Latte stones are stone pillars-foundations of ancient buildings in Guam and on the southern islands of the Northern Mariana Islands.
There are quite a few of them throughout Guam. Sometimes they are identified with the moai of Easter Island. They are columns of limestone, basalt or sandstone. Their height ranges from 60 cm to 3 meters, sometimes there are specimens up to 8 meters.
Lattes are thought to have been in use since about 800 AD. e. They were widespread until the arrival of the expedition of F. Magellan in 1521 and subsequent Spanish colonization. Since about 1700 they have been discontinued.
There are a number of legends associated with these structures. A number of scientists are inclined to believe that these stones could not only be the foundations of ancient houses, but also stones were used by the Chamorro for some other purpose.
Latte stone images are featured on the flag and coat of arms of the Northern Mariana Islands.
The island of Guam is interesting in that the indigenous population has survived here - the Chamorro people, who appeared in the Pacific region more than 4 thousand years ago. This is not the case, for example, in the countries of the Caribbean region, where the indigenous people - the Arawak and Caribbean Indians - were completely destroyed and subsequently replaced by blacks brought by the colonialists from Africa to work on plantations. Of course, the current Chamorros are not identical to those that lived here thousands of years ago, as they mingled with the Filipinos, Indonesians and other peoples; nevertheless, their culture has survived in Guam.
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It is believed that the first settlers came to the island from Southeast Asia through Indonesia in boats called proa. It is difficult to imagine such a thing if you look at the fragile ships and imagine a path more than 3 thousand km from the coast of the mainland. Do not forget that in those days there were no maps, GPS-navigators and seawater desalination plants. Such voyages of ancient sailors command respect and seem to be a real miracle.
The Proas were very long and narrow, so for balance, a log was attached to the windward side, acting as a balance bar. It should be noted that similar boats of other peoples usually had two balancers, and for some reason the Chamorro decided to do with one. The sail was triangular and rectangular. Thanks to their device, they developed a speed of up to 25 knots (46 km / h), which is quite fast for moving in an aquatic environment even now. Proas could accommodate up to 30 rowers. Boats of a similar design are still used today. Those who wish can rent modern proas, reminiscent of long kayaks with one balancer on the left side.
The ancient Chamorro were sailors and fishermen, which is typical of the island peoples. Initially, the settlers lived in caves, eating fish, bananas, and breadfruit. Archaeological finds also indicate that they were engaged in pottery, weaving and agriculture, growing rice and yams. There were fewer women than men, so matriarchy flourished.
Later, the Chamorro began to build houses, and most of all, the architectural features of their homes are surprising. If a European is asked what latte is, he will confidently answer that it is a type of coffee drink, when cream, milk and a portion of espresso are mixed in a large glass. Chamorra latte are stone pillars for a house, carved from limestone with a stone hemisphere at the top. Outwardly, they resemble giant mushrooms. Their height ranges from 1 to 6 meters. The pillars were placed in parallel rows, 3-7 in each row. On top of the columns, a wooden flooring was laid, on which a peaked roof was erected, covered with reeds or palm leaves. Scholars believe latte was used in construction from 1100 to 1700.
Building a dwelling high above the ground is a common and understandable phenomenon for the islanders. In Jakarta, the capital of neighboring Indonesia, there is the Little Indonesia Park, which recreates the homes of Aboriginal people inhabiting numerous islands. Most dwellings are built on high piles for flood or animal protection. The Chamorrans used not piles, but stone columns. Perhaps they had a lot of free time, and in order to fill it, they "cut" the pillars of limestone. But why was it necessary to pile on a column a huge stone hemisphere, which obviously reduced the stability of the dwelling, is incomprehensible to the mind!
Real latte can now be seen in the memorial park of Senator Angelo Leon Guerrero Santos. Eight stone "mushrooms" were found in the south of the island in the Mepu region and transported to the capital Hagatnu. The latte stone has become a symbol of Guam. A huge concrete monument "Latte of Freedom" with a diameter of 6 m was erected near the Governor's Hall and the Museum of Guam. Newlyweds love to come here for photo shoots. The monument has an observation deck with a magnificent view of the coast.
