Neolithic Revolution

Austronesian Dispersal
Who are the
Austronesians?

Austronesian Dispersal
Who are the
Austronesians?
Language family spoken by 400 million people
Island language
Complex migration history of the people carrying
the language
Different approaches using linguistics, genetics,
archaeology

So where do we come from?

Out of Taiwan Model
Bellwood

Austronesian people
migrated outside Taiwan
around 10 Ka
First people settled in
Northern Luzon using boats
Migrated to rest of PH,
then into the Pacific Islands

Out of Taiwan Model

Bellwood

The
Neolithic
package
Bellwood
1975,1997

Who are we?

Tabada et al 2009. Philippine

mitochondrial DNA diversity: a populated
viaduct between Taiwan and
Indonesia? Molecular Bio and Evo
Delfin et al 2011. The Y-chromosome
landscape of the Philippines: extensive
heterogeneity and varying genetic affinities
of Negrito and non-Negrito groups. Eur J
Hum Genet.19(2): 224230.

94% of Philippine samples are

part of the mtDNA
haplogroups previously
identified in East Asian and
Southeast Asian populations
No large scale population
replacement
extensive heterogeneity
contributing to a complex
genetic history for Filipino
groups

Who are we?

To complicate matters.
Denisovan genes found in
Mamanwa and Manobos
No significant Denisova
genetic material found in
populations other than the
Philippines and Pacific
Islands..

Cultural Markers of the

Neolithic in the
Philippines
5000 2000 BP

1. Pottery
2. Ornamentation
3. Domestication
4. More refined tools (eg
adze)

Batanes Archaeology

The Batanes Islands

Northern edge of the tropics
150 km from the southern tip
of Taiwan
200 km from the north coast
of Luzon
Separated from Luzon by the
Balintang Channel and
Babuyan Islands. From
Taiwan by Bashi Channel.

Batanes Cultural Sequence

Named after sites on Batan Island
3 Provisional Chronological Phase
Sunget Phase between 3500 and 2700
BP
Naidi Phase 2500 to 1500/1000 BP
Rakwaydi Phase 1000 BP to
ethnographic times

Batanes Cultural Sequence

Pre 4500 BP no evidence for a human
presence in Batanes
The OLDEST human activity(pottery) is dated
4450-4080 BP. Sunget was occupied from
3200 BP.
Ethnographic Itbayaten and Ivatan cultures
widely established on Batan after the Iraya
eruption of AD 1000.

Fine cord-marked sherds from Taiwan and Batanes

45003500 bp

Donghe, SE Taiwan

Kending (Southern Tip)

Ludao (Green Island)

Fengbitou (SW Taiwan)

Reranum, Batanes

Fengtien

Length: 3cm
Lanyu Island, Taiwan
(From Kano 1942)

Length: 3cm
Go Ma Voi, Vietnam
(From Dr. Ng Kim Dung )

Go Ma Voi
Godua

Palawan

Length: 3cm
El Nido, Palwan
(From Kazu Tanaka )

Anaro Site,
Itbayat.(workshop?)
(from Peter Bellwood)

Niah

Length: 3cm
Niah Cave, Sarawak
(Chin 1980:11)

Jade Earrings in Island Southeast Asia

Length: 3cm
Uyaw Cave, Palwan
(from Fox 1970:fig37)

Nagsabaran

Cagayan
Callao
Limestone
Formation

THE NEOLITHIC BONE

ASSEMBLAGES FROM
NAGSABARAN, NORTHERN
PHILIPPINES
From 1980s
Shell midden sites
found along Cagayan
River

Stratigraphic Profile Nagsabaran Pit 14

Taxonomic Representation

Bone Taphonomy
Houses built off the ground toss zones and midden build-up
Bone preservation excellent in
shell midden Why?
Normally bone preservation poor
in open sites in the Philippines

Introductions of domestic animals: The pig (Sus

scrofa) from ca. 4000 cal. BP

A Sus scrofa introduced domestic pig

4200 4500 cal.BP

B Sus philippensis endemic wild pig

Evidence of animal and human behaviour

Evidence of human
attachment to a dog

Earliest dog remains ca.

2800 cal.BP

Dog gnawed bone access

to middens
Roaming free

And the less fortunate!

Butchery and consumption of dogs

Jenks (1905: 111) remarking on the treatment
of dogs in the Cordillera region of northern
Luzon stated:
Except in the case of the few hunting dogs, he
does nothing to justify his existence. He is bred
mainly for ceremonial consumption.

