; sociocultural factors affecting betel nut chewing in Guam; the influence of betel nut use on the oral microbiome; the identification of alkaloids present in the varieties of betel nut on Guam; identification of salivary biomarkers in betel nut consumption; the functional assessment of molecular components of betel nut involved in pro-inflammatory mechanisms of immune cells; community-based participatory approaches to youth tobacco use prevention/cessation in Guam; the effectiveness of a social network-based approach to reducing cancer risk; health information trends and needs in the Pacific among adults and youth; and breast cancer risk factors among Pacific Islander women. Approximately 30 papers have been published, and several new grants have been received as an outcome of this partnership. Since 2003, a growing number of Pacific Island graduate students have received education and training in cancer health disparities research at the University of Guam (UOG) and University of Hawaii Cancer Center (UHCC). Over the past four years, UOG has developed with U54 support a cancer health disparities curriculum unique to the Pacific region, now permanently sustained by UOG. Multiple masters degree students at UOG have received support from the U54, and two UOG graduates are enrolled in doctoral programs at US mainland institutions. Two PhD students and one masters degree student at UHCC are currently receiving U54 support, and one U54-supported masters degree student recently graduated from UH. In addition, mentorship and career development is provided to early career faculty/investigators at UOG. In conclusion, our partnership has significantly increased over the past decade the research capacity at UOG and cultivated interest in cancer research among minority students attending the partner institutions. Outreach has resulted in model tobacco control policy in Guam, including new tobacco taxes that provide funds to support the Guam Cancer Registry and a Guam Cancer Trust Fund. A regional research infrastructure has been established and resources have been leveraged to address Pacific Islander cancer health disparities in Guam, Hawaii, and the USAPI. Supported by the National Cancer Institute of the National Institutes of Health under Award Numbers U54CA143727 and U54CA143728. Citation Format: Hali R. Robinett, Helen J.D. Whippy, John A. Peterson, Rachael T. Leon Guerrero, Robert A. Underwood, Neal A. Palafox, David C. Ward, Carl-Wilhelm Vogel. University of Guam/University of Hawaii Cancer Center Partnership: Celebrating 10 years of research, training, education, and outreach to reduce cancer health disparities among Pacific Islanders. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the Sixth AACR Conference: The Science of Cancer Health Disparities; Dec 6–9, 2013; Atlanta, GA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev 2014;23(11 Suppl):Abstract nr A82. doi:10.1158/1538-7755.DISP13-A82

P. Bion Griffin: The Anthropologist as Mentor and Colleague

It was a stroke of genius and good fortune that Bion Griffin discovered ethnoarchaeology and the Agta of Palanan Bay in the earliest years of his career at the University of Hawaii—he would have hated hunkering down in endless archaeological excavation units and slogging through the minefields of Hawaiian archaeology. There is a photograph of Bion managing a field school in Kualoa from a director’s chair, with safari hat and shorts; he claims it was among the last archaeological field schools that he conducted, preferring the free-ranging life of the Agta of northern Luzon in the Philippines. It was good fortune for the emergent discipline of ethnoarchaeology as well, as Bion made fundamental and significant intellectual contributions both from his field studies and publications, but maybe more importantly, as a colleague and mentor. Bion engaged the current discourse of the discipline while nurturing a subsequent generation of students in the Anthropology program at the University of Hawaii, and elsewhere. His own remarks in this volume attest to this, as he favors his students with a significant part of his own biographical comments. Education in the ‘Social Practice of the Anthropological Academician’ is often overlooked in our training, or completely missing. A good department chair is an unfortunately rare find, and a bad one will reproduce another generation of inept academic leadership, spreading the affliction far into the future. A good one, like Bion Griffin was for several years in the 1990s, is an antidote to that legion of bad examples, as he provided his students and junior faculty a model of academic leadership to emulate. Bion has complained that he devoted so much of his career to academic management that he neglected his own scholarly productivity. It is true; his best work has been articles and book chapters, and an edited volume published in a regional University press in the Philippines. However, that in itself is a profound statement about his commitment to teaching and collegiality, and giving back to the field, and about modesty and humility, in that this important work was published in a regional Philippines venue rather than by an international press. That is the kind of Social Practice that has made Bion Griffin an outstanding scholar and mentor and, yes, exceptional academic leader. I did not meet Bion until late in his academic career. I had been invited to participate in an academic tour in Cebu, in the Philippines. Our program at the ethnoarchaeology, Vol. 5 No. 1, April, 2013, 73–75

Archaeology and Culture in Southeast Asia: Unraveling the Nusantao (review)

Bill Solheim founded this journal, Asian Perspectives, which first appeared in 1957. For over 50 years he has been a leader and contributor to Southeast Asian archaeological studies. He has been prolific, and his work has been foundational for studies in the region. He has recently revised and republished his Archaeology of the Central Philippines: A Study Chiefly of the Iron Age and Its Relationships (Solheim 2002) as well as updated earlier reports in ‘‘Archaeological Survey in Papua, Halmahera, and Ternate, Indonesia’’ (chapter 6 in this volume under review). He also recently revisited ceramic collections in the Sarawak Museum from the Gua Sirah project, which he is currently preparing for publication. In other words, Solheim has been vigorous and productive since his ‘‘retirement’’ from teaching in 1991 from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Hawai‘i. He is currently on the faculty of the Archaeological Studies Program at the University of the Philippines in Diliman. The festschrift Southeast Asian Archaeology was published in 2005 in his honor by his colleagues and former students, and it includes articles from throughout Mainland and Island Southeast Asia—the latter a neologism that he helped coin. This book on the Nusantao is a consummate review by Solheim of his life’s work in the region. It is written in a fresh and sometimes conversational style, with an eye not only toward reviewing his previous work, but also accommodating recent findings and literature. Solheim takes advantage of hindsight to revise a few earlier misconceptions or misstatements, and he also takes the opportunity to frame his vision of migration in the region in light of a current controversy of contending models. In this sense, this volume presents the history of an idea as well as the fieldwork and analyses that Solheim has done over the past half century. Unraveling the Nusantao is at the same time a recounting of the data, a historiography of the concept, a personal intellectual biography, and also a vision of a vibrant maritime culture that has inhabited the region since the Late Paleolithic. It is a compelling argument for his model of dispersive and expansive settlement in Southeast Asia. The concept has evolved considerably from its earliest presentations as a Neolithic era ‘‘Nusantao’’ culture, and this volume reflects not only the emergence of data but also an emerging and quite sophisticated model of migration. The theme is central to theory and interpretations of migration throughout the region and is currently controversial in its opposition to models that focus on Taiwan as the fulcrum of Austronesian Neolithic period di¤usion. Solheim examines this alternate model and compares it unfavorably to the data, as well as to his own theory. Solheim himself eschews the term ‘‘theory,’’ as he has long been skeptical of fads and fashions, old wine in new skins, or revisionistic explanations. In contrast, Solheim remains close to his experience of the archaeological landscapes of the region, to the data, and to his prodigious knowledge of artifacts, sites, and collections in his illumination of a powerful and resilient model for settlement and migration. He presents the ethnographic, ethnohistorical, and linguistic as well as archaeological bases for his theory. The book is divided into seven chapters, with two contributions regarding the analyses of his Sa Huynh–Kalanay ceramic trabook reviews 235