Readings in Philippine History

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LESSON LEARNING LEARNING ACTIVITIES & LINKS &
OVERVIEW OBJECTIVES DISCUSSIONS DRILLS REFERENCES

READINGS IN
PHILIPPINE
HISTORY
LESSON 4.0
PHILIPPINE PRE-HISTORY
EAC-CAVITE RPH TEAM
1 st Semester, CY 2024-2025
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LESSON OVERVIEW
This lesson comes in two sections – Lesson
4.1 and Lesson 4.2. The first section discusses
the Philippine Pre-history while the second
section will analyze the theories regarding
Philippine pre-historic past.
Before the discussion, there is a
Preparatory Activity to set the tone of the
discussion.
Assigned Readings are provided for the Manunggul jar
students to deepen their understanding on the
Philippine Prehistory.
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INTENDED LEARNING OUTCOMES


The students will be able to analyze the context,
content, and perspective of different primary sources
viz. secondary sources in understanding the value and
significance the relics and fossils found in the
Philippines belonging to the Philippine Pre-History
(c.700,000 YA to 900 CE).
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LESSON OBJECTIVES
At the end of this lesson, the students will be able to:

a) identify important archaeological sites in the Philippines;


b) enumerate types of evidence confirming human existence and
habitation of the archipelago since 700,000 YA;
c) describe various archaeological relics found in the Philippines,
and
d) provide compelling thesis or argument about Philippine
pre-history.
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PREPARATORY ACTIVITY
INSTRUCTION:
Find at least a partner from your class and
look for at least two “artefacts” from your
bags or belongings that you think will
provide a glimpse of your daily life to a
curious historian 1,000 years from now.
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PROCESSING TIME
Share your outputs.
Teacher’s Input: Artifacts may be made of a number of raw materials, the most
common of which are: chipped stone, ground stone, ceramic, bone, shell, wood,
fibers, glass, and metal. These often take the form of tools, weapons, utensils,
ornaments, and artistic and ceremonial items. These artifacts may have been used
in relation to a number of activities, including architecture; food procurement,
preparation, and consumption; defense; toolmaking; clothing; personal use and
recreation; household activities; ceremonies and rituals; transportation, etc. –
James R. Jones III, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology, Indiana
Department of Natural Resources
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When was the


Philippines’ first
inhabitants arrived?
Why Philippine Prehistory?
It is the history BEFORE the Cognitive Revolution
in the human species known as Homo sapiens.
In this lesson, it refers to the events that took
place in these group of islands that will soon to
be known as Philippines BEFORE the
appearance of written materials.
What is Cognitive Revolution?
According to Harari (2011), it is the point when history
declared its independence from biology. He argues
that before the Cognitive Revolution, all the doings of
the human species belongs to biology; cultures are yet
to appear and when it occurred, it unceasingly
changed and developed to give birth to history.
Why designate Philippine
Prehistory?
The designation of the period of
Philippine Prehistory is often a
debatable topic depending on who
makes the designation.
When was the beginning of
Philippine Prehistory?
The beginning of Philippine Prehistory can be plotted
in our historical timeline as early as 777 KYA based on
archaeological finds in the Philippines.
Some scholars pointed out that Philippine Prehistory is the ENTIRE
PERIOD BEFORE the coming of the Spaniards in 16 th century because
they contend that the beginning of Philippine written history started
when the Spaniards colonized us.
But it must be remembered that
since the appearance of Laguna
Copperplate Inscription, the
written history must be pushed
back to 900 CE not to mention the
other inscriptions that are found in
Batangas, Butuan, Romblon, and
in other archaeological sites in the
Philippines that may have been
written prior to 900 CE.
When was the end of
Philippine Prehistory?
Since the Laguna Copperplate Inscription is
the first dated document on record found in the
Philippines, the Philippine Prehistory have
ended on April 900 CE.
PHILIPPINE PREHISTORY
BEFORE THE COMMON ERA (BCE) COMMON ERA (CE)

