Documentation of inter-island interaction in the Mariana Islands through geochemical characterization of volcanic stone artifacts
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.70460/jpa.v16i1.411Keywords:
Mariana Islands, geochemistry, EDXRF, voyaging and interaction, exchangeAbstract
The Mariana Islands have at least a three-millennia human occupation and have been subject to decades of intensive archaeological research. However, unlike other regions of Oceania, intra- and inter-archipelago movement of volcanic stone/tools is poorly documented. We used non-destructive EDXRF to characterize the geochemistry of 36 geological samples from three islands (Sarigan, Rota, and Guam) and 287 artifacts and manuports from five islands (Alamagan, Saipan, Tinian, Rota, and Guam). We confirm that some reliable geochemical results can be obtained from heavily chemically weathered artifacts and define three primary and four secondary geochemical groups. Our results document ~1,500 years of interaction with notable north-south oriented clines in the prevalence of northern- and southern-sourced stone. For Guam, there is a significant association between two broad artifact categories and local and non-local stone. We propose complementary hypotheses for explaining the procurement and circulation of stone/tools—bet hedging, economic need, and prestige/costly signaling—that may explain different aspects of the current data and provide several avenues for future research.
References
Alkire, W.H. 1978. Coral Islanders. AHM Publishing Corporation: Arlington Heights, Illinois, USA.
Allen, M.S. 2004. Bet-hedging strategies, agricultural change, and unpredictable environments: historical development of dryland agriculture in Kona, Hawaii. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 23(2):196-224. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2004.02.001
Allen, M.S. 2025. Reciprocity, risk, and rivalry: Variability in central East Polynesian exchange networks. Journal of World Prehistory 38. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-025-09189-1
Athens, J.S., Leppard, T.P. 2019. Settlement and subsistence in the remote western Pacific: archaeological and radiocarbon data from Alamagan, Northern Mariana Islands. Journal of Field Archaeology 44(2):109-125. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2019.1571856
Bickler, S. 1997. Early pottery exchange along the south coast of Papua New Guinea. Archaeology in Oceania 32:151-162 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4453.1997.tb00381.x
Brigham, W.T. 1902. Stone implements and stone work of the ancient Hawaiians. Memoirs of the Bernice Pauahi Bishop Museum, 1(4); Bishop Museum Press: Honolulu, USA.
Cardno GS-AECOM Pacific Joint Venture. 2024. Final field report for baseline cultural resources surveys for the Port of Tinian, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Cardno GS-AECOM Pacific Joint Venture.
Carson, M.T. 2011. Palaeohabitat of first settlement sites 1500-1000 B.C. in Guam, Mariana Islands, western Pacific. Journal of Archaeological Science 28:2207-2221. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2011.03.021
Carson, M.T. 2014. First settlement of Remote Oceania. Earliest sites in the Mariana Islands; Springer: New York, USA.
Carson, M.T. 2020. Peopling of Oceania: Clarifying an initial settlement horizon in the Mariana Islands at 1500 BC. Radiocarbon 62(6):1733-1754. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2020.89
Carson, M.T., Kurashina, H. 2012. Re-envisioning long-distance Oceanic migration: Early dates in the Mariana Islands. World Archaeology 44:409-435. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00438243.2012.727342
Carson, M.T., Hung, H., Summerhayes, G, Bellwood, P. 2013 The pottery trail from Southeast Asia to Remote Oceania. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 8(1):17–36. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2012.726941
Chambers, B., Mlyniec, M.C. 2022. Results of archaeological surface and subsurface survey in support of FY20 harden overhead electrical lines circuit P-94 MSA-1, Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., Honolulu, USA.
Chiu, S., Killick, D., Sand, C., Su, Y. 2020. Long-distance Lapita pottery transfers and ancient social relationships: A case study from the St. Maurice-Vatcha (KVO003) Lapit site on Île des Pins, New Caledonia (southern Melanesia). Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 34(A):102641. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2020.102641
Clark, G., Winter, O. 2019 The ceramic trail: Evaluating the Marianas and Lapita west Pacific connection. In Debating Lapita: Distribution, Chronology, Society and Subsistence, editor S. Bedford and M. Spriggs, ANU E Press, Canberra, Australia. pp. 37–60.
