<< Other Photo Pages >> House of Taga - Sculptured Stone in Pacific Islands
Submitted by bat400 on Thursday, 28 November 2013 Page Views: 7436
Multi-periodSite Name: House of TagaCountry: Pacific Islands
NOTE: This site is 126.077 km away from the location you searched for.
Type: Sculptured Stone
Nearest Village: San Jose, Tinian
Latitude: 14.967000N Longitude: 145.621900E
Condition:
5 | Perfect |
4 | Almost Perfect |
3 | Reasonable but with some damage |
2 | Ruined but still recognisable as an ancient site |
1 | Pretty much destroyed, possibly visible as crop marks |
0 | No data. |
-1 | Completely destroyed |
5 | Superb |
4 | Good |
3 | Ordinary |
2 | Not Good |
1 | Awful |
0 | No data. |
5 | Can be driven to, probably with disabled access |
4 | Short walk on a footpath |
3 | Requiring a bit more of a walk |
2 | A long walk |
1 | In the middle of nowhere, a nightmare to find |
0 | No data. |
5 | co-ordinates taken by GPS or official recorded co-ordinates |
4 | co-ordinates scaled from a detailed map |
3 | co-ordinates scaled from a bad map |
2 | co-ordinates of the nearest village |
1 | co-ordinates of the nearest town |
0 | no data |
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A group of twelve 15 foot high latte stones, attributed to feat of personal strength of a legendary/mythological Chief Taga.
Only one remains intact and standing. The first recorded sketch of the stones (showing them upright) was made by a crew member of Anson's 1742 visit to Tinian. The stones have been sourced to a quarry less than a mile from the site.
Archaeological excavation indicate occupation of the site much earlier than the construction of the House of Taga latte, with pottery, stone tools and food debris dating to 1500 BC.
Latte stones are quarried or found cylindrical or slab bases with a separate semi-hemispherical coral or stone top. They ranged in size from a meter to a little over 5 meters tall, with the ones at the House of Taga being among the largest known. They are almost always found in pairs. This supports oral tradition at the time that the islanders encountered Europeans indicating that the flat topped latte were used as the foundations of wooden and thatch houses, but they were no longer being used for this building purpose by the 18th C. Latte also served as a gathering place, and as the focus of burials.
Although the earliest latte were created around 1500AD, the form was rapidly abandoned as the first Europeans reached the Pacific. Latte (or ladte) are found throughout the Marianas Islands and are considered to be part of the prehistoric Chamorro culture. Today the stones are considered part of modern Chamorro identity and appear on the Northern Marianas Islands' flag, and modern concrete versions are used as decorative elements in modern buildings.
National Register of Historic Places, #74002193.
Note: Archaeologist says migration to Marianas longest ocean-crossing in human history. See comments.
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