777K YA 67,000 50,000 30,000 5,000 1,500 1 200 500 900

• Homo luzonensis and Callao • Tabon Man, Tabon Cave, • Out-of-Taiwan Hypothesis (Austronesian expansion –
Man (Callao Cave, Lipuun Point, Quezon, Malayo-Polynesian speakers migrated southward to the
Peñablanca, Cagayan Valley) Palawan (24 - 22 KYO) Philippines) – Peter Bellwood

• Nusantao Maritime Trading and Communication • Sa Huyn – Kalanay Culture (1000 BCE to 200
Network – Wilhelm Solheim II CE) – Kalanay Cave, Masbate

• Arrival of first Homo species (Kalinga artifacts and fossil • Modern Austronesian expansion from Yunan Plateau in China to
fauna remains – Thomas Ingicco, 2018) Taiwan (4500 BCE – 4000 BCE)

• Rhinoceros philippinensis remains showing ridges left by • Balobok Archaeological Site (6810 – • Maitum anthropometric pottery
stone tools to remove bone marrow 3190 BCE)
• 67 KYO Sierra Madre hominin (2007)
• Angono-Binangonan
Petroglyphs (2000 BCE)
The period between 900 CE and before the
arrival of Magellan and the subsequent Spanish
colonization by Legaspi in 1565 can be
designated as Philippine History in Antiquity
for the purpose of periodizing Philippine history
in this course.
Written History as the Beginning
of History
The appearance of written materials serves as the
reckoning period for the beginning of history. But if
we are going to accept Teodoro A. Agoncillo’s
nationalist view in historiography which posits that
Philippine history started in 1872,
written history is NOT the beginning of
history – it is the birth of nationalism.
Before it, therefore is Philippine Prehistory
regardless of its narrative written or not
because there is no nation to speak yet.
TIME SIGNIFICANT EVENTS
PERIOD
Arrival of first Homo species (Kalinga artefacts, Thomas Inggico, 2018)
777,000 YA Rhinoceros philippinensis remains showing ridges left by stone tools to remove
bone marrow.
Sierra Madre hominin (2007)
67,000 YA
Homo luzonensis (Callao Man) – Callao Cave, Peñablanca, Cagayan Valley
30,000 YA Nusantao Maritime Trading and Communication Network – Wilhelm Solheim II
24,000 – 22,000 YA Tabon Man, Tabon Cave, Lipuun Point, Quezon, Palawan.
6,810 – 3,190 BP Balobok Archaeological Site (6810 – 3190 BCE)
4,500 – 4,000 BP Modern Austronesian expansion from Yunan Plateau in China to Taiwan
2000 BCE Angono-Binangonan Petroglyphs
Out-of-Taiwan Hypothesis (Austronesian expansion – Malayo-Polynesian speakers
1500 BCE
migrated southward to the Philippines (Peter Bellwood)
1000 BCE – 200 CE Sa Huyn – Kalanay Culture, Kalanay Cave, Masbate
5 BCE – 370 CE Maitum anthropometric pottery
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Evidence of
Humans in the
Philippines
PREHISTORIC
CAGAYAN
The earliest evidence of
human activities in the
Philippines was said to be
around 777 KYA to 700
KYA as evidenced by the
stone tools and butchered
animal bones (Rhinoceros
philippinensis) in Kalinga
at the Cagayan Valley in
https://www.sci.news/archaeology/archaic-hominins-philippines-05980.html
northern Luzon.
CALLAO
MAN

The Cave of Callao in Cagayan where the molars and premolars of Callao
Man (Homo luzonensis) was found by archaeologists.
TABON
MAN
Tabon Cave is a Late
Pleistocene site, dubbed
as the Philippines’ Cradle
of Civilization due to the
huge number of discoveries
that have been made there
composed of 215 caves, but
so far only 29 of them have
actually been explored and
around 9 are open to the
public. The Tabon Cave Archeological Site
The Tabon Cave
Archeological Site and the
Tabon Man
It is located on the southwest of the
island of Palawan, this site is one of the
major sites of Philippine prehistory as it
yielded thousands of lithic artefacts,
human and animal bones, and hearth
features that date back to the end of the
Pleistocene to early Holocene.
THE PLEISTOCENE EPOCH

