House of Taga
archeological site
The House of Taga (Chamoru: Guma Taga) is an archeological site located near San Jose Village, on the island of Tinian, United States Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, in the Marianas Archipelago. The site is the location of a series of prehistoric latte stone pillars which were quarried about 4,000 feet (1,200 m) south of the site, only one of which is left standing erect due to past earthquakes. The name is derived from a mythological chief named Taga, who is said to have erected the pillars as a foundation for his own house.
The structures
The prehistoric latte stone pillars (also called taga stones) at House of Taga stood 15 feet (4.6 m) high, and were quarried about 4,000 feet (1,200 m) south of the site. The original megaliths consisted of a base (haligi) and a hemispherical cap (tasa). When uprighted in spaced parallel rows, it is believed a house was built on top. Of the twelve upright stones sketched by British explorer George Anson during his 1742 visit to Tinian, only one remains standing. The As Nieves Rota Latte Stone Quarry is believed to be the Marianas origin of the period of these megalith structures.
Legend of Chief Taga and his house
Alexander Spoehr
In his 1957 published work Marianas Prehistory: Survey and Excavations on Saipan, Tinian and Rota, anthropologist Alexander Spoehr noted that the House of Taga had most likely been the central latte structure among eighteen such structures on Tinian. According to legend collected by Spoehr, a 10 feet (3.0 m) tall Guam chief named Taga married a Rota woman.
The public source identifies “House of Taga” as archeological site. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around House, Taga and archeological.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 15, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q15226028. Authority coordinates are 14.966, 145.620. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1742 and 1957.
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This entry incorporates text from “House of Taga” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.