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by Mike T. Carson (Editor)
The Ritidian Site is located in the United States island territory of Guam, the largest and southernmost of the Mariana Islands in the western Pacific Ocean. The site holds a data-rich 3500-year record of natural and cultural history of the islands, now uniquely preserved and open for public access in the Ritidian Unit of Guam National Wildlife Refuge. The place means many things for people in different perspectives, together speaking volumes of Ritidan's powerful effects as a heritage landscape. Today, Ritidian is known as an archaeological site, as a place where important historical events occurred, as a home of preserved forest habitat, as a spiritual retreat, as an example of land-ownership struggles in Guam, and as much more. While research is ongoing, this book offers a summary update of findings by scholars who have studied different aspects of the profundity and complexity of Ritidian's integrated natural-cultural landscape history.