The Pleistocene is a geological period


that lasted from c.2.58 million to 11,700
years ago. Holocene, on the other hand,
is the time since the end of the last major
glacial epoch or ‘ice age’.
During the recent Ice Age, sea
level dropped to about 120
meters below the present level,
exposing huge areas as dry
land, but the Philippines
remained isolated by deep
channels. The former riverbeds
are still visible on the shallow
sea-floor between Boneo and
Java, Samatra,and the Malay
Peninsula. (Source: Heaney
1991; Fairbanks, 1989)

(c) Field Museum of Natural History - CC BY-NC 4.0


Studies suggest that
human presence in
Tabon Cave dates back
around 40,000 years ago
from the oldest fossils of
anatomically modern
humans in the
Philippines to extensive
jar burials attributed to
Interior of the Tabon Cave in Palawan where the Tabon Man remains Philippine Metal Age.
were found by Dr. Robert Fox, an American anthropologist in 1962
while working for the National Museum of the Philippines.
The Tabon Man
The oldest confirmed modern human to
have been found in the Philippines
(despite of recent discovery of H.
luzonensis).

The bones of Tabon Man were


unearthed by Dr. Robert Fox, an
anthropologist, in 1962 in Tabon Cave,
Lipuun Point, Quezon, Palawan.

Isang Salinlahi FB Group,


08/10/2017
The Tabon Man
Skeletal analysis of Tabon Man revealed that he is not a Negrito
(which came in the Philippines around 30,000 ago together with
other first settlers)

Probably the Tabon Man is a pre-Mongoloid race - people who


entered Southeast Asia and absorbed different types of early man to
produce the modern Malay, Indonesian, Filipino and Pacific people
Other experts argue that the mandible discovered among the
remains is of Australian type, with skullcap measurements that match
those of the Ainu people or Tasmanians who inhabited the island
tens of thousands of years ago.
The Tabon Man
The discovery provided the evidence of Homo
sapiens habitation in the archipelago,
particularly in Palawan between 37,000 and
47,000 years ago.
Three other remains found in the cave along with
stone tools and charcoal left from three
assemblages of man-made fire (dated back to
7,000, 20,000 and 22,000 years ago, respectively)
suggesting that this early version of modern man
were hunters and gatherers rather than farmers,
searching for food rather than cultivating it
themselves.
The Tabon Man
Other discoveries tells of
Stone tools
advance knowledge and
discovered by the thinking.
National Museum
and the University Discovery of human
of the Philippines remains in an earthenware
at Tabon Cave
system revealed
suggests human burials.
evidence of basket Recent discovery by UP &
and ties dating to
39,000 to 33,000 NMP suggests of the
years ago (Photo: oldest evidence of
National Museum
of the Philippines
basket and tie making in
Facebook page) Southeast Asia dating
between 39,000 to 33,000
years ago.
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Is there really waves of


migrations pertaining to how
the Philippines was inhabited
by early Filipinos?
PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGICAL
SITES will provide the idea, if not the
answer, whether there is a wave of
migration that happened in the past that
caused the peopling of the archipelago.
PREHISTORIC ARCHAEOLOGICAL
Archaeological site isSITES
an instance of past human
behavior or activity, where humans conducted some
activity and left evidence of it behind. – James R. Jones
III, Division of Historic Preservation and Archaeology,
Indiana Department of Natural Resources

The presence or occurrence of one or more artifacts or


features indicates an archaeological site.
IMPORTANT PREHISTORIC
ARCHAEOLOGICAL SITES IN THE
PHILIPPINES
The Angono - Binangonan Petroglyphs, Binangonan,
Rizal

