A proposal to ship 120 samples of ancient human remains from Guam to Sweden for DNA testing has been voted down by the Department of Chamorro Affairs Board of Trustees — but the door hasn't been fully closed.
At the board's Oct. 1 meeting, members voted 6-1 against the request, which involved remains from the Naton Beach Site collection on Guam, a set of ancestral CHamoru remains spanning roughly 2,000 years. Researchers wanted mainly teeth, since those tend to preserve usable ancient DNA. The catch: the sampling is destructive, so the material taken would never come back intact.
Michael Bevacqua, curator of the Guam Museum, told the board the wider project aims to pair ancient DNA with genetic data from living CHamorus to trace genetic patterns across generations, with possible downstream medical and pharmaceutical applications. His objection — and the board's — was that the proposal said plenty about what science at large would gain, and very little about what Guam's CHamoru community would get in return. Indigenous geneticists who reviewed it also raised questions about research ethics and how the genetic data would be handled and used.
There were practical worries too. Bevacqua noted that some ancestral teeth carry carvings or other culturally significant features, and argued the department should retain the right to veto specific specimens. He also wanted a clearer methodology: which samples, how they'd be selected, and how local cultural authorities would be involved in the process. Board member Kimberly Taitano pointed out that comparable research in the Philippines apparently included far deeper local collaboration, and said researchers should make the same effort on Guam. The State Historic Preservation Office, for what it's worth, had backed the request.
DCA president Melvin Won Pat-Borja stressed that a rejection now isn't a permanent no. The department will send the researchers its decision along with recommendations for revisions, and a reworked proposal could come back for another vote. What the board wants to see addressed: community benefit, ethics around genetic data, sample selection, and a genuine role for local cultural authorities.
For travellers, this is a window into something that shapes a visit to Guam beyond the beaches and dive sites: the islands take the stewardship of CHamoru heritage seriously, and decisions about the past are made by CHamoru institutions on CHamoru terms. The Naton Beach collection matters because it covers two millennia — a multigenerational record that researchers prize, and that local custodians are careful with, especially since older remains are often fragmentary and teeth can be all that survive.
If you're heading to Guam and want context, the Guam Museum in Hagåtña — where Bevacqua works — is the natural starting point for understanding CHamoru history and why debates like this one land the way they do.