Cleghorn, P.L. 1992. A Hawaiian adze sequence or just different kinds of adzes? New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 14:129–149.
Cloud, P.E., Schmidt, R.G., Burke, H.W. 1956. Geology of Saipan, Marianas Islands. U.S. Geological Survey Professional Paper 280-A. U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, D. C., USA
Cochrane, E.E. 2018. The evolution of migration: the case of Lapita in the southwest Pacific. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory 25:520-558. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-017-9345-z
Cochrane, E.E., Rieth, T.M., Filimoehala, D. 2021. The first qualitative assessment of radiocarbon chronologies for initial pottery in Island Southeast Asia supports multi-directional Neolithic dispersal. PLoS One 16(6):e0251407. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0251407
Dickinson, W.R., Butler, B.M., Moore, D.R., Swift, M. 2003 Geologic sources and geographic distribution of sand tempers in prehistoric potsherds from the Mariana Islands. Geoarchaeology: An International Journal 16(8):827-834. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/gea.1023
Dickinson, W.R., Shutler, R. 1979. Petrography of sand tempers in Pacific Islands potsherds: summary. GSA Bulletin 90(11):993-995. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1130/0016-7606(1979)90%3C993:POSTIP%3E2.0.CO;2
Dixon, B. 2002. Archaeological survey of Rota Highway 100, island of Rota, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., Honolulu.
Dixon, B., Dega, M., Moore, D., Amesbury, J.R. 2022. Archaeological research at the early Pre-Latte Period site of San Roque on Saipan (ca. 1500-1100 BC). Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 19:292-311. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2022.2048284
Duff, R. 1945. A revised typology of (Southern) New Zealand Adzes. Journal of the Polynesian Society 54(3) 147–159.
Duff, R. 1970. Stone adzes of Southeast Asia: An illustrated typology. Canterbury Museum Trust Board: Christchurch, New Zealand.
Filimoehala, D., Wiley, T. 2021. Archaeological investigations for the lower base sewer phase 1-lift station force main, Tanapag, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Volume II: archaeological data recovery. International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., Honolulu, USA.
Fitzpatrick, S.M., Dickinson, W.R., Clark, G. 2003. Ceramic petrography and cultural interaction in Palau, Micronesia. Journal of Archaeological Science 30(9):117-1184. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S0305-4403(03)00014-1
Gingerich, S.B. 2003. Hydrologic resources of Guam. U.S. Geological Survey Water-Resources Investigations Report 03-4126.
Glascock, M.D., Braswell, G.E., Cobean, R.H. 1998 A Systematic Approach to Obsidian Source Characterization. In Archaeological Obsidian Studies: Method and Theory, editor M.S. Shackley, Advances in Archaeological and Museum Science, Volume 3, Plenum Press, New York, USA. pp. 15-65.
Glascock, M.D., Neff, H., Moore, D.R. 2023. Compositional characterization of pottery and clays from Guam by NAA. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports 50:104098. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jasrep.2023.104098
Golitko, M., Terrell, J.E. 2012. Mapping prehistoric social fields on the Sepik coast of Papua New Guinea: ceramic compositional analysis using laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Journal of Archaeological Science 39:3568-3580. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.05.037
Graves, M.W., Hunt, T.L, Moore, D. 1990. Ceramic production in the Mariana Islands: Explaining change and diversity in prehistoric interaction and exchange. Asian Perspectives 29(2):211-233.
Hlatky, N.M., Simonds, L.S., Rieth, T.M., Maxwell, J.J. 2023. Archaeological monitoring and data recovery, Art Ridge Village Homes development, lots 1925-NEW-1 and 1925-NEW-R1, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. International Archaeology, LLC, Honolulu, USA.
