By Rudolph Villaverde. Eons ago, Guam's seafaring culture uniquely practiced celestial navigation without compass, sextant, or charts. Location, time, weather patterns and ocean currents were approximated from the rising and setting of stars, the sun, moon, wave sizes, presence of birds and migration of sea creatures. By the time of Christ, Micronesian maritime navigators were trading thoughout Oceania populating a quarter of the Earth's surface. A remnant of that past -- the Star Map pictograph discovered at the Ritidian caves of Northern Guam location: N13.64892 E 144.85620 spurred worldwide attention in 1999. The Star Map can be deciphered using a Traditional Navigational tool called the Micronesian Star Compass (also called the sidereal compass). The sidereal compass, still utilized today is bounded by 16 months of unequal length which were each named for a star (or constellation). A month begins when its star stands about 45 degrees above the eastern horizon just before dawn. These stars are navigational beacons and are incorporated into ritual memorization of stars appearing above different islands when viewed from different locations. The cave is a sacred burial site with pottery found outside dating before 1500 BC. Father Charles Le Gobien, of the Society of Jesus Paris 1700 wrote, "It was the custom of the Chamorros to bury their dead in caves designated for this purpose and their obstinacy in this matter was very strong. They did not want to be separated from their ancestors, they said, and it was their duty to be united to them after death." The cave drawings were executed with painted fingers in a cave with no illumination. In exhibit are large complex charcoal images drawn alongside others executed in mineral pigments of reddish-brown pottery clay and white quicklime (calcium hydroxide) known as åfok. Those who manufacture Quicklime say that it is prepared by intense heating of limestone rocks on a bonfire for a week thereby driving off the CO2 until the rocks are reduced to white powdery ashes. Within the cave are our 1st glimpse of Chamorro star constellations expressed as images projected directly to the ground. In other words, the paintings are the shadows of real constellations [just as how your shadow is created by the sun]. Left becomes right and Right becomes Left as illustrated by the orion constellation cave painting at the bottom of this page. Pictographs which are drawn in importance using size. The most significant constellation pictographs are the largest. For the first time, we can relearn the existence of these constellations lost and forgotten as a result of massive population decimation during the Chamorro-Spanish War. Historian Benigno Palomo noted that the First official Spanish Census of Guam (Guahan) and Rota taken in 1710 indicated that there were 3,143 natives and 471 Spanish/mestizos left. The sacred site elicits feelings of veneration. The images within the Star Cave are cave drawings taken directly from heavenly bodies. Unlike, the Gadao or Talofofo Caves, the images are not symbolic pictographs of esoteric concepts but are drawn directly from nature and are interpreted scientifically and qualitatively. For the first time ever, we reach back a thousand years to undertake a dialog with our Chamorro ancestors when they attempted to conceptualize a major stellar event on the cave walls. A net is cast by reconstructing the purpose of the painted images inspired by Chamorro spirits of navigation of an uncommon stellar event interpreted by the palus or master navigators. The conclusion below is only of the author, R. Villaverde, but built beyond the work of researchers as Dr. Vince Diaz, Rosina Iping, and others.

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Entrance to Ritidian Ancestral Burial Grounds at the base of a cliff. Click here.	Mortars carved into limestone base for pulverization of clay, afok or charcoal into powder for paint. Click to Enlarge.	Entrance to Starcave Limestone Complex with passageways to concealed chambers
Timeless, haunting, mystery-filled pair of elevated passageways framed by dripping stalactites.	Handprint of Manmakahna using red clay pigments on threshold entrance.	Shadow projection of Orion constellation [left is right and visa versa]. Orion bounds the sky South of the supernova and Taurus. Provocatively, its latte shape also coincides the beginning of the Latte Period.
Chinese Astronomers report that the exploding star Crab Supernova of Taurus on July 4 1054 AD was reddish white with pointed rays in 4 directions and visible in daylight for 23 days in China.	Pictograph drawn 50 years prior to crab supernova explosion. Shadow image (left is right, right is left) of headless constellation uncannily matches Orion (characteristic bent leg) with crab Supernova directly above it and Aldeberan to the side. In reality The pictograph describes another supernova 50 years before the crab explosion.	Constellation Orion as interpreted by Guam Chamorro Navigators 1000 years ago.
Adult handprint in red clay. Since navigation & star identification is a male activity, the author may have been a male palu (navigator).	The Chamorros have a 2nd Calander not based on stars but on 13 moon cycles for planting. There are earlier extraordinary stellar events, documented on the cave walls.	STAR CALANDER! The vertical line of 16 stars intersect the horizontal line of 16 stars right after the 6th star Aldebaran. The injection of a new dot between the 6th and 7th star points to the location of the supernova.
