| Abstract: |
A United States military exercise, code-named Tandem Thrust, was scheduled to be conducted on Tinian in July 1993. In compliance with Section 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act, archaeologists from Ogden Environmental and Energy Services, under contract to the US Navy, Pacific Division, Naval Facilities Engineering Command, conducted archaeological surveys and subsurface testing of areas within the military lease lands towards the northern end of the island of Tinian, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI) (Craib 1993). Archaeological survey along the northwest coast indicated the presence of six sites. Test excavations revealed that five of these were first inhabited during the last few centuries of prehistory. However, one of the sites, Unai Chulu, has provided a suite of radiocarbon dates and an archaeological assemblage which points to an occupation of this portion of Tinian by 2700-3100 BP and possibly earlier.
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