Philippine Archaeology

Malapit sa diwa ng taga-Ilocos ang karagatan at kabundukan. Biniyayaan ang kanilang rehiyon ng makipot na lupain sa pagitan ng dagat at kabundukan kung saan nalinang ang kanilang kalinangan. Makikita sa kalinangang ito ang malalim na koneksyon ng tao sa kanyang kapaligiran. Ito ang nais isalarawan ni Michael Armand Canilao sa kanyang aklat na Mountains and Sea: Case Studies in Coastal, Riverine and Upland Archaeology of Ilocos Sur.

While the earliest descriptions of Southeast Asian watercraft written by Chinese and European observers were generally brief, many noted that they were constructed without using a single metal nail. Another trait mentioned in only the most detailed historical accounts, but recognisable in the material evidence, is the series of drilled lugs protruding from the insides of the boats’ planks. The lugs functioned to secure frames and thwarts to the hull by means of lashing rope or rattan strands through the lugs’ holes. Published research provides confirmation that edge-joined and lashed-lug boats are the oldest plank-built watercraft in the region’s archaeological record. The earliest is the Pontian Boat found in Peninsular Malaysia, dating to between the third and fifth centuries A.D. Contemporary sources suggest such boats may still be in use today by a communityon the remote island of Lembata, Indonesia.
In 1976, looters unearthed the incomplete remains of what is now referred to as Butuan Boat 1 buried under approximately 1.5 m of flood deposits in Barangay Libertad, Butuan City, Philippines. According to various reports, looters have since that time come across between nine and 11 Butuan Boat remains in an area less than 1 km in radius. Archaeologists from the National Museum of the Philippines examined the remains of seven of these boats and recovered three. Excavations revealed that construction features of the Butuan Boats were characteristically Southeast Asian, as described in historical documents. The planks were edge-fastened with wooden dowels, and carved along the length of the planks of all but one of the boats were a series of rectangular lugs drilled with holes, some which still bore fragments of rope. Unfortunately, much of the early reporting of the Butuan Boat sites and related archaeological activities was unclear, and details such as locations, dimensions, and wood identification, were presented inconsistently. Construction features were only discussed in general terms, and early attempts to radiocarbon date the first three recovered boats in the 1970s and 1980s resulted in widely disparate results of fourth, thirteenth, and tenth centuries A.D., respectively.
The research undertaken for this dissertation involved recording the Butuan Boats, identifying the timbers used, and obtaining more reliable radiocarbon dating results. In examining the construction of each Butuan Boat more closely, atypical features that were previously unreported or downplayed began to emerge. Using this data, along with other archaeological, historic, and ethnographic evidence from throughout Southeast Asia, broadens our understanding of lashed-lug boat construction, a practice that survived more than 1,500 years. This study aids in revealing possible reasons for the loss, persistence, or development of certain aspects of boat construction and adds significantly to the knowledge of Philippine and Southeast Asian boatbuilding technology and practices.

Ang malaking hámon sa pagsasalin sa wikang Filipino ng salitâng archaeology ay bunga ng katotohanang larangan ng pag-aaral ito na ipinakilála sa Filipinas ng mga banyaga. Higit pa rito, ang arkeolohiya rin ay isang batàng larangan na umunlad sa Filipinas sa nakalípas na isa at kalahating daang taon lámang. Nais ng pag-aaral na ito na ipaliwanag ang papel ng disiplina ng arkeolohiya sa pagbuo ng pambansang kasaysayan at kamalayang bayan. Ipinapanukala rito na ang arkeolohiya at ang mga mananaliksik nitó ay aktibong nakilahok sa paghahanap ng ebidensiya at malimit na kinakasangkapan at sinasangguni sa pagbibigay-linaw sa nakaraan. Sa pamamagitan ng pagbibigay-ngalan sa mahahalagang táong humubog dito at ng pagsusurì sa mahahalagang pangyayaring nagtulak sa pag-unlad ng disiplina, tinatangka ng pananaliksik na ipakilála ang arkeologo –siyentipiko na gumagámit ng agham at salaysay upang bumuo ng naratibo ng nakaraan. Isinasaalang-alang din sa pananaliksik na ito ang paggámit ng mga arkeologo sa agham, bílang kasangkapan, na hindî naglaon ay nagsilbing kapangyarihan, upang mapalaganap ang mga kaalamang bunga ng kani-kaniláng mga pag-aaral.