Hung, H., Carson, M.T., Bellwood, P., Campos, F.Z., Piper, P.J., Dizon, E., Bolunia, M.J.L.A., Oxenham, M., Chi, Z. 2011. The first settlement of Remote Oceania: the Philippines to the Marianas. Antiquity 85(329):909–926. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00068393
Hunter-Anderson, R.L. 2010. Cultural responses to a Late Holocene climatic oscillation in the Mariana Islands, Micronesia: lessons from the past. Human Ecology Review 17:148-159
Kelly, MC.S., Winter, O. 2022. Complexities in the origins of pottery in the Marianas: A comparison of pottery assemblages from the Northern Philippines and the Mariana Islands. Quaternary International. 608:243-262. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2020.10.018
Jennings, C., Weisler, M. and Walter, R. 2023, An archaeological review of Polynesian adze quarries and sources. Archaeology in Oceania, 58: 183-213. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/arco.5297
Leach, H.M., Witter, D. 1987. Tataga-Matau “rediscovered”. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 9:33–54.
Leach, H.M., Witter, D. 1990. Further investigations at the Tataga-matau site, American Samoa. New Zealand Journal of Archaeology 12:51–83.
Liu, Y-C., Hunter-Anderson, R., Cheronet, O., Eakin, J., Camacho, F., Pietrusewsky, M., …, Reich, D. 2022. Ancient DNA reveals five streams of migration into Micronesia and matrilocality in early Pacific seafarers. Science 377:72-79. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/science.abm6536
Lundblad, S.P., Mills, P.R., Hon, K. 2008. Analyzing archaeological basalt using non-destructive energy dispersive X-ray fluorescence (EDXRF): Effects of post-depositional chemical weathering and sample size on analytical precision. Archaeometry. 50(1):1-11. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1475-4754.2007.00345.x
Mangold, G.R. 1998. Chemical characterization and sourcing of Marianas stone artifacts. In Archaeological Excavations in the Uyulan Region of Rota, editor J.L. Craib; Micronesian Archaeological Survey, Report No. 33, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands Division of Historic Preservation, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, pp. 223-242.
McCoy, M.D., Carpenter, J. 2014. Strategies for obtaining obsidian in pre-European contact era New Zealand. PLoS One 9(1):e84302 DOI: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0084302
McCoy, M.D., Mills, P.R., Lundblad, S., Rieth, T., Kahn, J.G., Gard, R. 2011. A surface model of volcanic glass quarrying and exchange in Hawai‘i. Journal of Archaeological Science 38:2547-2560. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2011.04.017
McCoy, P.C. 1977. The Mauna Kea adze quarry project: A summary of the 1975 field investigations. Journal of the Polynesian Society 86(2):223–244.
Meijer, A., and Reagan, M. 1981. Petrology and geochemistry of the island of Sarigan in the Mariana Arc; calc-alkaline volcanism in an oceanic setting. Contributions to Mineralogy and Petrology 77(4):337-354. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00371563
Mills, P.R., Lundblad, S.P. 2014. Current perspectives on Hawai‘i’s stone tool economies. Journal of Pacific Archaeology 5(2): 30–39. DOI: https://doi.org/10.70460/jpa.v5i2.144
Montenegro, Á., Callaghan, R.T., Fitzpatrick, S.M. 2016 Using seafaring simulations and shortest-hop trajectories to model the prehistoric colonization of Remote Oceania. PNAS 113(45):12685–12690. DOI: https://doi:10.1073/pnas.1612426113
Nagaoka, T., Sheppard, P.J. 2021. New information from an old discovery: Geological analysis of a stone adze found on Pohnpei, Micronesia. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 18(1):136–146. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2020.1862369
Nagaoka, T., Sheppard, P.J., Ross-Sheppard, C., Kononenko, N. 2022. Obsidian point discovered on Kapingamarangi Atoll, Micronesia: Implications for post-settlement regional interactions. Waka Kuaka: Journal of the Polynesian Society 131(4):389-426.
