Philippine Artifacts Essay

The Manunggul disturb is evidence of the spirituality of indigenous Filipinos.The Manunggul jar is cultural treasure base in the early 1960s in Manunggul Cave, Lipuun Point, Palawan which is classified as a secondary interment jar, which means that only the bones of the corpse ar placed inside. It has an elaborate design consisting of scrolls and curves on the top cover and is varicoloured with hematite a type of mineral that produces red coloring formerly subjected to heat. However, the most remarkable part of the jar is its lid which features two souls pilotage to the afterworld in a death boat.The figure at the rear is be immenseings a steering paddle, although the blade of the paddle is missing. The one in sc arr is believed to be the soul of the person whose runs argon inside the jar, since it has its implements of war folded across its chest which was the usual position of a corpse organism prep atomic number 18d for burial chamber. It also seems identical the figu res argon wearing cloth bands even over the crowns of their heads, more evidence of indigenous burial workouts in the Philippines. The burial jar which is unrivaled in Southeast Asia and considered as the work of a master potter, signifies the belief of early Filipinos in life after death. It is exit to the juvenile Neolithic Period, about 890-710 B.C.lagoon Copperplate InscriptionThe Laguna Copperplate Inscription is the oldest written instrument ever entrap in the Philippines, and one of very few available artefacts of precolonial times. fit to the inscription on the plate, it was written during the Saka era 822 (which translates to April 21, 900 CE). Portions of the inscription are in Malay, Javanese, and Tagalog, as tumesce as Sanskrit, which is not part of the Southeast Asian linguistic group.The copperplate engraving is now in the posession of the National Museum of the Philippines.InscriptionThe copperplate was a document from a chief of Tundun saying that he has apo logiseed a person named Namwaran of a debt of 1 kati and 8 suwarna (926.4 grams) of gold.The text has been translated as followsLong Live year of Siyaka 822, month of Waisaka, according to astronomy. The fourth day of the waning moon, Monday. On this occasion, brothel keeper Angkatan, and her brother whose name is Buka, the children of the honorable Namwaran, were awarded a document of complete pardon from the Commander in principal(prenominal) of Tundun, represented by the ecclesiastic minister of religion of Pailah, Jayadewa. By this order, through the scribe, the Honourable Namwaran has been forgiven of all and is put downd from his debts and arrears of 1 kat and 8 suwarna before the Honourable Lord Minister of Puliran, Ka Sumuran by the authority of the Lord Minister of Pailah.Because of his faithful service as a subject of the Chief, the Honourable and widely renowned Lord Minister of Binwangan recognized all the life history relatives of Namwaran who were claimed by th e Chief of Dewata, represented by the Chief of Medang. Yes, therefore the existing descendants of the Honourable Namwaran are forgiven, indeed, of any and all debts of the Honourable Namwaran to the Chief of Dewata. This, in any case, shall declare to whomever henceforth that on some incoming day should there be a man who claims that no release from the debt of the HonourableMaitum Anthropomorphic PotteriesIn 1991, archeologists observed anthropomorphic secondary burial jars in Ayub Cave, Piol. Maitum, Sarangani Province, in Mindanao, Philippines. Since this sensational finding, a number of archeologic excavations were conducted to recover these important artifacts. These excavation projectswere either government or in camera sponsored.These burial jars are made of earthenware and characterized by their design and form that looks like or suggests human figures with complete or partial facial characteristics. These are earthenware potteries with incisions and cut-out foot-rings. These humanlike forms were associated with metal implements like bracelets. Some jars are decorated with spyglass beads and shell scoop, spoon, and pendants. Among the anthropomorphic vessels are plain non-anthropomorphic burial jars.According to scientists, these secondary burial jars date back to the Metal Age. The artifacts were go out to 830 +/-60 B.P. (by a calibrated date of A.D. 70 to 370) and 1920 +/- 50 B.P. (by a calibrated date of 5 B.C. to 225 A.D.). Scientists determined the age of the jars by doing radiocarbon date tests on the soot samples taken from a small earthenware vessel. This small vessel was found inside one of the larger burial jar.Angono PetroglyphsThe Angono Petroglyphs are 127 images carved into a argue of judder, and are estimated to date back to 3,000 BC. They were sight in 1965 by Carlos Botong Francisco along the boundaries of Angono and Binangonan, Rizal. It is considered thye earliest prehistoric jar drawings. The site is a rock shelter or a s hallow cave about 63 meters wide, 8 meters deep and 5 meters at its highest point.One hundred twenty dollar bill seven human figures scattered on the wall were made by engraving lines using a valet of precious stone on the step forward of the rock shelter. The cuts vary from ten centimeters down to faint lines figures. The figures consist of account heads, with or without necks set on a rectangular or v-shaped body. The one-dimensional arms and legs are usually flexed. Some incisions on the rock wall are triangles, rectangles and circles. Rock art is final stagely linked with a organization of belief of a particular group of plenty. It is symbolic, not decorative.According to Filipino anthropologist deliveryman Peralta, The engraved drawings are made without any reference to a baseline, suggesting that these were made