 Earliest buffalo remains ca. 2800 cal.BP

Evidence for the use of traction?
Currently the earliest evidence for the introduction of cattle to
the Philippines

Body part representation

Tool production

TABON CAVE
COMPLEX

Shell adzes from Duyong Cave

3100 BP

Proliferation of shells
as tools

TABON CAVE
COMPLEX

An as ornamentations

What is
pottery?
pots and other articles made from clay
hardened by heat
inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by
the action of heat and subsequent cooling
the art or technology of making objects of
clay and similar materials treated by firing
Dry clay forms are not ceramics until they
are fired

Earthenware
Low-fire or earthenware ceramics are
heated to 700 or 800 degrees Fahrenheit
for several hours
porous and chips easily
Its porosity makes it less strong than
stoneware and porcelain, however it
makes it better at retaining and evenly
distributing heat

Stoneware
High fired often made of clays that are not
highly refined
They can be brown, buff or white, and
commonly have some specksand some
particulate material such as sand or fine grog.
Vitreous or semi-vitreous, but not translucent
Typically fired at 1100 C to 1300 C
Stoneware is more dense [particles are close
together] and is fired to a higher temperature.
Stoneware can hold liquids and rings when it is
struck

Porcelain
Requires a special white
clay called kaolin, which
comes from decomposed
granite
Normally very white and
has a very smooth surface
when glazed
Fired to 2300 degrees
Fahrenheit
Not reactive, so virtually
any food can be cooked or
stored in it

DEATH AND
BURIALS

Why bury the dead?

1. Prophylactic
2. Interest in preserving the body
Way to assure transmortality

Burial is a material translation of a mental phenomenon.

ETHNOGRAPHIC
Burying the dead 6ft
under
Cremation
Putting corpse on a
tree
Burning in a funeral
pyre
Putting the corpse in a
boat and leave in
water

Burials

ARCHAEOLOGICAL
No clear way of
knowing except
dealing with what
remains

Viet Nam
Neolithic

Kabayan Mummy, PH
ca. 1100

IDENTIFICATION OF
BURIALS IN
ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD
In Situ
1. Is there sediment change in color
and hardness?
2. Are the bones in special
position?
3. Is there any special orientation?
4. Are there any kind of structure?
5. Are there votive or funerary
offerings?

IDENTIFICATION OF
BURIALS IN
ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD
In Secondary Burials

1. Bones are disarticulated

2. Mixed with the bones are the
offering
3. Some skeletal parts maybe
absent
4. Most secondary burials show
grave goods and other votive
elements
Manunggul Jar, PH
700 BCE

Philippine Burial Tradition

Pit Burials
Jar Burials (primary, secondary, multiple)
Mummification
Log Coffin Burials (primary, secondary,
multiple)

Philippine Burial Tradition

Batanes Boat-Shaped Burials
Neolithic

When were they used?

Earliest is around 500 B.C.

(so-called Late Neolithic/Early Metal Age of the Philippines)

-10,000 BC

-500 BC

year 0

1000 AD

1600 AD

1970

Most recently recorded was 1970s by a group in Panay. (Jocano 1970)

Kinds of Burials
Primary burial
in foetal position
skeleton follows a
natural way of
deterioration

Primary burial inside a jar, Catanauan, Bondoc

Peninsula, Quezon (photo by A Pineda 2013)

Kinds of Burials
Secondary burials
previously interred
(in jar/coffin/ blanket)
but reburied or
replaced in jar
through the position
of the body inside the
jar
3 legs, 2 craniums, but interred as a primary
burial with additional body interred as secondary
burial. Whats going on?

Leg 1

Leg 3
Leg 2

Manunggul Jar
Secondary burial jar
700 BCE, Neolithic
Discovered in 1964 by
USPEC
Unparalleled skill of the
artisan

Manunggul Jar

Sea-waves on
the jars lid,
and experts
attribute this
decorative
style to the
Sa-hunhKalanay
Pottery
tradition of
Southern
Vietnam

Steerma
ns oar is
missing
its
paddle.

Mast
is
missi
ng.

Philippine Burial Tradition

Maitum Jars
Anthropomorphic jar
burials
Unique jars,
representative of the
remains of the dead
Metal Age PH, 200 CE

Philippine Burial Tradition

Kabayan Fire Mummies

Burial practice of the
Ibalois
Date of practice
unknown (precolonial)
Elaborate mummification
method, takes up to two
years

Images from Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People