Early occupation at Unai Chulu, Tinian, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands

Refining Earliest Settlement in Remote Oceania: Renewed Archaeological Investigation at Unai Bapot, Saipan

“…At sites such as Achugao, Chalan Piao, and Unai Chulu, vertically compressed deposits had presented an impression that the decorated pottery was of equal age and duration as the earliest Marianas redware (Amesbury et al 1996;Butler 1994;Craib 1993;Haun et al 1999;Moore et al 1992).…”

“…Other than the new data from Unai Bapot, the oldest occupation layers in the Marianas have been dated as early as 2000-1500 BC, but additional radiocarbon dates from the same deposits could be as late as 500-400 BC (Amesbury et al 1996;Butler 1994Butler , 1995Craib 1993;Haun et al 1999). Prior to the new data reported here, the archaeologically documented pottery and other material culture in the region had been most confidently lumped in a category of at least 1000 years duration, approximately 1500-500 BC.…”

The Pottery Trail From Southeast Asia to Remote Oceania

“…Tracing the pottery trail from the Philippines into Oceania, an unexpected connection has been confirmed in the Mariana Islands of far western Micronesia (Butler 1994;Craib 1993). This connection is unexpected because of the isolated location of the Marianas, seemingly separate from the Lapita phenomenon in the Bismarcks of Near Oceania.…”

Stable isotopic analysis of prehistoric human diet in the Mariana Islands, western Pacific

“…The Marianas were first settled around 3500 BP (Butler 1994;Craib 1993). There was a significant increase in population sometime after AD 500 with dramatic increases after AD 1000, during the late prehistoric or Latte period, AD 1000 -1521 (Moore 1988;Hanson and Butler 1997).…”