On Sept. 28, 2024, the Guam State Historic Preservation Office will host a reinterment ritual aboard Skaggs Urban Training Complex, Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz (formally Andersen South). The ritual will include the reinterment of ancestral bone fragments found during cultural resource investigations in Mokfok, Dededo.
During the construction of the Urban Training Complex, archeologists discovered five sites each with at least one burial dating to the Latte Period. All CHamoru burials at Mokfok were preserved in place, and construction projects were redesigned to avoid burial sites.
At the site of the reinterment ceremony, archeologists discovered 14 unique grave pits, which include at least one infant and multiple children, adolescents, and adults. The site is preliminarily dated to the Latte Period.
All bone fragments discovered outside of a burial context will be wrapped in muslin and placed in woven baskets before being reinterred amongst the burials.
In 2021 and 2024, the Guam State Historic Preservation Office hosted three separate cultural rituals to honor the ancestors laid to rest at Sabånan Fadang and rebury the discovered sites at the Camp Blaz main cantonment area.
Members of the media are asked to RSVP attendance with the COMMSTRAT Office at diann.rosenfeld.mil@usmc.mil no later than Friday, Sept. 27, 11 a.m.
Media members who RSVP will be sent a pin to the meet up location at the entrance of the Skaggs Urban Training Complex. Media members are asked to arrive Saturday, Sept. 28 no later than 9:30 a.m. for escort to the ceremony site.
| Date Taken: | 09.25.2024 |
| Date Posted: | 09.24.2024 18:17 |
| Story ID: | 481672 |
| Location: | DEDEDO, GU |
| Web Views: | 17 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Mokfok Mañaina Reinterment, by MAJ Diann Rosenfeld, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
