The ancient remains of three women, over 2,000 years old, were laid in their final resting place deep in the jungle of Tarague beach just inside Andersen Air Force Base in a reburial ceremony

Patrick Lujan is the Guam State Preservation officer who helped coordinate the internment along with the base.

“They really did work with us...us taking the lead to how the ceremony would go…They were in total support with all the arrangements logistically…and coordinated the whole ceremony with chanters, how things were gonna go about, we requested there to be no military presence since 2,000 years ago there was no military present and they granted that, so it was a solemn ceremony,” he said.

According to Lujan, the remains were unearthed during a University of Guam archaeological dig in 1980.

In 1983, some of those remains were shipped to a lab at UC Riverside for radiocarbon dating.

The rest remained here in the Navy's inventory. It wasn't until last year, where the remains were flown back to Guam.

Lujan said, “This is the first time we've done a reburial on Guam that resembles some sense of traditional reburying as opposed to westernized burials that we've grown accustomed to over the past years.”

On March 23, with descendents of Tarague, island dignitaries, Hiro Kurashino, the archaeologist who led the dig in 1980, and the Guam State Historic Preservation officer in attendance, the remains, wrapped in linen and placed in woven coconut leaf baskets along with artifacts found with them, were lovingly placed in the ground during a ceremony in CHamoru.

“It was a very unique ceremony. very moving, very touching, and we just hope to continue to do these types of ceremonies to honor our ancestors,” Lujan added.