Balobok Cave, Bongao, Tawi-tawi


Buenavista Protected Landscape, Mt. Maclayao, Buenavista,
Mulanay, Quezon

Guyangan Cave System, Banton, Romblon

Savidug Ijang, Sabtang, Batanes


Kalanay Cave, Aroroy, Masbate
Lal-lo and Gattaran Shell Middens, Cagayan Valley
Lapuz Lapuz Cave, Dingle, Iloilo
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These petroglyphs are considered toK be the
oldest known work of art in the Philippines
which shows stylized human figures, frogs,
and lizards along with other designs.
Probably carved during the late Neolithic
period (before 2000 BCE), the
Angono-Binangonan Petroglyphs is consists
of 127 human and animal figures engraved
on the rock wall. Declared as a National
Cultural Treasure in 1973 by the National
Museum of the Philippines, it is included in
The Angono - Binangonan the World Inventory of Rock Art in 1985,
Petroglyphs historic sites of the World Monuments Watch
Binangonan, Rizal and World Monument Funds, and part of the
tentative list for UNESCO World Heritage
Site.
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It is also known as Balobok Rock Shelter,


the cave and the archaeological site is
located in Lakit-Lakit, Bongao, Tawi-tawi.
This rock shelter houses the oldest known
human settlement in Southeast Asia which
dated 8,000 to 5,000 YA. Recognized as
Important Cultural Property in 2016, the
place was proposed by the Bangsamoro
Parliament to be recognized as a heritage
zone. In 1970s, it served as shelter for the
Balobok Cave Moro National Liberation Front (MILF).
Bongao, Tawi-tawi
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A conservation area and an archaeological site in
Bondoc Peninsula, south of Quezon that conserves
an important watershed area composed of
secondary growth forest, grassland, and coconut
plantation in Mulanay, Quezon. The area is known
as the site of an ancient village containing unique
limestone (at least 15 sarcophagi) graves
discovered in 2011. The protected area, including
the limestone tombs of Kamhantik were
recommended by various scholars to be included in
Buenavista Protected the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites,
Landscape yet no government or private entities have yet to file
Mt. Maclayao, Buenavista, a tentative nomination to the UNESCO Secretariat.
Mulanay, Quezon
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The cave system is composed of seven
caves – Ipot Cave, Cathedral Cave,
Tigpuyo Cave, Wall Cave, Slide Cave, De
Campo Cave, and Silak Cave. The caves
are a significant archaeological site and a
national cultural treasure of the Philippines
as it is the site of ancient burial grounds
where wooden coffins, human skeletal
remains as well as the oldest burial cloth in
Southeast Asia were discovered during
explorations by the National Museum of the
Guyangan Cave System Philippines in 1936.
Banton, Romblon
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Savidug Ijang
Batanes
They are terraced hillfort settlements of the Ivatan
built on hill tops and ridges in Batanes. These high
rocky formations can serve as fortress or refuge
against attacking enemies for the Ivatan people.
Eusebio Dizon of National Museum of the
Philippines and his team discovered in 1994 a
triangular shaped hill in Savidug, Sabtang and
12th-century Sung-type ceramics and Chinese
beads and other artefactual materials recovered
from an ijang were dated at almost the same time
as the foundations of the Okinawan castles
beginning from circa 1200 CE.
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The Kalanay Cave is a small cave located on the island
of Masbate specifically located at the northwest coast of
the island within the municipality of Aroroy. The artifacts
recovered from the site were similar to those found to the
Sa Huynh culture of Southern Vietnam. The site is part of
the "Sa Huynh-Kalanay Interaction Sphere" which was
an Iron Age maritime trading network associated with the
Austronesian peoples of the Philippines, Vietnam,
Taiwan, as well as most of northeastern Borneo and
Southern Thailand . The type of pottery found in the site
were dated 400 BC to AD 1500. The "Sa Huynh-Kalanay
Interaction Sphere" is characterized by a remarkable
continuity in trade goods, including decorated pottery and
double-headed pendants and earrings known as
lingling-o.
Kalanay Cave
Aroroy, Masbate
Photo was taken from https://thephilippinestoday.com/kalanay-and-tinigban-caves/
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The Lal-lo and Gattaran Shell
Middens are one of the most
significant archaeological gastronomic
finds in Southeast Asia in the 20th
century. The site is located along the
banks of the Cagayan River in the
province of Cagayan. The site, as old
as 2000 BC, is highly important due to
its archaeological impact on the food
resources and human activities of the
ancient peoples of the Cagayan Valley.
It is currently under consideration as a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Lal-lo and Gattaran Shell Middens


Cagayan Valley
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Lapuz Lapuz Cave is among the many


cave sites found in the Bulabog Putian
National Park in Moroboro, Dingle,
Iloilo. A small test pit conducted by
Coutts, Wesson, and Santiago, in
Lapuz Lapuz cave in 1977 contained
large numbers of stone tools, shells,
bones, and some pottery.