To get a better idea of the ancient culture of the islanders, you should visit the Chamorro Gef Pago cultural and historical complex, opened in the middle of the last century. It was built in the form of a traditional village where bread was baked in ovens and ropes were woven by women by hand. At the entrance to the complex there is a monument to the leader of Gadao, who, according to legend, challenged the leader of Tumon to a duel. It was not a battle, but an unusual competition - both leaders got into the same boat and began to row in opposite directions. Both were so strong that they tore the boat in half. The sculptor depicted Gadao as a rower. Not far away - on the shore of Inarayan Bay - there is the cave of the leader Gadao, where the old legend of the duel is "told" by rock paintings.
Latte stones were used as the foundations over which the ancient people built their Chamorro houses. The houses were built of wood and had a characteristic A-shaped thatched roof. These houses were usually built for high-ranking members of the community or upper caste families in the village, although some of the largest Latte Stones were found on the island of Guam, where the lower castes lived.
The elevated flooring of the houses, which were supported by Latte stones, appeared to provide residents with shelter from flooding, as well as keeping the buildings cool and dry by allowing air to circulate under the house. Also, such floors made it possible to relax under the house in the shade or keep the workspace in the shade. However, the shape of the Latte stones is rather strange.
Archaeologists speculate that this shape of the stones may have acted as a shock absorber and protected buildings during an earthquake. The expanding cup on the top of the rocks may have acted as a barrier for crabs and vermin trying to climb into the house from the ground.
The construction of the Latte stones may also have been influenced by social customs. This assumption can be made from the discovery of human burials near latte stones located near the coastline.
Latte stones are believed to have been erected since 800 AD. until the 1700s of our era. By this time, the Spanish colonization of the Mariana Islands began, and many of the buildings on the Latte stones were destroyed by the invaders. Foreign disease and war have wiped out the indigenous elite of Guam and the rest of the population of the Mariana Islands. Then the Spanish authorities imposed a reform process on the local population, as a result of which they tried to teach the Chamorro people a European way of life.
One of the largest Latte stones ever laid, lies unfinished in the Pota Latte quarry.
The Mariana Islands were inhabited around 1500 BC. e. the Chamorro tribes, which have close cultural ties with the modern population of Guam. The name of the island itself comes from the word Chamorro, which can be roughly translated as "we have." It was the sailors of antiquity, akin to the modern Polynesian peoples, who intensively explored the Mariana Islands together with the Chamorro - immigrants from the islands of Southeast Asia, installing the famous latte stones up to 6 meters high everywhere (many researchers find in them much in common with the famous moai of the island Easter).
Fernand Magellan was the first of the Europeans who landed in the Gulf of Umatak in 1521. Local residents provided the crew with food and access to fresh water, according to ancient tradition, taking in return everything they could find on the ship. This angered the Spaniards, and before leaving, they killed seven local residents and burned 40 buildings, and Guam itself, along with neighboring islands, was named Isla de los Ladrones (Islands of thieves). In the middle of the 17th century, the islands were renamed Las Marianas by the Spanish priest Luis Diego Sanvitores in honor of the Spanish queen Anne Maria of Austria. In 1668, Sanvitores and five Jesuit missionaries opened the first mission in the Mariana Islands, sparking a twenty-year war between the Chamorro and Europeans. A string of bloody uprisings at the end of the 17th century, along with outbreaks of influenza and smallpox, sharply (almost 20 times) reduced the number of Chamorro, after which workers from the Philippines and China began to be intensively imported to the island.
After the defeat of Spain in the Spanish-American War of 1898, Guam, along with Puerto Rico and the Philippines, came under US control. The island became the only American territory occupied by the Japanese in World War II - having captured it in 1941, they were knocked out only after fierce battles at the end of 1944. And today the American presence in Guam is very strong - more than half of the island's infrastructure works to service US military bases. The American military made it famous as one of the best resort areas in the region, famous for its turquoise waters, white sandy shores and mild climate. Today Guam has the best facilities for serving tourists in Micronesia, the richest duty-free shops and the most developed marine infrastructure in the region. As a result, Guam has become one of the main tropical resorts in the Pacific Ocean basin, teeming with luxury hotels, golf and dive clubs, fashionable restaurants and beautiful beaches.