Hearth for heating food and pottery outside and far away from cave. Click to Enlarge.	Pictograph of small rectangle gemini constellation occurring east of crab supernova. This is a mirror image left is right, right is left	Five feet in front of the Star Calander is a pictograph of 6 stars and a cluster of 10 stars. Interpreted, it means that the line of 16 stars is deliberately drawn to separate the 6th star aldebaran from the remaining 10 stars of the sidereal compass.

The most prominant feature of the primary star pictograph ABOVE is the absence of the circular representation of the primary navigational stars of merek keiky or "unfolding the mat of knowledge" where 32 coral lumps are arranged in a circle [or rectangle] to show the major axes or {16 star rising/ 16 star setting} relationships. This is the first major hint that the stellar subject of the cave drawing is not directly focusing on the stars critical to navigation or that the theme is not navigation per se. The vertical column of the StarCave Calendar intersects the bottom row on the 6th star. The painter is attempting to convey a significant event. The 6th star in the Star Compass {from the "numbering of the stars process called Paafu"} is named Uul. Uul is the star Aldebaran located R.A. 4:35:55.23 Declination: +24:6:18. Aldebaran marks the red eye of the Constellation Taurus the Bull. According to the book 'The Last Navigator', a navigational technique of Morellifu "or the fighting of stars" pegs Aldeberan or Uul as the month of "JULY" -- A Month for turtles, fishing, breadfruit and good winds. An ancient Guam legend of Camel Rock published in the books "Legends of Guam" by Guam Public Schools and "Hemplon Nana Siha" by Chamorro Affairs Govt of Guam, narrates the sudden appearance of a bright star extrapolated to rose above the horizon at 2 a.m. heralding the 2nd prehistory invasion of Guam -- by a group of star navigators seeking a footprint on new lands under auspices of the existing indigeneous inhabitants of the the Sinahe Archipelago called the Marianas Isles. Postulated from the legend, historians considered these visitors to be the builders of the Latte monuments. According to the book Tiempon I Manmofo'na ... radiocarbon C14 dating of latte stone sites placed the origins of the Latte Period at 1000 A.D. The massive and rapid spread of latte stones was denoted as beginning appearing on 1100A.D. throughout the Marianas archipelego. This date is concurred by the book "Destiny's Landfall" by Rogers pg.33 "Prelatte Period, which lasted up until between A.D. 800 and A.D. 1000, and a Latte Period thereafter". Because of trade and navigation, Guahan or Guam may have been known and visited during the prelatte period. The search for the famed "dinagi laolao" star near AD 1000 {occuring in the month of "July" based on the Ritidian Star Cave} marking the manifestation of major cultural changes and spreading of the Latte site settlements could now be answered. Rudolph Villaverde 2002mar03. Thus far, we have found out that: The stellar event painted on the Ritidian Cave occured in the Vicinity of the Aldeberan star in Taurus on the month of "JULY". Based on legend, close to the year 1000A.D. The Latte Period not only introduced the latte stone monolith, and rice to the Marianas but caused transitional changes in the pottery. According to Al Lizama (archeologist), it introduced betelnut stains on the teeth of latte ancestral remains. Dr. Gary Heathcote indicated that sculpted hash markings on teeth from one Tumon site dated during the Latte Period. The anecdotal evidence of cultural influence heralds some new physical change in the character of the navigation society on Guam. The micronesian star compass, also called the sidereal star compass, is the key to deciphering the Guam Ritidian Star pictograph. The 6th star from the North Star Polaris is called Uul i.e. Aldebaran the red eye of Taurus. Each constellation is drawn by its increasing distance away from celestial North. Below Aldebaran's latitude on the compass, are 3 stars belonging to Aquila the eagle easily located as it is bounded to the North by a big Northern Cross (Cygnus the Swan) and to the South by Sagitarius. Aquila is visible on the Western morning July Sky. The 3 stars of Aquila the eagle are part of the Micronesian Constellation called the Big Bird which rises almost true east and decends almost true west. The 7th star gamma aquila and 9th star beta aquila are the wings of Aquila the Eagle visible in the Western July morning sky. Taurus's Aldebaran and Pleaides rises on the East July Morning sky. The twin counterpart stars of gamma and beta aquila marking East and West in the July Sky near Taurus are Bellatrix a star of Orion and Procyon of Canis Minor [according to the book "East is a Big Bird"]. Shadow projection {left becomes right and visa versa} Crescent waning 4th quarter moon of July 4, 1054. The crab supernova is above it. Constellation shadow projection of Taurus [left is right & visa versa]. A V like star arrangement with 3 pairs of stars converging on a point. A very dark square [symbolic for star magnitude] is emphasized on the tip of the Southern horn on the star zeta Tauri. This is the location of the Crab Super Nova. The V like Pictograph is bisected by the ecliptic or path of the sun. Handprint signifies sacred event. On May 10 1054, 6 p.m. a magnificent Total Solar Eclipse occurred with the constellation Taurus located behind an awesome orange setting Sun. This is the only time for a young crab supernova to debut visually prior to July 4, 1054. Click to Enlarge. A very significant image fronting the star calander on the cave ceiling 5 feet in front and to the northeast is a drawing of a cluster of 6 stars and a separate cluster of 10 stars. As a matter of interpretation, the "ground-zero" event image of 16 stars is the focus of this cave illustration where the ancient astronomer desires it interpreted as a division of two elements i.e. the 6th star aldebaran and the remaining rising cluster of 10 stars of the sidereal star compass. The main Calander is two dimensional. The navigator / astronomer may have had to express one vertical axis showing the latitude of the event; and one horizontal axis showing the celestial position of the event on the star compass. The vertical chart of 16 dots continues downward converging or intersecting with the horizontal star chart. The horizontal chart is 17 dots total. One dot is contributed by the vertical chart so it is really 16 evenly spaced stars of the sidereal star compass. The 2 charts intersect to the right of the sidereal 6th star called Uul (marking July) or Aldebaran in Taurus. The injection of an extra dot from the vertical chart means we are referring to the creation of a brand new 'guest' star and not really Aldebaran but close to it. It isn't between the 5th dot pleiades and Aldebaran. Rather, it is on the other side of aldebaran. The sidereal star compass was made to locate islands and sea lane routes. Its adaptation to pinpoint a stellar event in the heavens exceeds its design. Consequently, the cave painter ingeniously modified the geometry of the compass to allow documentation of the event in the sky. We now pause momentarily to explain that the 7th star of the sidereal compass is Gamma Aquila, the 8th star is Altair, and the Ninth star is Beta Aquilae are all part of one Micronesian constellation called "The Big Bird". This is known by the rest of civilization as Aquilae the Eagle. Altair rises and sets 7 degrees north of the equator but bears almost true east when it rises on the horizon. Gamma and Beta Aquilae are its wings. In July, The Eagle lies in the West Morning Sky. On the East Morning July sky where Taurus lies, navigators look to Gamma and Beta Aquilae's twin counterpart stars called Bellatrix of the Constellation Orion and Procyon of Canis minor [according to the book "East is a Big Bird"]. Very simply put, the original star explosion occurred in an area between Aldeberan and Bellatrix but closer to Aldeberan in Taurus. To reiterate: Thus far, the pictograph reveals 1. The stellar location of a major ancient event in the heavens (near Aldebaran on the side of Orion's ) star Bellatrix, 2. The month, July 'Uul' of the occurance and 3. the year (between 1000-1100 AD based on legend and C14 dating of the start of the Latte Period). The new dot of the star calander which was injected by the intersection of the vertical and horizontal lines lies (longitude-wise in the real sky) between Aldebaran (the red eye of Taurus) and in the horizontal direction of Bellatrix (a star of orion the hunter which substitutes for gamma Aquilae in the East July Morning Sky). This preliminary approximation marks the location of a great supernova stellar explosion which later formed the Crab Nebula also called M1 or Messier Object Number One. If you desire to visually inspect Pleaides, Taurus' primary red star Aldebaran plus the crab nebula i.e. exploded remnant neutron star called M1, Click this line to visually inspect this stellar region. This interpretation is strongly supported by the existence of an actual cave illustration {shadow projection} of the V-like Taurus constellation with a darken emphasized square [symbolic for star magnitude] drawn on the tip of the southern horn star i.e. zeta tauri which was the approximate location of the Crab Supernova. The location of the supernova is also depicted by the orion pictograph with the crab supernova above it. This ancient Supernova star explosion started as a red giant star which cooled to a point that its gravity imploded its core into a spinning neutron star (30 rpms/sec). The outer crust was blown off creating a star explosion which illuminated the daytime sky for 23 days starting on July 04, 1054 A.D. (4 times brighter than venus as documented by Chinese astronomers) emitting more culmulative energy than a whole galaxy. X-ray Nasa picture of exploded crab supernova with remnant