Lapuz Lapuz Cave


Dingle, Iloilo
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What are the significant


developments and
technologies in the
prehistoric Philippines?
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EVOLUTION OF TOOLS
OLD STONE AGE NEW STONE AGE METAL (IRON) AGE
Sharp Polished stone Use of iron in the
edged-stones tools done production of tools
produced through through rubbing
chipping and against another
flaking of stones. stone.

Click image Click image


Click image
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CULTIVATION OF RICE
Cultivation of rice as food in
the Philippines may have
began around 3,000 years ago
in the island of Luzon. This
development may have been
ushered by the development
of metal tools used in the
cultivation of soil for farming.
Rice production started in
several locations in Asia such
as Northern India, Myanmar,
Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, and
China.
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BUILDING OF SHELTER
House building is an important development in the
Philippine prehistory.

Caves and rock Built shelters and Dwelling houses and


shelters fortifications palaces of early nobilities

Early Filipinos used natural features of their surrounding to shelter them from the elements. But
personal and communal necessities enabled them to build shelters using found materials.
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Tabon Stone Tools Stone tools identified as scrapers, axes, points,


knives, and hammers. Tabon Cave, Palawan |
Paleolithic Period
Source: https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/archaeology/tools/
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Cabalwan Flake
Tools (71-G4-295,
71-G-296)

Stone tool flakes made from chert. Awidon Mesa


Formation, Cagayan | Paleolithic Period
Source: https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/archaeology/tools/
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Kalinga stone
tools

Stone tools associated with butchered rhinoceros


remains. Rizal, Kalinga | Paleolithic Period
Source: https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/archaeology/tools/
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Arubo hand axe

A unique proto-handaxe made from chert. General


Tinio, Nueva Ecija | Paleolithic Period
Source: https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/archaeology/tools/
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Duyong Shell Adze


(P-I-PBP-356)
(Tridacna gigas)
Modified shell fragment from giant clam’s hinge,
National Cultural Treasure. Duyong Cave, Palawan |
2,680 years ago.
Source: https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/archaeology/tools/
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Metal
arrowhead
(VII-2012-R-4
460)
Arrowhead found associated with shell midden.
San Remigio, Cebu.
Source:
https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/our-collections/archaeology/tools/
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When was the


Philippines’ first
inhabitants arrived?
We have to first understand the difference
between HABITATION and HUMAN
PRESENCE in a particular geographic
area.
MEANING OF HUMAN PRESENCE FROM
FILIPINO PERSPECTIVE
It must be understood that human presence does not
necessarily mean habitation; it must be construed as
temporary status of residency rather than establishing
permanent settlement.
Evidence of which can be deduced from the artefacts such
as tools, coal heaps, and middens left in the area of
temporary settlement (archaeological site).
HUMAN PRESENCE VERSUS HABITATION
FROM THE FILIPINO PERSPECTIVE
Human presence is often dictated by several
factors such as:
Presence due to expeditionary outcomes.
Presence as a result of human exploratory nature.
Presence as indicative of availability of resources
for sustenance.
MEANING OF HABITATION FROM FILIPINO
PERSPECTIVE
Habitation entails permanence of residency; evidence of which can
be deduced from the emergence of agricultural activities such as
cultivation of crops and domestication of animals for food
consumption.

