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[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Hi All

Ric

Do you know if the Gardner Island mentioned in this book is Gardner/Niku

http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=RFnnyMZy5nUC&pg=PA122&dq=gardner+island&hl=en&sa=X&ei=MJyzUe3DFI_Z0QW984GYCg&ved=0CDsQ6AEwAjgK#v=onepage&q=gardner%20island&f=false

Looks like it is Richie. Twelve mentions plus the map seems to confirm it.

[Ted G Campbell]

All,
Jeff Hayden may be onto something.  Is there a symbole, letter, etc. that identifies a burial site e.g. the skull in the locall language?
Ted Campbell

[Timothy Takemoto]

Polynesia? Trig Point? Benchmark? Why? This is the camp-site of Amelia Earhart, and there is a giant "A" arrowed, and an "E" very much like how she wrote her initial.

A.E. had a strong tendency to refer to herself and others by initials, as demonstrated by this extremely intimate letter addressed to G.P. (George Putnam) and signed A.E.
http://womensvoicesforchange.org/wednesday-5-20.htm

I am un-subscribing ("denotifying") from this thread but I wish TIGHAR every, speedy success:-)

Tim

[Ted G Campbell]

Tim Takemoto,

Give us a break.  Just because we don’t buy your explanation on this particular issue doesn’t mean we don’t appreciate your arguments /rationalities on other issues.

If you get so pissy  because of those who don’t see it your way maybe you need to take a hard look into a “mirror” and ask why I am always the outlander.

Think about it:  Would AE really use the lower case E of her name if she was trying to send a message.  My guess would be a giant AE in print form.

Think about what you would do – lower case t, i,m or something more bold an recognizable i.e. TIM

Ted Campbell

[Chris Johnson]

Is the G feature a one off? or is it just that TIGHAR hasn't looked for more as until the advent of KAP they were unaware of its existence.

[richie conroy]

Hi all

Would be interesting to find out if the guy in the book is still alive an able to tell us anything about Gardner

Maybe one of Tighar's researches in this field would like to help on this as I wouldn't know the first thing on how to go about it

Thanks Richie   

[Gloria Walker Burger]

I have looked but can't find the way Amelia wrote the "G" in George Putnam. Could the G feature be a message from Amelia to George? I feel as some others do, that if you find the G feature again it may be worthwhile to dig there...

[Randy Conrad]

Gloria...you might want to look in the Purdue archives in correlation with Amelia. There are numerous lettersthat are written by hand. Alot of interesting documents too.

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Found an interesting article on Gilbertese customs and traditions...

http://www.janesoceania.com/kiribati_cultural_traditions/

One or two involve skulls and circles like The Kabubu first-fruits ritual for example. Not sure of the availability of rocks on gardner island but, the coral circle and coconuts wouldn't be a problem. The photograph at the bottom you can just make out the circle of coral surrounding the centrepiece and in the middle image a circle of pebbles?. Here's a few images from said ritual...

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

There seems to be a lot of skull removing in Glilbertese tradition. So if a skeleton were to be found by them on Gardner?

Quote from the previous article: 'The space within the circle was dressed with white shingle, and therein were buried the skulls of successive generations of clan elders, all males. The crania of the skulls remained uncovered by shingle, so that they might be anointed with oil on occasions when the cult of the ancestral deity was being observed. Care was taken to avoid burying any skulls due west of the boua, as this portion of the circle was reserved for food offerings.' 

The practice for their elder relatives, once they had passed away of course, was to remove the skull and keep it on a shelf in the home 

Footnote: And fire...

Quote: 'Tabakea in myth was the father of Na Areau as well as Auriaria, and throughout the Gilbert Islands he is closely associated with the origin of fire. There is also evidence to show that he was one of the gods of the aboriginal race - the dark-skinned people who were settled in the Gilberts before the fairer people from the West invaded them. The invocation of Tabakea came nearer to the idea of a tribal cult than any other. It was resorted to on occasions of stress, disease or necessity, when not only a single utu, but a group of utu allied for political or warlike purposes, felt the approach of common danger.'

[Chris Johnson]

Thanks Jeff, had forgotten about this site.

This is interesting!

From May to September the main sources of fresh water, apart from a few brackish wells, were squalls which from time to time came stalking over the east4ernh horizon, trailing great curtains of rain. When a squall was seen approaching, the islanders had other preoccupations. There was always great excitement - due partly to a natural awe (for the Gilbertese (I-Kiribati) a rain cloud, like everything else, had a life and purpose of its own), partly to speculation about which end of the lagoon it would cross and whether there was time to reach it before the rain passed. There would be a rush to load canoes with nuts, gourds, tins, clam shells and old sails to catch water in.

but of course nothing to do with the 'G'

[Ric Gillespie]

There seems to be a lot of skull removing in Glilbertese tradition. So if a skeleton were to be found by them on Gardner?

The original Gilbertese settlers on Gardner Island were Christian - Congregationalist and Roman Catholic - but, of course, with an overlay of ancient tradition.  We know what they did with the skull they found.  They buried it.  This seems to have happened in late April 1940. I think we can be quite sure that the other bones were not found until Gallagher arrived, heard the story about the skull, and investigated further in September.

[Chris Johnson]

Jeff H,

are you suggesting that the 'G' feature is another skull location as TIGHAR thinks they have the skull hole located at the 7 site and have dug it.  To my mind if the natives had dug a hole for the skull and decorated it with coral when it was dug up again the feature would have been somewhat disturbed?

[Jeff Victor Hayden]

Who knows Chris?
The point is that people like to keep their traditions and culture and I wouldn't be surprised if the Gilbertese carried on with their customs and traditions, British Empire or not. The location of the G feature and seven site away from Callaghers 'head office' lends itself to this possibility.

[Bruce Thomas]

The location of the G feature and seven site away from Callaghers 'head office' lends itself to this possibility.

Not to put too fine a point on it, Jeff, but Gallagher had not established a 'head office' at the time the skull was discovered by the colonists (ca. April 1940; Gallagher took up residence “Early” September, 1940 -- according to The Bones Chronology research document). And, even if he had been in residence at the time of the discovery, they seem to have just buried it when and where they found it (rather than seemingly to distance themselves from a British administrator).