South East Asians in the early modern period (c.1450–1800) embraced technological innovations and novel ideas
that crossed their paths. The fifteenth century ushered in the collapse of large empires and the rise of local craft
industries; multi-ethnic diasporic communities developed in port cities; and standardized currencies structured
local economies. Europeans entered this world in search of luxury goods and precious metals—in two centuries
they would colonize most of the region. Although most historians explain the emergence of South East Asia’s ‘Age
of Commerce’ through external factors, indigenous documents and archaeological information from this period
offer insights on internal dynamics that contributed to region-wide transformations. Two objectives structure this
chapter: to assess the range of issues that archaeological research has raised, challenged, or refuted, and to
weave historical and archaeological threads into a series of themes that might guide future archaeological
research on the period 1450–1850.

This paper presents the artefacts attributed to goldworking activities found in sites in Butuan, northeastern Mindanao, Philippines. Currently curated at the National Museum Regional Branch in Butuan City, the assemblage consists of worked and unworked gold items, as well as other artefacts deemed to be tools and other paraphernalia. Through the use of simple visual examination, low-power microscopy and technical study of the items' morphology, the study aims to recognize initial classification of the materials. In addition, the Balanghai Archaeological Project excavations in Butuan City since 1976 and the ASEAN 1986 excavation and conservation workshop, through the reports produced thereof, were revisited in an attempt to provide contexts to this material culture. By looking into both the physical objects and the textual references to them, this paper explores what constitutes the archaeological record of the sites. Moreover, the research suggests that the artefacts, attributed to the goldworking activities, are sub-assemblages of a metal craft industry in Butuan that operated from the 10th to the 16th century.

Recent multidisciplinary research on the Palaeolithic to Neolithic transition has confirmed several stages of cultural development dated between 20,000 BC and 1500 BC in southern China, Taiwan, and Southeast Asia. The patterns of habitation, settlement, subsistence, and material culture underwent remarkable changes at certain points during this long time sequence, and even whole populations were replaced or massively transformed. This updated synthesis of new research findings will focus the discussion on the archaeological evidence from Taiwan and its neighboring regions, especially from northern Luzon in the Philippines, and the Marianas of western Micronesia.

Regarding the jade and jade-like artefacts unearthed from Khao Sam Kaeo, new research has explored the use of different raw materials and relations with inter-regional trade networks. Geochemical analysis offers a way to identify the geological sources of the stone materials, potentially involving long-distance movements. In conjunction with those findings, studies of workshop debris provide information about how the artefacts were produced and how the evident crafting styles may have been linked across the regions of Mainland and Island Southeast Asia.

Local craft production is evident in workshop debris at the site. The unearthed artefacts include complete objects and related worked fragments such as drilled-out cores, cut square blanks, and small cut fragments. Most of these materials were used for manufacturing ornaments such as the lingling-o penannular earrings, the double animal-headed ear pendants, bracelets, and pendants. In order to learn the geological sources of the green stones used to make these ornaments at Khao Sam Kaeo, 28 artefacts were examined through a series of non-invasive analyses by a low-vacuum scanning electron microscope (LVSEM) equipped with an energy dispersive X-ray (EDS) spectrometer. The results show those objects and worked fragments can be grouped into three major categories of nephrite jade (17 samples), green mica (8 samples), and quartzite (2 samples). The geological sources included nephrite from Taiwan, mica from the Philippines, and quartzite from an unknown source. Among 17 specimens of nephrite, 12 of them are comparable to the Fengtian nephrite source in Eastern Taiwan. However, another 5 nephrite specimens were too weathered to analyze for making a final conclusion of their geological source. In addition to the nephrite from Taiwan, some of the artefacts were made of mica similar in chemistry to that from Mindoro Island in the Philippines. Khao Sam Keo became the first prehistoric jewellery workshop in Southeast Asia with a significant amount of mica-ornament production. Moreover, quartzite was used to produce a bracelet here.

This study indicates that the stone jewellery production at Khao Sam Kaeo can be situated in a larger regional network or perhaps a number of such networks. Multiple overseas sources are evident in the raw materials. Additionally, the similar production method and ornament style of jade and mica link these findings to the contemporaneous traditions as documented at production sites distributed all around the South China Sea, such as in Southern Taiwan, the Philippines, and Southern Vietnam.