This gives us the concept of inhabitant – a person (or animal) that


lives in a particular place.
MEANING OF HABITATION FROM
FILIPINO PERSPECTIVE
In formal usage, habitation refers to the state
or process of living in a particular place; or the
place in which to live like a house or a home
(Oxford Languages).
HABITATION is NOT an
indication, BUT the first step in
building a CIVILIZATION. All
civilizations are deeply rooted
in a CULTURE.
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IMPRESSION
There are lots of evidence showing human presence in
this archipelago during the early period of Philippine
Prehistory but those evidence are still devoid of clarity. Such
presence does not necessarily mean that they have
established permanent settlements (habitation) upon their
arrival considering that their way of life depends on hunting
and gathering. Also, to what human species did they belong
– Homo erectus or Homo sapiens? Fossil records are
incomplete if not elusive on who they are.
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Is there really waves of


migrations pertaining to how
the Philippines was
inhabited by early Filipinos?
There are several theories of early
migrations in the Philippines by
Malayo-Polynesian speaking
Austronesians – all of them describes how
the Philippines was inhabited in the ancient
times.
OUT-OF-TAIWAN (OOT) HYPOTHESIS
also called Austronesian expansion model
a large-scale migration of Austronesians from Taiwan that occurred around
1500-1000 BCE due to population growth.
first settled in northern Luzon intermingling with the earlier
Australo-Melanesian population who had inhabited the islands since about
23,000 years earlier
they migrated southeast to the rest of the Philippines, and into the islands
of the Celebes Sea, Borneo, and Indonesia; then spread westward through
Maritime Southeast Asia colonizing parts of mainland Southeast Asia.
colonized the Northern Mariana Islands at around 1500 BCE after reaching
the Philippines; first humans to reach Remote Oceania particularly in Palau
and Yap by 1000 BCE.
Lapita culture is one of its important migration branch, rapidly spread into
the islands off the coast of northern New Guinea, Solomon Islands, and
other parts of Island Melanesia by 1200 BCE.

reached the islands of Fiji, Samoa, and Tonga at around 900 to 800 BCE -
the furthest extent of the Austronesian expansion into Polynesia until
around 700 CE when there was another surge of island colonization
reached the Cook, Tahiti, and the Marquesas by 700 CE

arrived in Hawai’i by 900 CE


OUT-OF-TAIWAN (OOT) HYPOTHESIS
reached Rapa Nui by 1000 CE and New Zealand by 1200 CE
putative evidence, based in the spread of the sweet potato, that
Austronesians may have reached South America from Polynesia where
they traded with American Indians
Taiwan,
4500 - 1500
CE
Luzon, Northern
1500 -1000 Mariana,
BCE Hawai’i,
1500 BCE
900 CE
Palau &
Yap,
Eastward, southward, &
1000 BCE
westward
expansion from the
Luzon, Lapita Cook, Tahiti &
1500 -1000 BCE Culture, Marquesas,
1200 BCE 900 - 700 CE
Polynesia,
900 - 700
BCE
The Americas,
1000 – 1200 BCE
(?)

Rapa Nui & New


Zealand,
1000 – 1200 BCE

MIGRATION OF
AUSTRONESIAN
PEOPLE AND THEIR
LANGUAGES
Image: Pavljenko - Own work using: Map first shown in Bellwood et al. (2011) and taken from Benton et al. (2012)
NUSANTAO MARITIME TRADING AND
COMMUNICATION NETWORK
a hypothesis developed by Wilhelm Solheim, an alternative to OOT
hypothesis by Peter Bellwood about the spread of Austronesian
language family.
a trade and communication network that first appeared in the
Asia-Pacific region during its Neolithic age, or beginning roughly
around 5000 BCE
Nusantao is an artificial term coined by Solheim, derived from the
Austronesian root words nusa "south" and tao "man, people".
Austronesian proto-historic and historic maritime trade
network in the Indian Ocean.

Image: Pavljenko - Own work using: Map first shown in Bellwood et al. (2011) and taken from Benton et al. (2012)
WHAT IS MIGRATION?
The dictionary meaning of migration is
‘movement of people to a new area or
country in order to find work or living
conditions’. Simply stated, migration is
leaving one’s place for another place.
THE PUSH AND PULL OF
MIGRATION
Push Factors. People leave their place because of
problems and challenges such as food shortage, conflict,
war, or natural calamities and disasters like frequent
flooding.
Pull Factors. People leave their place because of
something good or opportunities like nicer climate, better
food supply, and security.
TYPES OF MIGRATION
INTERNAL Moving WITHIN a state, country, or
MIGRATION continent.

