TABON CAVE  Porcelains and stoneware vessels indicating local
trade with China during Song and Yuan dynasties.
 Tabon Cave is famous for the archaeological findings of
fossils, human bones, claimed to be 22,000 to 24,000
years old
 The caves are named after the Tabon Scrobfowl.
(Tabon bird)
 They were discovered by Dr.Robert B. Fox and his team
from the National Museum of the Philippines.
 There are approximately 215 caves ,38 were explored
and only 7 of which are open for public viewing .
 The Tabon Cave Complex is a 138-hectare museum site
reservation at the  western coastline of Quezon town,
Southern Palawan.   Did not have any knowledge of agriculture and lived
 April 11, 1972 - by the Presidential Proclamation No.
996 , the cave complex became a Site Museum
Reservation.
TABON MAN
 Tabon man is the oldest confirmed modern human in
the Philippines. Evidence of this homo sapiens was
discovered I the Tabon Cave Complex in Palawan . The
discovery was made by Dr. Robert B. Fox, An American
Anthropologist in May 28, 1962.
 The Tabon Man got its name “tabon” from the place
(cave) were it was discovered, the Tabon caves
Dr. Robert Bradford Fox
 Born on May 11, 1916 in Galveston, Texas
 He recieved his AB (Anthropology) from the University
of Southern California (1914).
 His MA (Anthropology) from the University of Texas
(1944).
 His Ph.D (Anthropology) from the University of Chicago
(1954).
 He discovered the Manunggul Jar in Manunggul Cave.
 With his National Museum of the Philippines team,
started excavation from 1962- 1970, and unearthed
burial jars, stone tools, animal bone, etc.., apart from
the very famous Tabon man skull cap remains.
The caves contained an astonishing wealth and an extensive
time- range of cultural materials:
 A flake tool tradition which dates from the Late
Pleistocene.
 Highly developed jar burial complex which appeared
during the late Neolithic and continued on to
developed Metal Age.
Land Bridge or Waves of Migration Theory
Theory of H. Otley Beyer
 The Philippines was once a part of the Asian continent
because of land bridges.
 This geographical feature was common during the
Pleistocene period or the Ice Age some 1.8 million
years ago.
 Waves of migrants from Mainland Asia made their
way to the Philippines crossing the land bridge.
First Migrant- Downmen or Cavemen
 Resembled by Java Man of Indonesia and Peking Man
of China.
by hunting and fishing.
 It was precisely in search of food that they came to
the Philippines by way of the land bridge connected to
the country.
Second Migrant- Aetas or Negritos
 They crossed the land bridged from Malaya, Borneo,
Australia until they reached Palawan, Mindoro, and
Mindanao.
 They used speae and small flint stone weapons.
After the Glacial Period
 Ice around the continent began to thaw, causing
waters to rise and the oceans to form over the land
bridges. This natural events forced Aetas to remain in
the country and become its first permanent inhabitant.
Third Migrant- Indonesians
 Who came to island in boats.
 They had tools made out of stone and steel.
 Engaged in farming and mining.
 Wore clothing and other body ornaments.
Last Migrant- Malay
 Believed came from Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and the
Malay Peninsula.
 Engaged in poetry, weaving, jewelry, making and metal
smelting and introduced irrigation system in rice
planting.
 *This theory also explains the similarities of plants and
animal species found in the country and in some part
of the Asian region.
  It is now housed at the National Museum of
JOCANO's Theory of Felipe Landa Jocano Anthropology and is one of the most popular
 It is difficult to prove that Negritos were the first exhibits there.
inhabitantd of this country. The only thing that can
 The Manunggul Jar is largely made from clay and it
positively concluded from fossil evidence, he says that measures 51.5 cm wide and 66.5 cm high. Its
the first men who came to the Philippines also went embossed, curved designs especially those at the
to New Guinea, Java, Borneo, and Australia. upper portion of the jar were painted in pure
hematite and iron.
TABON BIRD
 The three main features of the Manunggul Jar (the
 Megapodius cumingii also known as Philippine boat itself, the boat driver and the soul) is based
Mound Builder or Philippine Scrubfowl on the Austronesian belief wherein soul of a
human separates from the body after death and
 Inhabit subtropical or tropical forest returns to the Earth in another form for the
purpose of looking after his or her descendants.
 Pigafetta describes the darked coloured chicken –
like bird.  The two human images were said to symbolize two
souls on a voyage toward the afterlife.
 Lays its eggs in deep hole dug in a soft deposit
 The boatman is holding an oar with a missing
 Producing thick hard layers of guano blade while the one on his front shows hands
crossed on his chest. The position of the hands is a
traditional Filipino practice observed when
TABONIAN LIMESTONE PEAKS arranging the corpse.
INDUSTRY
1. The Flake tools H. Otley Beyer – first noted RHINOCERUS
2. Striking platform FOOD OF TABON MAN
3. Anvil
1. Edible bats  Rhinoceros philippinensis is a Pleistocene-
4. Waste flakes
2. Wild pigs and deer aged species of rhinoceros endemic to the
5. Utilized tools
3. Elephants (and other
6. Kuba or Humpback large mammals)
Philippine islands.
4. Wild food plants
RHINO EXCAVATION
5. Shells
PLACE YEAR AGE PART
FOUND
Cagayan Province 1936 50,000 Foot
the importance of Palawan in the search of prehistoric man bone
in the Philippines. Fort Bonifacio 1965 ---- Jaw

Robert B. Fox – discovered hundreds of caves and rock Rizal,Kalinga 2014 709,000 75%
Skeleton
shelters between 1962 and 1966

LIMESTONE PEAKS AT LIPUUN POINT, PALAWAN

 Middle Miocene Period (14 – 12 years ago)  Filipinos were thrilled to learn of evidence that humans

lived in the Philippines as early as 709,000 years ago.

 Characterized by rounded limestone domes, steep
cliffs and a typical covering a thick vegetation This was proven through the discovery of a rhinoceros

skeleton, along with prehistoric stone tools in the

 210 meters about sea level
municipality of Rizal, Kalinga. The stone tools, together
MANUNGGUL JAR
with butchery marks on the rhino bones, suggest that
 A secondary burial jar excavated from Neolithic ancient hominins colonized the Philippines about ten
burial site and discovered in Manunggul cave of
times earlier than what was previously believed. The
the Tabon Caves at Lipuun Point in Palawan on
March 1964. fossils were excavated by a team of Filipino and French

archeologists led by Dr. Thomas Inggico, Clyde Jago-on,

 It is widely acknowledge to be one of the finest and Marian C. Reyes.
Philippine pre-colonial artworks ever produced.