Based on the new findings, two hypotheses are developed about the origins of the responsible craftsmen and production techniques. The first hypothesis proposes different backgrounds in origin or training for the craftsmen of jade versus the craftsmen of mica objects. Each group owned the raw materials or could access the raw material. For nephrite, perhaps a group of specialised craftsmen from Eastern Taiwan, Southern Vietnam, or the Philippines migrated into Khao Sam  Kaeo. The second hypothesis proposes that local craftsmen at Khao Sam Kaeo knew the necessary  skills for nephrite and mica production from other regions, but several points remain uncertain,  such as how the skills were learned and how people obtained the raw materials from overseas. According to the archaeological findings at Khao Sam Kaeo, the site was strongly connected in extensive maritime trade networks, linking with Taiwan, the Philippines, Borneo, coastal Southern Vietnam, Cambodia, and beyond at approximately 400 through 100 BC. Future  studies will be needed to understand how those overseas raw materials, techniques, and perhaps craftsmen reached to Khao Sam Kaeo.

The historical context of archaeology in the Philippines was shaped by colonial influences, and it can be seen through various foreign archaeologists who initially worked and contributed to the archipelago. The study uses the framework of Edward Said’s Orientalism to carefully extract the colonial features of Philippine archaeology through an overview of the discipline’s history from the late nineteenth century up to the present. The study finds that the practice of Philippine archaeology became a hybrid of its western origin and nationalistic view—showcasing a unique blend of indigenous knowledge, scientific advancements, and antiquarian perspective. The discipline also moved away from its western roots as it leans more on actual fieldwork and public archaeological efforts rather than pursue theoretical discourses. The study reveals the importance of nationalism in archaeological practice in postcolonial states in Southeast Asia such as the Philippines as it was used to promote common heritage and unity to its multicultural landscape. Lastly, the paper also presents current developments in the discipline and its influence on future archaeological research.

考古證據顯示，在過去數千年的時間裡、臺灣東部和菲律賓之間有不同型式的互動關係，以及在複雜而流動的社會脈絡、環境脈絡下進行的貿易和交換。這些實例對於理解當代的社會、政治、和經濟關係，以及世界史中的跨文化互動都具有啟發性。本文對於臺灣東部和菲律賓的討論，按照時間順序陳述考古證據，包括舊石器時代（30,000 至6000 年前）、新石器時代（6000/5500 至2400 年前）、和鐵器時代（2400 到400 年前）。雖然，這兩個區域間的關係、百年來已經吸引起不少學術關注，近來在臺灣東部和菲律賓的大量考古新證據終於促使許多新的見解得以成型，這是通過對跨區域的器物型態和風格比較、古代裝飾品和其他器物的地質化學成份溯源分析、古代人骨遺骸的顱骨形態分析、古代DNA 研究、古代植物遺留分析、以及古地景研究所獲得的成果。這些最新成果，可以用來重新思考在時間長軸中關於人口遷移、跨文化互動、貿易、交換、和技術傳播等問題。

Archaeological application of scanning electron microscopy has been used on lithic analysis to identify and examine use wear. For organic beads, contributions to shell bead analysis has recently benefitted from scanning electron microscopy or SEM (d’Errico et al. 2009). On the other hand, Energy-Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy has been used to analyze residues from organic artifacts (Pyatt 2010). It is clear that technological advances on microscopy have been beneficial towards archaeology. Moreover, this paper demonstrates how SEM and EDS can aid in bead analysis. This paper uses SEM to analyze Microperforated Cut Shell Beads (MCSB) in a ground breaking analysis that reconstructs its manufacturing process based only on the final form of the artifact and surviving traces from the production process. The two main tools for analysis are SEM and EDS that is supported by optical microscopy, experimental archaeology and morphological analysis. The results of the analysis demonstrates how limitations of taphonomy, recovery and context can be surpassed using a multi-level analysis, including SEM and EDS.

Few pioneers of archaeology and anthropology have educational backgrounds in natural sciences (for example, Franz Boas). The same is the case of the father of Philippine archaeology and anthropology, H. Otley Beyer. This presentation is about the implications of his natural science background in our fields, and what these mean for the bridging of natural and social sciences for the study of the past and present in the Philippines.

Paper presented at  UP Anthropology @ 100: International Conference Marking the Centennial of Philippine Anthropology on December 1-2, 2017, University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City

This Country Report summarizes the archaeological activities of the National Museum of the Philippines’ Archaeology and Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage (MUCH) Divisions for the years 2016 until the early part of 2019. The research findings produced significant information of the country's cultural past from deep prehistory towards the Second World War.

