Gadao's Cave

Gadao's Cave, also known as Liyang Gadao, is a rock art site on the United States island of Guam. Located near the village of Inarajan, the cave is the site of a panel of approximately 50 Chamorro^[3] pictographs, painted with a mixture of coral lime and tree sap. The most unusual images are of two human stick figures that appear to be carrying things. It is not known who painted them or when, and what their significance is.^[4] The legendary chief of Inarajan Gadao is believed to be the creator of the cave's images.^[5]

Gadao's Cave
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Pictograph from Gadao's Cave thought to depict the legendary Chiefs Gadao and Malagueña.
Location	Address restricted[1]
Nearest city	Inarajan, Guam
Area	0.1 acres (0.040 ha)
NRHP reference No.	74002309[2]
Added to NRHP	November 19, 1974

The cave was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.^[2]

Space

The entrance to the cave is about 10-12 ft wide and about 10 ft high. The following chamber is about 8 ft deep, 5 ft wide, and 7 ft high and its highest point. A small slit between the walls at the chamber's ends opens into a small cavity about 3 ft deep, 2 ft wide, and 7 ft high.

The outer chamber has the majority of images which sizes range from about 3 in to 1 ft.^[5]

Documentation

In 1901, Georg Fritz, the administrator of the German colonial district of the Mariana Islands, documented some of the pictograms. In 1904, he published them in Die Chamorro. It was the first publication on rock art in Micronesia.^[6]

See also

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Guam