Early Philippines

Ancient Philippine society

People groups (according to Peter Bellwood)

SOUTHERN AUSTRONESIANS
MONGOLOID
● Filipinos
Negritos ● Indonesians
- Traditionally forest and ● Malaysians
coastline hunters and
gatherers
● Malayo-Polynesians

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Austronesians
5th and 4th millennia B.C.
- Expanded from southern China to Taiwan to Northern Philippines

According to Peter Bellwood’s “DIFFUSION theory”

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 Things common in
Austronesian cultures
● Boats and boat-building
● Rice
● Swidden agriculture
● Communities near bodies of water
● __________
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 Things common in
Austronesian cultures
● Boats and boat-building
● Rice
● Swidden agriculture
● Communities near bodies of water
● Austronesian language
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Ancient Philippine society
People groups (according to Henry Otley Beyer)

Cave Negritos Indonesians Malays

men

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 Themes in the study of Pre-
historic Philippines
● Role of the Chinese traders
● Muslim sultanate and Muslim polities
● Political and trade relations with
other Southeast Asian countries

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 1

Filipino-Chinese relations
As early as the 10th century
Circa 10th century
Proto-historic period of Philippine history
The Philippines according to Chinese sources

982 A.D.
Chinese sources

1225 A.D.
Chao Ju Kua’s account
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Write Time #1
1. What do you think the document is all about?
2. Give one aspect of Philippine society that can
be shown in the copper plate.
3. What familiar words do you see in the
inscription?
4. What can you surmise/conclude about
leadership in Pre-Hispanic Philippines based
on the document?
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900 A.D.

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National Museum periodization
PALEOLITHIC METAL

1 2 3 4

NEOLITHIC CERAMIC
Chronology of Philippine Prehistory
PALEOLITHIC METAL

1 2 4
3

NEOLITHIC Proto-historic period

 Paleolithic Age 1
●Estimated 50,000 to 10,000 years ago
●Flaked stone tools
●Earliest evidence come from the
remains of three individuals at the
Tabon Caves, Lipuun Point, Quezon,
Palawan
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 The artifacts recovered
belong to different periods
ranging from 50,000 years
ago to the 14th century A.D.

Between 1962 and 1966, an archaeological exploration

was conducted by a team from the National Museum
headed by anthropologist Dr. Robert Fox in the caves
of Lipuun Point and its immediate vicinity.
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Paleolithic stone
tools found in
Nueva Ecija and
other sites in
Rizal province,
Taal, Novaliches

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Neolithic Age 2
● Estimated 5,000 – 1,000 BC
● Polished stone tools, settlements
and use of pottery
● Earliest evidence comes from
Duyong Cave, also in Palawan,
excavated by Dr. Fox.
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Kind of adze found
in sites like
Cagayan, Palawan,
Isabela, and
Pampanga
~2680 BC
Source: National Museum

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Metal Age 3
●Estimated 1,000 B.C. –
900 A.D.

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Kalanay pottery design
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Metal Age site
(Butuan boat)
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 Metal Age site (Ayub Cave, in Pinol,
Metal Age site
Maitum, Saranggani Province)
(Manunggul Cave, Palawan)
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Metal Age site (downtown Cebu – Magallanes & Lapulapu Streets, 1967)
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Metal Age site (downtown Cebu – Magallanes & Lapulapu Streets, 1967)
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1. Make a table with 4
rows and two columns

2. Plot out the dates of

the different Metal Age
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H. Otley Beyer’s chronology
(Probably bronze and copper)
- between 200 and 500 BC
Wilhelm Solheim II’s
chronology – Iron Age
• The Early Formative Filipino Period
(1,000 BC to 500 BC),
• The Middle Formative (500 BC to 100 AD)
• Late Formative (100 to 500 AD)
Felipe Landa Jocano’s
chronology
• Jocano believes that iron first appeared
during what he calls the Incipient Period
(500 BC to 900 AD)
Robert Fox’s chronology
• For Fox, iron first appeared in the
early period of the Metal Age at
700 BC to 200 BC
Write Time #2
●Based on the archaeological evidence from
different sites all over the Philippines, what can
you surmise from the evidence?
●Why do you think these four (4) archaeologists
and an anthropologist had different time periods
for the Philippines’ Metal Age?
●What do those different time periods tell us
about historical and archaeological studies?
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 2

MINDANAO
SULU SULTANATE
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 Sharif Kabungsuwan
Rajah Baguinda (Maguindanao)
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TURNING POINTS
●End of the 13th century – beginning of the 14th
century: Arab traders arrived in Sulu
●End of the 14th century: Rajah Baguinda Ali
established a principality in Sulu
●Middle of the 15th century: the Sulu Sultanate was
established by Sharif Abu Bakr
●1516: Sharif Muhammed Kabungsuwan founded the
sultanate in Maguindanao
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PRE-SPANISH GOVERNMENT
SETTLEMENT
BARANGAY – villages
that consisted of more
or less 100 families

DATU – ruler of the

barangay
Functions of the Datu
•Chief executive
•Law-giver
•Chief judge
•Military head
•Assisted by a Council of
Elders called the maginoo
Pre-Hispanic Society (Social Classes)

