Philippine Prehistoric Formative Phase Cultural Developments, ca.

50,000-500 BCE Cultural Configuration Formativedescribing the kind of adaptation our ancestors were able to fashion out of their prehistoric environment. Phaserefers to the level of technological development attained by our ancestors, particularly during the period between 10,000 and 5,000 BCE -During this time, a discernible pattern of group life, centering on the manufacture and use of stone tools and ceramics, had emerged. Two Dominant Industries of the Period: Stone tool and Ceramic Technology Core industriesrefer to the dominant technological activities that brought about the massive production of implements necessary for undertaking economic and other pursuits to ensure effective human adaptations. Industryrefers to the recurrent assemblage of the same kind of artifacts (i.e., stone tools) in a given site or the same geological layer which shows distinctive characteristics from other types of artifacts found elsewhere. Three Main Trends in Technological Development of Stone Tool Industry First & earliercharacterized by roughly made, unpolished, and more generalized (i.e., multipurpose) implements; sharp-edged fragments for skinning or cutting are made by fracturing the stone against each other and were then discarded when the cutting edge dulled. Secondflakingwhen narrow flakes are skillfully removed from stone nodule or core; both flakes and core are used for skinning and scraping. Thirdcharacterized by polished, highly developed, and more specialized tools and are later resharpened. Criteria for Selecting Stones for toolmaking Hardness Tenacitystone can be shaped, edged, grounded, and worked accordingly Homogeneityno well-defined structures or that the crystalline properties are very fine like siliceous stone; important for shaping tools Early Known Stone Tools Sites Liwanin Cagayan Valley Tabon Cavein Palawan Batangas-Bulacan areas

Two Classes of early stone tools (mostly found in the Liwan sites)(1) pebble (or cobble) tools; (2) flake and flake core tools Pebble toolsonly one surface of the stone is made pointed by removing a limited number of flakes with carefully directed blows of another stone. Flake toolssmaller, with sharp edges chipped from the nodule or core by carefully striking it at an angle to produce the desired fragment(s). Early, Middle and Late Polished Stone Tools Development8,000-500 BCE Earlyroughly flaked tools, with ground blades or cutting edges, with only the cutting edges polished; 5,000 BCE; Middleoval-shaped, cross-section tools with bodies and blades that were ground and polished; 4,000-2,250 BCE Latecylindrical adze-chisel-gouge type; blades narrower than the central diameter of the body of the implement itself. Technological Improvements Between 1,750-200 BCE Tools were possibly attached to handles; classified as (1) shouldered axe-adze type; (2) ridged-back type; (3) angled-butt tools. Aside from stones, shells, jade, and nephrite were used Pottery makingthat involved: kneading, molding, drying, and firing Use of jars for burial (primary and secondary burial practices) Other Economic Activities Foraging and gathering Hunting and fishing Use of fire By the late formative phase, horticultural activities started like rice cultivation (as evidenced by the Andarayan, Solana, Cagayan site), tubers (Dioscorea esculenta or gabi; and domestication of pigs and chickensresulting on semi-sedentary existence. Philippine Prehistoric Incipient Phase-500 BCE-1 Millennium CE Characterized With Radical Changes in the Lifeways of the Prehistoric People Characteristics of Incipient Phase Beginning of the general leveling off of local and regional socio-cultural differences and the breakdown of isolation; *Settlement Pattern: NucleatedNon-nucleation (forming of villages)craft specialization

formation of trading centersdiscernible social stratification. Characteristics of the Incipient Phase Stimulated by the discovery and the use of metal as the basic material for manufacturing effective tools in harnessing the environment for survival; Development of new sociological pattern developed: 1. Expanding Population 2. A more settled way of life 3. Beginning of craft specialization 4. Extensive agriculture 5. Improved technologyuse of metal Developments During the Incipient Phase Two developments: (1) Use of metalwith two important technological developments: (a) initial appearance of metal; (b) its utilization as an implement for food production and for protection; (2) Improvement of pottery (which became a major industry) Also characterized by the gradual and uneven development like that of stone tools. Developments on Metal Technology Still a debated issue on whether there was a metal age in the archipelago. Copper was the first metal to appear and used more as ornaments instead of as weapons; Bronze (alloy of copper and tin) emerged simultaneously; Carburizationfiring, quenching and tempering of metal Bronze Found on Tabon Sites 1) Socketed adze (Uyaw cave site) 2) Socketed Spear Points (Uyaw and Tadyaw Caves) 3)Tanged arrow points (Batu Puti; similar to those found in Hongkong) 4) Blades (Duyong and Pagayona Caves) 5) Harpoon (Pagayona Cave) 6) Wire (Duyong and Pagayona Caves) Associated Cultural Objects Body ornaments made of carnelian beads, jade: Ling-ling-o or ear pendants made of jade, stones, shells and clay found in Luzon and Palawan; of two types: (a) Sa-huyn (from Indochina) and (b) Hongkong Bracelets made of glass, jade, metal, seashells, clay Beads of jade, stones, glass, shells Developments on Later Incipient Phase

