Latte Stones

One interesting and unique-to-the area aspect of Saipan are the latte stones – visible in various company logos and on signs around the island. The latte is almost somewhat of a mascot for the native Chamorro peoples of Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands region, and it is used frequently to represent their culture.

Latte stones are fairly large vertical megalithic columns (from a few feet up to five meters tall) topped with half-spherical coral rocks or stones with the flat surfaces facing upwards. Historically – from ~900AD to ~1700AD – these were used in several parallel pairs serving as a type of foundation for A-framed structures atop them made of wood, bamboo, and grass thatched roofs. Lattes can be found throughout Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands and are an important symbol of Chamorro heritage.

While the Chamorro didn’t leave written records as to exactly what these latte-supported buildings were used for, it appears they could’ve been utilized as communal structures such as group housing, individual family housing for high ranking members of their society, and/or perhaps sometimes to do with burials.

There are also a few accounts from the Spanish upon their arrival to the region of these being used as shelters for canoes. It’s likely that latte houses were the standard structure of the region and were used for as many purposes as resources would allow, with the lower classes perhaps living in group homes and/or separate more meager structures altogether.