Ancient remains found in Beach Road dig

Workers contracted to replace the sewer line underneath Beach Road in Chalan Kanoa found more than a stretch of old pipes this past Saturday, as the crew halted operations when they discovered human remains across the street from the Bank of Saipan.

Archeologists from Swift and Harper Archeologists and Research Consultants were on hand yesterday afternoon, meticulously brushing, sifting, and cataloging the remains before completing the excavation. They believe the remains are that of an ancient Chamorro.

Guam Pacific Power Corp. was contracted by the Commonwealth Utilities Corp. to carry out the sewer line project and they, in turn, contracted SHARC to monitor the dig for just such an occasion.

“We’ve been monitoring the sewer project since the beginning. For each piece of equipment they have for digging, we have an archeologist on site because you never know,” said archeologist Randy Harper.

The archeologists believe the remains to be from a young Chamorro male due to the shape of the greater sciatic notch on the pelvis, and that all but the wisdom teeth were stained in the ancient tradition, indicating the possible age of the individual.

Though the remains still have to be sent for carbon dating, archeologist Marilyn Swift said that based upon preliminary assessments, SHARC believes the bones to be from anywhere between the 16th and 17th centuries.

According to Swift, SHARC believes that they may have found the ancient village of Catanhuda, due to the increase in the frequency of finds and that the bodies were missing their leg bones.

This was not the first find that SHARC has attended to during the dig, as Swift said that the team has recovered a number of remains and artifacts throughout the roadside project, and she expects to find more as well.

Aside from the skeletal remains, the crew found an assortment of shells, ceramic items, and various other items, including an ancient gorge fish hook found by Noel Quitigua of the CNMI Museum. While sifting through some of the loose earth from the pre-historic layer beneath the street, Quitigua discovered the fishing implement, which he believes to be made of mother of pearl.

After being excavated, all of the items will be cataloged and either tested locally or shipped off to off-island centers for research in order to find out more about the mysterious past of the local people before World War II.

According to Swift, the process can take anywhere from six months to a little over a year, following which the human remains will be sent to the Historical Preservation Office, while everything else will be delivered to the CNMI museum.

SHARC continued working at the site until all items were removed; the construction is scheduled to resume today.