Napolitano, M.F., Rieth, T.M. 2026. Archaeological monitoring, testing, and data recovery in support of construction of Mamizu J-755, Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz Skaggs Urban Training Complex, Guam. Volume II: archaeological monitoring. International Archaeology, LLC, Honolulu, USA.
Oda, S. 1981. Stone adzes of the Black Current Region—polished stone adzes of Hachijo Island. Asian Perspectives 24: 97-110.
Oda, S. 1984. Archaeology of the Ogasawara Islands. Asian Perspectives 24:111-138.
Ogburn, D., Sillar, B., Sierra, J.C. 2013. Evaluating effects of chemical weathering and surface contamination on the in situ provenance analysis of building stones in the Cuzco region of Peru with portable XRF. Journal of Archaeological Science 40(4): 1823-1837. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2012.09.023
Perrault, C. 2019. The quality of the archaeological record. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago, USA.
Petchey, F., Clark, G. 2021. Clarifying the age of initial settlement horizon in the Mariana Islands and the impact of hard water. A response to Carson 2020. Radiocarbon 63:905-913. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/RDC.2021.27
Petchey, F., Clark, G., Winter, O., O’Day, P., Lister, M. 2017. Colonisation of Remote Oceania: New dates for the Bapot-1 site in the Mariana Islands. Archaeology in Oceania 52:108-126. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/arco.5108
Petersen, G. Traditional Micronesian societies: Adaptation, integration, and political organization. University of Hawai‘i Press, Honolulu, USA.
Pregill, G.K., Steadman, D.W. 2009. The prehistory and biogeography of terrestrial vertebrates on Guam, Mariana Islands. Diversity and Distributions 15:983-996. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1472-4642.2009.00603.x
Pugach, I., Hübner, A., Hung, H., Meyer, M., Carson, M.T., Stoneking, M. 2020. Ancient DNA from Guam and the peopling of the Pacific. PNAS 118:e2022112118. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2022112118
Reagan, M.K., Hanan, B.B., Heizler, M.T., Hartman, B.S., Hickey-Vargas, R. 2008. Petrogenesis of volcanic rocks from Saipan and Rota, Mariana Islands, and implications for the evolution of nascent island arcs. Journal of Petrology 49(3):441–464. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/petrology/egm087
Reepmeyer, C., Clark, G., Sheppard, P. 2012. Obsidian source use in Tongan prehistory: New results and implications. Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 7(2):255-271. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2011.611858
Richards, M. 2019. Duff’s adze typology vs Polynesian exchanges. Archaeology in Oceania 54(3):173-183.
Rieth, T.M., J.S. Athens. 2019. Late Holocene human expansion into Near and Remote Oceania: A Bayesian model of the chronologies of the Mariana Islands and Bismarck Archipelago. The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology 14(1):5–16. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/15564894.2017.1331939
Rieth, T.M., Meyer, J.H. 2024. Archaeological mitigation in support of MILCON P-715 Live Fire Training Range Complex, Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. Volume II: archaeological data recovery. International Archaeology, LLC, Honolulu, USA.
Rieth, T.M., Simonds, L.S., Napolitano, M.F., Filimoehala, D. 2026. Archaeological monitoring, testing, and data recovery in support of construction of Mamizu J-755, Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz Skaggs Urban Training Complex, Guam. Volume IV: discussion. International Archaeology, LLC, Honolulu, USA.
Ross-Sheppard, C., Sand, C., Balenaivalu, J., Burley, D.V. 2013. Kutau/Bao obsidian—extending its eastern distribution into the Fijian northeast. Journal of Pacific Archaeology 4(2):79-83. DOI: https://doi.org/10.70460/jpa.v4i2.114
Simonds, L.S. 2021. Archaeological investigations for the lower base sewer phase 1-lift station force main, Tanapag, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Volume I: archaeological monitoring. International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., Honolulu, USA.
