Review: Comments on Settlement on Ulithi Atoll

Lessa, William A. (1982). "Review: Comments on Settlement on Ulithi Atoll". Asian Perspectives. 25 (2): 127–132. doi:10.2307/42928088. ISSN 1535-8283.

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Abstract: This article proposes to rectify certain errors in the otherwise excellent article by John L. Craib, "Settlement on Ulithi Atoll, Western Caroline Islands" (1981). The mistakes in question are factual rather than errors in judgment, and have some bearing on Craib's views regarding settlement dynamics on Ulithi. While I have given specific details to support my position, I have not had the immediate benefit of my field materials, which were collected from 1947 to 1961 during four field trips to the atoll. Most of these materials were deposited in 1979 and 1984 in the National Anthropological Archives of the Smithsonian Institution, where they are available for use by qualified scholars. Although it is true that "the greatest impact on archaeological deposits occurred as the result of the U.S. military presence in the atoll" (Craib 1981: 51), it is wrong to infer that this impact was as pervasive as alleged. It is particularly wrong to say: "On Mogmog [islet], only graves and the men's house platforms survived the military" (p. 51). I am prepared to show that of the five islets-Falalop, Asor, Mogmog, Fathrai (Fassarai), and Lothou (Lossau)l-that were inhabited when troops of the 81st Army Division came ashore uncontested on September 20, 1944, one of them was not excessively disturbed by the military and two were left virtually intact because they had been placed off limits to almost all military personnel...