neutron star or pulsar in center of nebula. Color encoded photo of exploded Crab Supernova Remnant via Very Large Telescope (VLT) Interferometricarray from European Southern Observatory. Illustrated starmap of location of crab supernova near orion and taurus constellations. It is important to note that on the first cave chamber on its east side is stone column with a charcoal shadow projection image {left becomes right and visa versa} of a waning 4th quarter crescent moon with a star drawn above it. Because åfok or quicklime takes a week of burning coral to manufacture and red clay is found on Mount Santa Rosa and also in Yigo's Peace Memorial Park but may take days to extract, charcoal is the quickest pigment to procure to immediately draw the appearance of the supernova in relation to the moon. According to a nasa moon website a waning 4th quarter crescent moon occurs on July 4th 1054. Sightings of this moon phase and supernova was dated by the the Chinese despite bad weather. Click here. This catastrophic event may have been profound enough for the Chamorro navigators (whose entire life had been spent memorizing the heavens) to record in pictographs as did other cultures as the Chinese, Japanese, Arabs, Europeans and ancient American Indians who recorded a similar crescent waning moon in Petrographs paintings at New Mexico's Chaco Canyon near Penansco Blanco ruin. On the cave column is a red pigment drawing of the May 10, 1054 6 p.m. Total Solar Eclipse. Taurus being a zodiac sign, is exactly behind the giant orange setting sun at that instant. The Crab Supernova may be just beginning and makes its debut appearance near the Eclipse. The Guiness Book of World Records stresses that the duration of a solar eclipse never exceeds 7 minutes 30 seconds. If seen by man for those 7 minutes, the new guest star may have been brighter than the eclipsing sun and moon and could have been first sighted there. The supernova attains a mystical status in the eyes of a chamorro Manmakana, "Gi langhet tumunok inina puti'on". The Crab Supernova [click for x-ray picture] (Right Ascension 05:34.5(h:m) Declination +22:01 (deg:m) near the star Aldeberan in the Constellation of Taurus the Bull was noted in the Legend of Camel Rock. It was visible to the Chinese astronomers at night to the naked eye for about 653 days i.e. but nevertheless less than 2 years. The Inspiration for the Ritidian Star Chart It is now clear that the linear nature of the Cave Star Chart is owed to the horizon line whereupon stars rise and fall. The horizontal axis of the pictograph was an attempt to show the month and location of the event as the star aldeberan rises above the horizon and precedes the rising of the crab supernova. Here is teinterpretation for the vertical axis of the star calander: As you can see, the bottom star of the 1st vertical line of 6 dots (aldeberan) and the bottom star of the 2nd vertical line of 5 dots (pleaides) intersect the vertical line of 16 stars on the 5th position (Pleiades). What this means that if we are on the Ritidian Beach and mark a pointer on the beach pointing to the morning horizon where pleaides (5th dot) rises, we wait for awhile until (Aldeberan) shows up on the horizon. When this happens, you will find that the marker on the beach will be pointing exactly to the Crab Supernova. In other words, the latitude of the supernova {declination 22 degrees away from polaris the north star} is almost the same latitude {declination 24 degrees} as the pleiades constellation. Check the latitude of M1 Crab Nebula with the Pleiades Constellation to confirm this by clicking this cartesian star map 171k and trace with your fingers the vertical position of these bodies. To reiterate, the reason why the star map is naturally linear is because it uses the ocean horizon of Ritidian Guam as its model to locate the approximate latitude of the Supernova. Rudolph Villaverde rev5@uog9.uog.edu Aug 24,2000 In Summary, The pictograph reveals: 1. The stellar location of a major ancient event in the heavens (near Aldebaran on the Orion side), 2. The month, July 'Uul' of the occurance and 3. the year (between 1000-1100 AD based on legend of the landing of refugee seafarers and the acceleration of prolific monolithic building (C14 dating) of the Latte Period). 4. The duration of the Crab Supernova explosion (less than 2 years). 5. The Phase of the Moon (waning 4th quarter crescent) of July 4, 1054. 6. The Northern latitude of the event [roughly approximate to latitude of the rising Pleiades constellation which leads to the location of the M1 Crab Supernova. 7. The exploded star location was revealed by a red clay cave drawing of the Taurus constellation where the magnitude of the southern horn-tip star zeta tauri was emphasized by a dark square. 8. Further supporting this observation is a pictograph of the May 10, 1054 total solar eclipse where the constellation Taurus is behind the setting orange sun and with the young Crab Supernova debuting near the eclipse (being brighter than both the moon and sun) for 7 minutes. 