Ref ID:	31758
Ref Type:	Journal Article
Authors:	McNeill, Judith R.
Title:	Human spear points and speared humans: the procurement, manufacture, and use of bone implements in prehistoric Guam
Date:	2002
Source:	Bulletin of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association
Notes:	Proceedings of the 16th Congress of the Indo-Pacific Prehistory Association, Melaka, Malaysia, 1 to 7 July 1998.
Abstract:	The procurement, manufacture, use, and discard of Mariana Island bone spear points is discussed on the basis of materials excavated from a late prehistoric and early Contact Period cemetery located on east Hagatña Bay on the island of Guam. Excavation of the burials in 1990 uncovered the remains of at least 175 individuals in a tightly compact cluster approximately 125 metres inland from the shore. The cemetery appears to be part of the Latte Period native Chamorro village site of Apotguan. Latte sets at the site were first recorded by Hornbostel in the 1920s and it is likely that the cemetery itself was associated with no longer extant latte sets. The cemetery contained evidence of the removal of bone from selected portions of the human skeletal remains. Found in association with two burials were spear points made of human bone. The use of bone spear points has been documented at other sites in the Mariana Islands and is noted in early Spanish accounts of contacts with the native inhabitants. However the Apotguan cemetery burials provide the best information to date regarding raw material procurement, methods of manufacture, and ways in which these tools may have been used. This evidence will be presented in detail and compared with evidence from other archaeological and burial sites in the Mariana Islands.
Date Created:	10/19/2003
Volume:	22
Page Start:	175
Page End:	180