Brief Chat: Guam filmmaker Baltazar Aguon traces link to ancient past
- Admin
- Oct 5
- 5 min read
By Jayvee Vallejera
Baltazar Aguon is a filmmaker and writer whose work highlights Guam’s history, culture and legends. He wrote, directed, and produced documentaries exploring the island’s heritage and earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the American Film Institute’s Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies. In 2007, he wrote the screenplay for “Måtto I Saina-Ta As Hurao,” a short film.
Aguon co-directed “I Tinituhan: Puntan yan Fu’una,” a special project funded by Guampedia Inc. that recreates Guam’s creation myth. He also co-produced the documentary “War for Guam,” directed by Columbia University professor Frances Negron-Muntaner, which premiered on PBS Guam in 2015. In addition, he is the author of “I Dos Amantes,” an adaptation of the Chamorro legend of the Two Lovers.
Most recently, Aguon has drawn international attention for tracing his lineage back 1,450 years. DNA testing linked him to ancient remains excavated from the Naton Beach archaeological dig, as well as remains unearthed on Saipan during the construction of a casino in Garapan.
Separated by only about 3.1 miles but 1,450 years in time, Baltazar Aguon was able to trace his lineage to a distant male ancestor after his DNA matched remains excavated from the Naton Beach archaeological dig.
His DNA also matched ancient remains unearthed on Saipan during the construction of a casino in Garapan.
Aguon, a resident of Mangilao, said this ancient ancestor was born around 450 BCE and is his genetically verifiable link to Saipan.
“What an emotional and profound discovery. Learning that I match remains from both Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands fills me with a deep sense of gratitude and joy,” he said in an email interview.
Aguon wrote, directed and produced documentaries highlighting Guam’s history and culture. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree from the American Film Institute’s Center for Advanced Film and Television Studies..
In August 2023, Houston-based FamilyTreeDNA informed Aguon that he was the first Big Y tester to match 55 ancient CHamorro remains excavated at Naton Beach in Tumon and in Garapan on Saipan.
The Y-DNA test traces the male line., and FamilyTreeDNA offers several levels of testing, Aguon said. The highest level, known as Big-Y, is the one that identifies matches to ancient male remains. It was this test that allowed him to trace his lineage.
Aguon acknowledges that his case may not be unique. To refine the findings and gain a clearer picture of the results, he has recruited other men to take the same test.
“There is one person (another Aguon) who is a match, as well as my brothers and his sons. I’m sure there are others out there of the same ancient lineage, as well as others who may match other ancient branches,” he added.
That his DNA was traced to ancient remains in both Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands is a powerful and personal reminder that both areas are one people connected by a shared past, Aguon said.
“Every new match that bridges our islands reinforces this truth and plants a seed for future unity. This is more than just a DNA result; it's a testament to the unbreakable bond of the Marianas and a hopeful step toward reunification,” he added.
Aguon’s DNA results traced his lineage back to an ancestor born around 2150 BCE in the North Maluku islands of Indonesia, then further to an ancestor from Sulawesi born a thousand years earlier, and ultimately to one from Guangdong, China, dating to about 9800 BCE.
According to FamilyTreeDNA, Aguon’s most recent common ancestor was born about 1800. He believes this ancestor was Ignacio Aguon, who was born about 1805 and married Salomae Castro Torres in the late 1820s; together they had eight children.
Ignacio Aguon is his paternal fourth great-grandfather and a common ancestor for many Aguons today.
“Knowing my genetic heritage was a life-changing revelation. It set me on a course of reaffirming my identity as a son of the Marianas, of cultivating my ancient connections to land and lineage, and of my responsibilities in Marianas contemporary society,” he said during his presentation at the seventh Marianas History conference in Guam.
Aguon said he was deep into his genealogical research when he had the sudden idea to order a DNA test.
After taking the Big-Y test and waiting about 14 weeks, I was notified of a match by [FamilyTreeDNA],” he said.
This was made possible by the work of genetic archaeologists who tested ancient remains and published their results, which FamilyTreeDNA’s database was then able to cross-reference with Aguon’s sample.
Aguon said he had never heard the name Naton Beach until recently. Its ancient name resurfaced in widespread usage when the first archaeological find was unearthed at the excavation site in 2006.
Archeological fieldwork and excavations from 2006 through 2008 revealed that Naton Beach was an ancient settlement. By the end of the excavation, 370 ancestral remains were unearthed: 155 were Pre-Latte, and 212 were from the Latte Period, from approximately 800 AD to 1521 AD. A wealth of artifacts was discovered.
Aguon said the final archeological report, submitted in 2016 by the archeological firm SWICA Environmental Consultants that studied the site, highlights the importance of this discovery.
“This collection represents people who lived and died at Naton Beach over a 2,000-year time span. This is the first site on Guam to have a large burial assemblage from the Pre-Latte Period, and it offers an opportunity to study the two populations diachronically,” states part of the archeological firm’s final report.
Now the Lotte Resort Guam stands on that site. Aguon has reached out to the hotel’s owner and management to “honor its obligation” to the Guam community by reburying the remains, as mandated by Guam law.
He said the Lotte hotel management has already reached out to the State Historic Preservation Office and agreed to honor their “inherited” commitment. It is considered “inherited” because the hotel has changed ownership since the discovery of the remains.
The Naton Beach remains are currently housed at the Cultural Repository in Mangilao having been moved there recently after being stored at the Guam Museum’s storage facility, he said.
“I’ve no idea why it has taken so long, but the current owners had no idea it was part of their commitment until they received my letter,” Aguon said.
The scientific studies and archaeological reports were not completed until 2016, which may have contributed to the delay in reburying the remains.
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