Eusebio, Michelle S. 2016. Colonial Period Cemeteries as Filipino Heritage. In Himlayan, Kamposanto, Pantyon, Sementeryo: Exploring Philippine Cemeteries, edited by Grace Barretto-Tesoro, pp. 169-198. University of the Philippines Press, Quezon City.
- Chapter in an edited volume advocating colonial period cemeteries as heritage sites and sources of discoveries about the past, which includes surveys and assessment focusing on five cemeteries in National Capital Region of the Philippines.

The papers in this special section of Asian Perspectives report on new research on several subsets of the Philippine Expedition or "Guthe" Collection of the Asian Division of the University  of Michigan Museum of Anthropology. The collection derives from archaeological research conducted in the Philippines in the early part of the last century- from 1922 to 1925. For more than 80 years, scholars from the Philippines, China, Japan, Europe, and North America have visited the collection to study the materials and ask new questions about the Southeast Asian past. The papers here continue this trajectory- presenting recent research on early modern trade in blue on white porcelains  (Li); technological style and the classification of large stoneware dragon jars, the cargo containers  of the second millennium Asian trade (Dueppen); the cultural context of cranial deformation in the Southern Philippines (Clark); and a sourcing study of indigenous  earthenware ceramics using instrumental neutron activation (Yao). In this paper, I provide some background to these studies in an introduction to the Philippine expedition and the remarkable museum collection that it generated.

The article investigates long-distance interactions between the Philippines and the Thai-Malay Peninsula during the middle of the first millennium BC to the early first centuries AD. Based on a review of archaeological evidence (including pottery, glass, stone and gold ornaments), the article highlights links between the central Philippines and Palawan, and the Upper Thay-Malay Peninsula (...). Such cultural exchanges may have been facilitated by small groups of mobile middlemen from the Philippines. The article also briefly examines the connections with Taiwn and suggests that Taiwan wasnot directly involved in the South China Sea sphere of exchange.

This thesis attempts to reconstruct the taphonomic events leading to the accumulation of human skeletal remains within Callao Cave, Northern Luzon in the Philippines. This is achieved by analysing the taphonomic signatures present amongst the disarticulated puzzle of human bone fragments and the site in which they came.  
A skeletal analysis of all 597 human skeletal bones and 69 teeth, was
conducted to identify bone fragments which were used to quantify Minimum Number of Individuals (MNI). The maximum result from this assessment was used as the expected MNI in order to assess skeletal preservation across the assemblage. The results showed that while degraded and fragmentary, skeletal preservation was varied from poor to fair across the site. An assessment of the frequencies of faunal remains and depositional layering of sediments was compiled from site recording forms and inventory logs from the 2009 Callao Cave excavation. By discussing and discarding possible taphonomic signatures based on skeletal preservation, dispersal and sediment
composition, informed deductions could be inferred. From the available data, it is unlikely that an in situ broken burial is present. Analysis suggests that the fragmentary human assemblage was transported into the site from a burial location near to the cave through way of a collapsed or slumped passage way.  

Practical archaeological experience is essential in the training of future bioarchaeologists. This essay recounts the experience received by the author during undergraduate studies at a field school held in the Philippines. The site in Catanauan, central Philippines, provides the opportunity for students to receive training in survey, excavation, heritage work, artefact analysis and research design on real archaeological material. Furthermore, the experience encouraged independent archaeological thought and true scope in relation to the theoretical aspects of the discipline that were taught in class.

The historical context of archaeology in the Philippines was shaped by colonial influences, and it can be seen through various foreign archaeologists who initially worked and contributed to the archipelago. The study uses the framework of Edward Said’s Orientalism to carefully extract the colonial features of Philippine archaeology through an overview of the discipline’s history from the late nineteenth century up to the present. The study finds that the practice of Philippine archaeology became a hybrid of its western origin and nationalistic view—showcasing a unique blend of indigenous knowledge, scientific advancements, and antiquarian perspective. The discipline also moved away from its western roots as it leans more on actual fieldwork and public archaeological efforts rather than pursue theoretical discourses. The study reveals the importance of nationalism in archaeological practice in postcolonial states in Southeast Asia such as the Philippines as it was used to promote common heritage and unity to its multicultural landscape. Lastly, the paper also presents current developments in the discipline and its influence on future archaeological research.