Simonds, L.S., Filimoehala, D., Rieth, T.M. 2022. Archaeological mitigation in support of MILCON P-715 Live Fire Training Range Complex, Andersen Air Force Base, Guam. Volume I: archaeological monitoring. International Archaeology, LLC, Honolulu, USA.
Simonds, L.S., Filimoehala, C.W., Filimoehala, D., Grant, M., Rieth, T.M. 2021. Results of archaeological surface and subsurface survey in support of MILCON P-608 earth covered magazines, Naval Base Guam Ordnance Annex, West Fena, Guam. International Archaeology, LLC, Honolulu, USA.
Simonds, L.S., Filimoehala, D., Mlyniec, M.C., Knecht, D.P., Rieth, T.M. 2024. Results of archaeological surface and subsurface survey in support of MILCON P-735 multi-purpose machine gun range, Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz, Masone Live Fire Training Range Complex, Guam. International Archaeology, LLC, Honolulu, USA.
Skinner, H.D. 1914. An ancient Maori stone-quarry. Transactions of the New Zealand Institute 46:324–329.
Spengler, S.R., Spencer, K.J., Mahoney, J.J., Coles, G.C. 1994. Geology and geochemical evolution of lavas on the island of Pohnpei. Federated States of Micronesia.
Spoehr, A. 1957 Marianas prehistory: Archaeological survey and excavations on Saipan, Tinian and Rota. Fieldiana Anthropology Volume 48. Chicago Natural History Museum, Chicago, USA.
Swift, M.K., Wickler, S., Athens, J.S. 1991. Archaeological subsurface investigations of the Gentle Breeze, Inc., project area, Achugao, Saipan. International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., Honolulu, USA.
Tomonari-Tuggle, M.J., Rieth, T.M., Tuggle, H.D., Bell, M., Knecht, D. 2018. A Synthesis of Archaeological Inventory and Evaluation Efforts on the Island of Guam. Volume I: Overview and Initial Settlement to AD 1700. International Archaeology, LLC, Honolulu, USA.
Torrence, R., Summerhayes, G.R. 1997. Sociality and the short distance trader: intra-regional obsidian exchange in the Willaumez region, Papua New Guinea. Archaeology in Oceania 32:74-84. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1834-4453.1997.tb00373.x
Vilar, M.G., Chan, C.W., Santos, D.R., Lynch, D., Spathis, R., Garruto, R.M., Lum, J.K. 2013 The origins and genetic distinctiveness of the Chamorros of the Marianas Islands: An mtDNA perspective. American Journal of Human Biology 25(1):116–122. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.22349
Weisler, M. 1997. Prehistoric long-distance interaction at the margins of Oceania. In Prehistoric long-distance interaction in Oceania: An interdisciplinary approach, editor M. Weisler; New Zealand Archaeological Association Monograph 21 pp. 149-172.
Weisler, M.I., Bolhar, R., Chazine, J-M., St. Pierre, E. 2026. Geochemistry of stone tools reveals the crossroads of East Polynesia. Archaeology in Oceania DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/arco.70016
Wickler, S. 1990. Archaeological testing of the C.U.C. underground power cable right-of-way, Garapan, Saipan, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., Honolulu, USA.
Wickler, S., and Rieth, T.M. 2020. Archaeological data recovery and archival research for Route 100, Rota, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., Honolulu, USA.
Winter, O., Clark, G., Anderson, A., Lindahl, A. 2012 Austronesian sailing to the northern Marianas, a comment on Hung et al. Antiquity 86(333):898–910. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00047992
Zedeño, M.N. 1998. Defining material correlates for ceramic circulation in the prehistoric Puebloan Southwest. Journal of Anthropological Research 54(4):461-476. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1086/jar.54.4.3631705
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Timothy M Rieth, Peter R. Mills, Steven P. Lundblad, Lucas Simonds, Darby Filimoehala, Colsen Balai, Matthew Napolitano, Richard Olmo
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
