Earliest evidence of rice cultivation in Remote Oceania: Ritual use by the first islanders in the Marianas 3500 years ago

Abstract

Rice was a staple crop in the ancestral Austronesian regions of Taiwan and Island Southeast Asia, but it was unknown in any of the Pacific Islands at the time of European encounters, with the exception of the unique case of Guam and the Mariana Islands. Through multiple methodologies, including phytolith analysis, micro–computed tomography scanning, and thin-section petrography, this recent research confirms the presence of abundant rice husk and leaf phytoliths adhering to red-slipped pottery (“Marianas Red”) at the Ritidian Site Complex in Guam, dated by radiocarbon to 3500 to 3100 years ago. This study addresses the long-standing question of whether the first Pacific Islanders transported rice with them from the Philippines across 2300 kilometers of open sea, representing the longest known ocean voyage of the time. During this early period, rice was restricted to special ritual events in the Marianas. The early voyage apparently was planned with provisions of rice at 3500 years ago.