House of Taga

The House of Taga at San Jose on Tinian is a row of latte stones, the pillar-and-capstone supports ancient Chamorro raised their houses on, and these are the largest ever raised: the standing pillar is around five metres high, and the set of twelve would have carried a building of considerable size. Chamorro tradition attributes them to Chief Taga. Most have fallen but one stands.

Background

In Chamoru the site is called Guma Taga. The pillars, also known as taga stones, stood 15 feet high and were cut from a quarry about 4,000 feet south of the site. Earthquakes have since brought all but one of them down. When the British explorer George Anson visited Tinian in 1742, he sketched twelve upright stones. In 1957 the anthropologist Alexander Spoehr wrote that this was most likely the central structure among eighteen latte structures on Tinian. Legend makes Taga a chief 10 feet tall from Guam who married a woman from Rota and had twelve children, whose spirits came to live in the stones of his house.

Source: Wikipedia, "House of Taga"

What's there

• The standing pillar - around five metres, the largest latte ever raised.
• The fallen stones - the rest of the set lying where they came down.
• The scale - a house platform far larger than any other known.
• The Taga tradition - the chief the site is attributed to.

When to go

December to June is the drier season. The site is open ground with set hours. Typhoon season runs July to November.

Things to know

Most of the stones are fallen and the site is a set of blocks on the ground. It is small and an hour is generous. Getting to Tinian means a short flight from Saipan.

Nearby

San Jose is around it, and Taga Beach is nearby.

Key facts