during different points in time through a long period. In 1996, the petroglyphs were included in the World Monuments Watch, drawing attention to the rock arts conservation. Since their discovery, many of the carvings have been eroded, or destroyed by vandalism.Butuan PalaeographThe Butuan Palaeograph, also known as the Butuan Silver Strip is a piece of metal with inscriptions found in Butuan province in mid-1970s by a team of archaeologists from the National Museum. Treasure hunters who were looking for old ceramics and gold ornaments discovered this metal strip inside a wooden coffin. Coffins of the same characteristics, which date back to the 14th and 15th centuries, were found in the site, however, according to Dr. Jesus Peralta, found inside were human fossils with artificially deformed skulls a practice limited to Southern Philippines and unpopular in Luzon.Because of the similarities found between the coffins, it is middling for the archaeologists to assume that the latter came from that same era. But debates arose regarding the origin of the said artifact, precisely until now, it is considered to belong to Butuan where it was fo und. Dr. Boechari of Indonesia, said Peralta, identified the writings as very close to a Javanese script that existed from 12th to 15th century. This yet-to-be-decipher Butuan palaeograph is now in the hands of Proceso Gonzales, the city engineer of Butuan.Calatagan PotThe Calatagan Pot, excavated by treasure hunters in 1961, is considered to be the first pre-Spanish colonization artifact with traces of indigenous writing. Discovered at Calatagan, Batangas, the scripts are oriented in a left-to-right manner around the blab out of the pot which are separated by marks of five or seven symbols. Studies conducted in the Calatagan Pot arrived at a belief that its scripts is a form of Tanaga a four-versed poetry with no rhyme or a Mangyan Ambahan a type of chanted poetry of seven syllables.The Butuan Ivory sealShown on the right is an osseous tissue seal from Butuan. The upper representation is how a wax impression from the tool would look like. The lower view shows the seem of the ivory seal except that it has been flipped (mirror image) to show the writing in its enlighten orientation. The combination of the positive impression and the negative but flipped view gives a better idea of what the writing looks like than either one alone.The ivory seals provenance is unknown to me. Antoon Postma reports that it was shown to him by Dr. Angel Bautista in 1990 at a conference in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. He says that the seal was in Bautistas custody but does not know whether it belonged to the National Museum or not. The writing is stylized Kavi, each letter being fitted into an oblong package so that it appears distorted. Postma states that the script is similar to that on the inscription of Puh Serang near Kediri go out 1002. He further indicates that the writing says Butban, which presumably stands for Butwan or Butuan since band w are frequently interchangeable. If this is correct, the three symbols need to transliterate as bu, t-ba, and n. Although I am not v ery familiar with this specific variation of the script, I find it hard to see the medial form of u in the first symbol and the t-baligature in the second symbol.Balangay.The Balangay is the first wooden vessel ever excavated in Southeast Asia. Also known as the Butuan boat, this artifact is an evidence of early Philippinecraftsmanship and their early attempts to venture in open waters.The balangay boats were discovered in the late 1970s in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte by archaeologists from the National Museum. at that place were actually nine balangays recovered in the province. The first balangay, now preserve and displayed in a site museum in Libertad, Butuan City, was radiocarbon tested and was dated at year 320. The second boat was dated to 1250, and is now dictated at the Maritime Hall of the National Museum in Manila. The third balangay was transferred to the Butuan regional Museum and is still undergoing preservation. The six other boats, which are yet to be excavated, remain in their original waterlogged condition which is proven to be the trounce way to preserve the said artifacts.Bronze Socketed adzes and MouldsSocketed adzes made from tan are characteristic of the Early Metal Age. Bronze socketed adzes were found in Batu Puti and Uyaw Caves in Palawan Sanga-Sanga in Tawi-Tawi and Batangas. These tools were dated from 300 B.C. to 500 B.C. Clay molds for casting these bronzy adzes recovered in the caves indicate that the people during that time reused damaged bronze implements for making socketed adzes.The present implement known as wasay (axe) in primaeval Philippines could have come from the bronze socketed adze of the Early Metal Age. rock and roll and Shell AdzesPrehistoric man used ground and polished stone tools. It is believed that a stone adze shaped like an upper drift incisor could be found where lightning hit a tree. Today, these stone implements are associated with windfall and lightning. Locally they are called ngipet duldug (thunder tooth), tango han linti (lightning tooth), and dila latik (light-ning tongue).The polished stone adzes that are oval in cross-section were made and used by the people during the Early Neolithic period. Ground stone tools typical of the Quadrangular Adze Culture on the other hand, were found in a late Neolithic jar burial site. They are believed to be used for woodworking. These are small, ground and polished adzes of fine grained stones which are rectangular or trapezoidal in cross-section.The stone adzes were found in Arku Cave, in Penablanca, Cagayan Duyung Cave in Palawan Dimolit, Isabela and Candaba, Pampanga.