EXTERNAL Moving TO a state, country, or continent.


MIGRATION

EMIGRATION Leaving one country to move to another.

IMMIGRATION Moving into a new country.


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SOME OF THE DRIVERS OR MOTIVATORS OF


HUMAN MIGRATION IN PREHISTORIC TIMES
Food sources
Natural resources Scarcity

Climate Natural calamities


Condition and disasters

Population growth Adventure


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NATURAL RESOURCES
Abundance of natural resources is an important
driver or motivator of human activities. The early
‘visitors’ of this archipelago were possibly drawn by
the abundance of these natural resources that they
need to sustain their hunting and gathering way of
life.
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FOOD SOURCES
Food is essential to physical nourishment and
human survival. When food resources are no
longer available or becomes scarce in one
place, prehistoric people moves to a place
where resources is abundant. This is
because they don’t plant crops or domesticate
animals for food consumption.
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POPULATION GROWTH
As population grows, human activities also increases.
When human activities are to numerous to handle and
manage, people tend to disband or engage into conflict.
The end result is either competition for survival or
expulsion by the victorious groups of the losing
groups. Early settlers in the Philippines are product of
population growth from their original place of origin.
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SCARCITY
Scarcity drags people to unexplored realms
to search for what they need. In the
prehistoric time, when agriculture is yet to be
perfected, population growth in one area often
leads to food scarcity urging prehistoric
people to look for another sources.
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ADVENTURE
Curiosity enables man to discover things, methods,
and places. Man’s curiosity launches him to
venture into unknown places and distant lands to
seek adventure. Ancient tales and epics narrate
these adventures which provides us the idea on
how they move from one place to another.
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CLIMATE CONDITION
Changes in the environment brought by the changing
climate triggers mass movement of insects and animals.
The same is true among humans who also seeks shelter
from the harsh conditions around them. When the climate
condition is no longer bearable, they tend to become
environmental refugees in places where there is an
enabling environment for their growth and survival.
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NATURAL DISASTERS AND CALAMITIES

Frequent natural disasters and calamities also


contributes to mass migration of people from the
place of danger to a safer place. Floods and
frequent flooding pushes people to find higher
grounds especially during the time that engineering
is not yet perfected and men are yet to learn how to
tame the environment for their advantage.
INTENTION AND MIGRATION
Migration can be temporary, occasional, or
permanent. Intention is an important factor in
migration – the intent to temporarily or occasionally
leave one’s place assures that there will be coming
back on the part of the person but when there is no
intent of returning, leaving the place is permanent.
HUMAN EXPLORATION
The dictionary meaning of exploration is ‘the action of exploring
on an unfamiliar area’ or the ‘action of searching an area for
natural resources’. It is a process of exploring with some
expectation of discovery.
It is a process of exploring with some expectation of discovery, to
investigate systematically; seek experience first hand; or simply
wander without purpose.
Like social insects and animals, human beings practiced migration
since time immemorial.
INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC EXPLORATION
INTRINSIC EXPLORATION. A kind of exploration wherein the explorer is
directed towards a specific goal other than the activity itself. Prehistoric people
may have explored the entire australis (southern) region in search for food;
establishing permanent settlement is just incidental or because of necessity.