Dominance of iron (as material in the forms of knives, bolos, daggers, spear point, chisels; Associated developments: 1) Weavingback-loom type; use of ikat or tieand-dye; 2) Population growth; 3) Emerging social class 4) Ceramic/Pottery technology 5) Progress in trade Three Pottery Complexes Marking Different Cultural Horizons 1) Tabon Pottery complexcharacterrized by free-hand modeling, to be followed later by the use of paddle and anvil; use of sand in tempering, of nine types, designs were impressed, incised and painted; 2) Kalanay Pottery complexof 15 different designs, showed tremendous variations in forms; 3) Novaliches Pottery complexshowed tremendous variations in forms and designs indicating probable use of slow wheel or tournette; 4) Maitum Potteryanthropomorphic in form, used for burial Philippine Historical Emergent Phase Cultural Developments circa First to the 14th Centuries CE Developments During the Emergent Phase Emergentmeans the appearance of a definable social organization (political, economic, and religious) and certain dominant patterns of culture (burial practices, ceramic arts, social statuses as reflected in elaborate markers and pabaon or food provisions for the dead) in some and absence in others. Trade, which began during the Incipient Phase, is one of the major stimulus for the internal development, aside from the manufacture and use of iron tools. Community Growth, which revolved around trading: domestic and foreign, also stimulated the development of craft specializations, like pottery, iron smelting, jewelry designing, and fabric weaving. Other Developments Writing was another factor which could have facilitated the leveling of interisland differences. Evidences: 1) A strip of gold with inscriptions found in Butuan in the 1970s; 2) A clay pot with inscriptions on its shoulder found in Calatagan,Batangas with ashes inside.

 3) A copper plate found in Pila, Laguna which was gauged to be a semiofficial document of acquittal of a debt incurred by a person in high office, together with his whole family, all relatives and descendants. Inscriptions are believed to be in use in the 10th Century, of Hindu cosmology. Probable Functions of Writing During the Protohistoric Period It may not be mainly for communication; Existing examples of ancient scriptwriting can be found on the Hanunuo, a sub-tribe of the Mangyan in Mindoro and of the Tagbanua in Palawan. The Hanunuo sub-tribe is known for its Ambahan or love poems. Other Developments on the Emergent Phase While there was a growing cultural homogeneity, there was political heterogeneity where each trading community was separate from one another. Evidence of this are seen on the elaboration of ritual artifacts associated with burial. Some graveyards have more pabaon (precious artifacts buried with the dead) than others. Evidences of Foreign Trade With Indonesiaseen on identified loanwords while Indian influence filtered into the Philippines only indirectly. South Asian and Indonesian influence may have enriched our culture. It was during the Madjapahit empire that that the Indian cultural influence reached the Philippines as evidenced by: 1) Syllabic writing 2) Different figurines made of clay, gold and bronze dug in various sites in the Philippines. Indian-Indonesian Cultural Influences Thru Trade Figurines: 1) A 21-carat gold figurine recovered from a riverbank in northeastern Mindanaoprobably a Buddhist Tara (Queen Mahamaya, mother of the Buddha), with Tantric connections; now kept at the gem room of the Field Museum of Natural History in Chicago, USA (a lot of our gold artifacts are now in USA; looted during the FilipinoAmerican War); 2) A BoddhisattvaLokesvara of the Siamese type; a three-inch diameter figurine found in 1843 in Cebu; 3) A clay medallion found in Calatagan, Batangas in 1961Avalokitesvara-Padmapani

artifact belonging to the 12th or 13th Century CE Buddho-Siamese art; 4) A gold Garuda recovered in Brookes Point, Palawan; a vahana (vehicle) of Vishnu Indian Influence Thru Loanwords 1) 336 term in Filipino believed to be of Sanskrit origin; 2) 150 of these identified as the origin of some major Philippine terms like the names of plants and animals: champactsampaka in Filipino; TulsiSulasi in Filipino; guro, alibugha, Bathala/Battara. Trade with China Sino-Philippine contacts became extensive probably at the turn of the 11th Century and reached its peak by the middle of the 14th through 15th Centuries where thousands of porcelains and celadon reached the country; 1) Tang (618-906 CE)evidenced by the san tsai (three-colored) porcelains found in Sta. Ana church burial site; 2) Sung (960-1279 CE)celadon and porcelains are dug in the Sta. Ana and Calatagan, Batangas sites; 3) From the Sung came mirrors, scales, coins, jade, projectiles; Philippines was a part of the Nan Hai Eastern Sea Trade Route since the Sung Period as evidenced by the numerous blue-and-white porcelain found even on sunken vessels; jars also reached here; Yuan (1279-1368) and Ming (1368-1644) ,when in 1372, Emperor Hung Wu of the Ming was reported to have welcomed the Filipino tribute embassy at his court and presented it, upon its departure, with valuable gifts,, including some precious porcelain vases and a silk gauze woven of gold and colored threads; later Emperor Cheng Tsu in 1406 received another Filipino chieftain in Nanking; Sulu king, Paduka Battara, met with Emperor Yongle in 1417. Jolo became the center of trade with the Chinese, so with Ma-I, Ma-li-lu, Min-to-lang, Pangchia-hsi-nan; Foreign traders brought in Chinese goods in exchange for local pearls, mother-of-pearl shells, beeswax, civet skin, gold, tripang or sea cucumber; It is only in the Philippines that the balimbingshaped porcelains are found; believed to be used by local healers as oil containers. Trade With Other Asian Countries 14th to the early 16th Century sawangkhalok porcelain vessel from Siam are found in the Philippines; most are of the Sukhotai

and Ayuthia periods but the Chakri dynasty wares are also seen here, especially those made during the reign of King Ramkanghaeng/Rama I; So with martaban jars from Burma; Annamese/Vietnamese porcelains are also found; Trade with the Middle East The Lena Shoal shipwreck artifacts found under the sea off Balambagan in Palawan showed wide porcelain plates that clearly showed a Middle Eastern route since only the Arabs eat collectively on a common plate with their bare hands; the blue-and-white porcelains found here are of the Hongzhi period of the Ming while the San Diego wreck of 1600s are of the Wanli period of the Ming; It was during the 2nd phase of the Chinese-Arabian trade relations (bet. 10th and 12th Centuries) that Islam started to gain roots in the region of Southeast Asia reaching Mindanao area during the 15th Century. Raja Soliman may have been a new convert since he has a Hindu/Sanskrit title but a Muslim name.