Maharlika Timawa

Aliping Aliping
namamahay saguiguilid
CHARACTERISTICS OF PRE-HISPANIC SOCIETY (BARANGAY)

• DEPENDENCE ON BOATS
1

• POSSESSED A HIGHLY LOCALIZED

GOVERNMENT

Credit: Maribago Bluewaters Resort

Credit: FilipiKnow

16th century barangay

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Artist’s rendition of skull moulding not totally historically accurate © Filipiknow.net

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 Southeast Asia
●At the crossroads
of the Indian Ocean,
Pacific Ocean and
the South China Sea

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https://archive.artsmia.org/art-of-asia/history/se-asia-map.cfm
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 7 –
th century 10 th

Southeast Asia
● Was a vital passageway between
India and China
● Source of spice and jungle products
● Spice capital
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From Kenneth Hall’s “A History of Early Southeast Asia”
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-history-of-spices-58747815/ 58
 59
http://trade-routes-resources.blogspot.com/2009_12_01_archive.html
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https://architectureofbuddhism.com/books/historical-maps-southeast-asia/
 SE Asian areas
of expertise
● Farming
● Use of bronze objects
● Sailing and boat-building
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From Kenneth Hall’s “A History of Early Southeast Asia”
 innovative
farming
● Domestication of rice
(wet-rice cultivation)
● Slash-and-burn
technique

Photo credit: World Agro-forestry website

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 Sailing/
boat-building
● “sewn” boats assembled
using lugs from the sugar
palm tree

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Photo credit: Pierre Manguin “Ships and Shipping in Southeast Asia”
 Pre-Hispanic
chiefdoms
SETTLEMENT HIERARCHIES

COMPLEX MORTUARY PATTERNS

HOUSEHOLD WEALTH AND DIETARY

DIFFERENTIATION

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From Laura Lee Junker’s “Raiding, Trading and Feasting”
 CA. 500 B.C. – 1000 A.D.
Philippine Metal Age

CA. 1000 – 1520 A.D.

Protohistoric Age

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From Laura Lee Junker’s “Raiding, Trading and Feasting”
 Philippine coastal trading polities

Manila

Cebu
Jolo (Sulu)

Cotabato

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From Laura Lee Junker’s “Raiding, Trading and Feasting”
From Anthony Reid’s “Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680” 67
Characteristics of Tribute
Strong system
maritime-trading agricultural
polities base

Specialized
production of
critical trade goods
Extensive
riverine
trade
networks

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 Primary export products
of lowland traders to the interior

Earthenware Iron
pottery implements

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LAND USE AND
AGRICULTURE
SOUTHEAST ASIA AND THE PHILIPPINE CONTEXT
3 types of rice cultivation
●Shifting cultivation in the low
slopes
●Broadcasting seed on a flood
plain
●Transplanting seedlings
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“ "The lands which they inhabited were divided
among the whole village (barangay), especially the
irrigated portion, and thus each one knew his own.
No one belonging to another village would cultivate
them unless after purchase or inheritance.
The lands on the tingues, or mountain-ridges, are
not divided, but owned in common by the village.“ –
Fray Juan de Plasencia as cited by Anthony Reid
From Anthony Reid’s “Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680” 72
Fig. 7 A simple
Visayan house with treehouses
probably used as granaries or refuges

From Anthony Reid’s “Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680” 73

FOOD
● Rice – C. Luzon & Panay MINDANAO*
In Other parts ● Sago
● Millet ● Breadfruit – in
● Borona some parts
● Roasted bananas
● Sweet potatoes
● Oropisa *food eaten by the poorer
people in the area
● Yams

From Anthony Reid’s “Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680” 74

“ They put a basketful of it [seed] into the river to soak.
After a few days they take it from the water; what is bad
and has not sprouted is thrown away. The rest is put
on a bamboo mat and covered with earth, and placed
where it is kept moist by the water. After the sprouting
grains have germinated sufficiently, they are
transplanted one by one, as lettuce is cultivated in
Spain. In this way they have abundance of rice in a
short time (Sande I 576: 67; cf. Scott 1982: 526).
From Anthony Reid’s “Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680” 75
“ "The inhabitants of the mountains
cannot live without the fish, salt, and
other articles of food. . . of other
districts; nor, on the other hand, can
those of the coast live without the rice
and cotton of the mountaineers"
(Loarca I 5 82: 121)

From Anthony Reid’s “Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680” 76

The Body in the SE Asian
and Philippine contexts
Teeth filing and blackening. Tattooing. Bored and distended earlobes.

From Anthony Reid’s “Southeast Asia in the Age of Commerce, 1450-1680”

 TEETH FILING

http://realhistoryww.com/world_history/ancient/Misc/Ancient_American_affinities/American_affinities.htm 78
BORED AND DISTENDED
EARLOBES
Source: E-copy of the Boxer Codex courtesy of the Lilly Library Digital Collection 80
TATTOOING
Significance
●Talismanic
●Status
symbol

Source: E-copy of the Boxer Codex courtesy of the Lilly Library Digital Collection 82