9. The location of the supernova was also revealed by a pictograph of the supernova directly to the north of Orion. 10. The linear 2 axis pictograph called the 'star calander' mapped the supernova location based on the Sideral Micronesian Star Compass. 11. The explosion was observed by the Chinese which supported the date of July 4, 1054 and The Anastazi Indians of Chaco Canyon New Mexico who drew the phase of the Moon during that event concomittantly to the Chamoru version within the Ritidian Cave. Final Comment: Click above image to see the Guam sky 4am July 4, 1054ad. The supernova was bounded to the west by the Taurus pictograph and crescent moon pictograph. It was bounded to the east by the Gemini pictograph It was bounded to the south by Orion. Without the benefit of a written language, our Chamorro ancestors successfully conveyed the meaning of a remarkable event lost for a thousand years but rediscovered because of navigational tools we have relearned from the Puluwatese. A remarkable history of celestial maritime navigation is the legacy of the peoples of Micronesia. The star cave also affirms that the sidereal star compass in use today for navigation by Micronesians was in use also a thousand years ago and the position of its constellations is based on the star latitude from the North. As Dr. Vicente Diaz pointed out, 'the sidereal star compass is a regional tool presently used only in the Marianas and the Caroline Islands, Guam and Madura (island in Indonesia)' By hindsight, the harsh environmental turmoil experienced worldwide during the Medieval Warm Period spurred changes to many societies that the alleged invaders of Guam legend may actually be climate refugees or remote relatives seeking shelter under the auspices of the Chamorus of the Sinahi Archipelago. The painting of the spear on the entry pillar ascribes the ownership of the pictographs to the latte people themselves. Of lasting significance was that Guam (13.5N 144.7E) intersected the path of the invaders who were sailing towards to meet the arc path of the supernova (+22 degrees north) as it rises on the east horizon. By imagining a family of lines between the supernova and Guam, we could guess that the invaders originated from the southwest quadrant away from Guam. The latte star visitors, who may have embarked on their exodus or epic journey to follow the supernova embraced an ancient navigation lore that underneath a major star either lies the 'Promise' of an Island or a sea route. It was a serendipitous discovery but the second beginning of the Chamorro race was marked by the sudden manifestation of a significant star burst (see 2nd Guam legend about sea goddess) leading them to make landfall on their eventual Promiseland. The origins of this peoples (whose DNA may have been traced in 2006 by the Genetic Anthropologist Koji Lum to Sulaweisi or SouthEast Asia) is shown by the direction Taurus points to [Taurus is shaped like an arrow] ... that is, southwest of Guahan.

New	Waxing Crescent	1st Qtr	Waxing Gibbous	Full	Waning Gibbous	Last Qtr	Waning Crescent

Notes: Artifacts excavated around the cave have been carbon dated, but it may be impractical to sample and date the organic pigments from cave drawings. Australian aboriginies mix pigments with blood for cave drawings, American Indians use fat and oils from birds and plants as a fixer but it is not known what techniques were used by the Chamorro Manmakanas. According to www.bib-arch.org, to check if the paintings are ancient, "The patina--a thin sheen or covering that forms on stone and other materials over time--has the cauliflower-type shape known to develop by bacteria in a cave environment."

LINKS: More High-Resolution Photos of Ritidian Cave. GuamCave Painting could be Star Calendar. BBC SciTech. Piailug-Master Navigator. In Search of the Latte & Proa. Latte Stone. Monoliths in Chamoru Prehistory. People of Guam. The Ancient Ones. Chief Kepuha and the Spanish Legacy. The Chamorro love for Betelnut Chewing Cecilia - Guam's Indigenous Poet and Writer. Sacred Vessels: Ocean Navigation in Micronesia. Chamoru Sea Warriors of the Marianas Chamoru Chant Blessing of Grounds for Sakman Voyaging Proa House Ultimate Guam cultural site. Traditional Navigation in the Western Pacific First Chamoru Flying Sakman in 340 years. | Ultimate Guam| Guam.org.gu| Legends of Guam|

Please note: the pictures on this site are copyrighted @2000 You have the right to view this page and copy to a cache for reference by yourself only at a later time. You are not granted any other rights. Rudy Villaverde reserves all other rights. Unauthorised copying of any part of this site constitutes a breach of copyright. Rudolph Villaverde reserves all other rights for the reason that the subject matter herein is not complete. It is a subset of a more robust investigation involving the triangulation of 3 separate caves and deeper cultural references.