Roman Glass at the Edge of the World: Burial Contexts and Evidence for Long-Distance Exchange on Babeldaob, Palau

Annette Kühlem1*, Laure Dussubieux2, Constanze Dupont3, Andreas Mieth4, and Hans-Rudolf Bork4

Babeldaob, the largest island of the Palau archipelago, experienced significant anthropogenic landscape transformation beginning no later than 500 BC. These transformations are most prominently expressed in the monumental earthworks that continue to shape the island’s landscape today. Many of these earthworks are crowned by large anthropogenic mounds. The function of these so-called “crowns” has long remained the subject of scholarly debate. Excavations conducted on several crowns have provided the first direct evidence of their use as burial locations. At the Ngerbuns el Bad site, six human burials were documented. Although bone preservation was poor, the burials yielded important information regarding mortuary practices associated with the earthwork complexes. Grave goods and personal ornaments were largely absent; however, one burial pit contained fragments of bluish glass. Thermoluminescence dating indicates that the glass was produced between the late first century BC and the late fifth century AD. Chemical analysis further identified the material as Roman glass manufactured in Egypt during the fourth to fifth centuries AD. Based on the stratigraphic context of the burial, the object reached Palau at least two centuries after its production. While glass beads—including blue varieties—are well known in Palau and still hold high socio-cultural value today, the islands lack local glass production and the timing of the first arrival of glass has remained unclear. The Ngerbuns el Bad find represents the only glass recovered from a stratified and securely dated context in Palau and currently constitutes the most distant documented occurrence of traded Roman glass worldwide.