EXTRINSIC EXPLORATION. A kind of exploration wherein the explorer is


JUST WANDERING AROUND and not directed towards a specific goal.
Ancient explorers could have resorted to this kind of exploration as evidenced
by their continuous movement from one island to another; search for food or
settling permanently is just an option.
IMPRESSION
Human presence in the Philippines during its prehistory is
indicative of man exploring his surrounding because of his
innate nature of being curious to find out what is ‘hidden’ or
‘unknown’ to him and it may not be the migration the way we
currently understand the term. This explorative attitude may
be due to several motivators (push and pull factors) such as
natural resources, food sources, climate condition, population
growth, natural calamities and disasters, scarcity, or
adventure.
Looking at the present situation of Filipinos
working abroad and comparing the scant
evidence of human habitation as well as human
presence found in several places of the
archipelago, it can be concluded that the waves
of migration theories still needs to be put into
acid test.
Migration of people in the early Philippines MAY
NOT have happened as a result of mass
movement of people from one place to another
BUT happened as a result of several natural
processes and conditionalities – the drivers
(push factors) or motivators (pull factors) of
human migration.
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ACTIVITY NO. 01
INSTRUCTION: Use the List of Assigned Readings for Lesson 4.0
attached to this Lesson Presentation. Answer all the guide questions in
each reading material; write your answers in a yellow pad paper, one
inch margin on both sides.
Reading No. 01 – Willian Henry Scott (Old Stone, New Stone, and Iron Age)
Reading No. 02 – Meet The Hobbit-Like Early Human Ancestor Known As Callao Man
(Marco Margaritoff, 2019)
Reading No. 03 – The invisible plant technology of Prehistoric Southeast Asia: Indirect evidence
for basket and rope making at Tabon Cave, Philippines, 39–33,000 years ago (Xhauflair, et al.,
2023)
Reading No. 04 – Sa-huYnh Related Pottery in Southeast Asia (Wilhelm G. Solheim II, 2019)
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LESSON 4.0 LEARNING DISCUSSIONS


Introduction to Philippine Prehistory

Earliest Human Evidence

Early Human Activities

Pre-historic Development and Technology

Human Presence versus Habitation

Waves of Migration
ACTIVITIES & DRILLS

Preparatory Activity
Activity No. 01

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BAC NEXT
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REFERENCES
Austronesian peoples. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Austronesian_peoples#Migration_from_Taiwan

Archaeological Sites in the Philippines.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Archaeological_sites_in_the_Philippines

Field Museum. Southeast Asia Ice Age.


https://philippines.fieldmuseum.org/natural-history/multimedia/1393331. Accessed 10 September
2023.

HistoryLearning.com. (2023). "Tabon Man". Web.


https://historylearning.com/history-of-the-philippines/pre-history/tabon-man/. Accessed 08
September 2023.

Ingicco, Thomas. et al. “Earliest known hominin activity in the Philippines by 709 thousand years ago.
Nature, published online on May 2, 2018; doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0072-8 cited in Sci News, “Archaic
Hominin Arrived in Philippines as Early as 700,000 Years Ago.” Web.
https://www.sci.news/archaeology/archaic-hominins-philippines-05980.html, 07 May 2018. Accessed 20 July
2024.
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REFERENCES
Margaritoff, Marco. Meet the Hobbit-Like Early Human Ancestor Known as Callao Man. All That’s
Interesting Website, 19 April 2019, https://allthatsinteresting.com/callao-man-homo-luzonensis.
Accessed 29 July 2023.
Moya, Jove. Earliest evidence of basket and ties making in Southeast Asia found in Palawan, says
archeologists and researchers. Tatler Asia, 07 July 2023,
https://www.tatlerasia.com/lifestyle/others/basket-and-ties-making-found-in-palawan. Accessed July
14, 2023.

Nusantao Maritime Trading and Communication Network. DBpedia,


https://dbpedia.org/page/Nusantao_Maritime_Trading_and_Communication_Network. Accessed 11
September 2023.

Nusantao Maritime Trading and Communication Network.


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nusantao_Maritime_Trading_and_Communication_Network
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REFERENCES
Salonga, Edward Benrick. “Ugat: Textbook in Reading Philippine History.” Books Atbp. Publishing
Corporation, Mandaluyong City.

Scott, William Henry. Prehispanic Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History Revised Edition
(2003). William Henry Scott and New Day Publishers: Quezon City, 1984.

Wade, Lizzie. “Ancient humans settled the Philippines 700,000 years ago.” Science, 02 May 2018,
https://www.science.org/content/article/ancient-humans-settled-philippines-700000-years-ago-new-fo
ssils-reveal. Accessed 20 July 2024.

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