Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-g7gxr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-02T20:41:17.518Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Terminal Pleistocene to mid-Holocene occupation and an early cremation burial at Ille Cave, Palawan, Philippines

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Helen Lewis ,
Victor Paz ,
Myra Lara ,
Huw Barton ,
Philip Piper ,
Janine Ochoa ,
Timothy Vitales ,
A. Jane Carlos ,
Tom Higham  and
Leee Neri
...Show all authors
Helen Lewis
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Victor Paz
Affiliation:
Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
Myra Lara
Affiliation:
Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
Huw Barton
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Ancient History, University of Leicester, Leicester, UK
Philip Piper
Affiliation:
Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
Janine Ochoa
Affiliation:
Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
Timothy Vitales
Affiliation:
Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
A. Jane Carlos
Affiliation:
Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
Tom Higham
Affiliation:
Oxford Radiocarbon Accelerator Unit, RLAHA, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK
Leee Neri
Affiliation:
Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
Vito Hernandez
Affiliation:
Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
Janelle Stevenson
Affiliation:
Research School of Pacific and Asian Studies, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
Emil Charles Robles
Affiliation:
Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
Andrea Ragragio
Affiliation:
Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
Rojo Padilla
Affiliation:
Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
Wilhelm Solheim II
Affiliation:
Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines Diliman, Quezon City, Manila, Philippines
Wilfredo Ronquillo
Affiliation:
Archaeology Division, National Museum of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Excavations at a cave site on the island of Palawan in the Philippines show occupation from c. 11000 BP. A fine assemblage of tools and faunal remains shows the reliance of hunter-foragers switching from deer to pig. In 9500-9000 BP, a human cremation burial in a container was emplaced, the earliest yet known in the region.

Keywords

Southeast AsiaPhilippinesPalawanIlle CaveLate Palaeolithicterminal Pleistoceneearly to mid-Holocenecremationoccupationradiocarbon dates
Type
Research article
Information
Antiquity , Volume 82 , Issue 316 , June 2008 , pp. 318 - 335
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acsadi, G. & Nemeskeri, I.. 1970. History of human life span and mortality. Budapest: Akad´emiai Kiad.Google Scholar
Anderson, D. D. 1997. Cave archaeology in Southeast Asia. Geoarchaeology 12(6):607–38.3.0.CO;2-2>CrossRefGoogle Scholar
ASP (Archaeological Studies Program). 2005-6. Report on the excavation at Dewil Valley, El Nido Palawan. Unpublished report, University of the Philippines.Google Scholar
Barker, G., Barton, H., Beavitt, P., Bird, M., Daly, P., Doherty, C., Gilbertson, D., Hunt, C., Krigbaum, J., Lewis, H., Manser, J., McClaren, S., Paz, V., Piper, P., Pyatt, B., Rabett, R., Reynolds, T., Rose, J., Rushworth, G. & Stephens, M.. 2002. Prehistoric foragers and farmers in Southeast Asia: renewed investigations at Niah Cave, Sarawak. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 68: 147–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barker, G., Barton, H., Bird, M., Daly, P., Datan, I., Dykes, A., Farr, L., Gilbertson, D., Harrisson, B., Hunt, C., Higham, T., Kealhofer, L., Krigbaum, J., Lewis, H., McLaren, S., Paz, V., Pike, A., Piper, P., Pyatt, B., Rabett, R., Reynolds, T., Rose, J., Rushworth, G., Stephens, M., Stringer, C., Thompson, J. & Turney, C.. 2007. The ‘human revolution’ in lowland tropical Southeast Asia: the antiquity and behavior of anatomically modern humans at Niah Cave (Sarawak, Borneo). Journal of Human Evolution 52: 243–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barton, H. 2006. A technological and functional analysis of Ille Cave stone tools. Unpublished report, Ille Cave Project, University of the Philippines.Google Scholar
Bass, W. M. 1995. Human osteology: a laboratory and field manual (4th edition). Columbia (MO): Missouri Archaeological Society.Google Scholar
Bayard, D. T. 1996-7. Bones of contention: the Non Nok Tha burials and the chronology and context of early Southeast Asian bronze, in Bulbeck, F. D. (ed.) Ancient Chinese and Southeast Asian Bronze Age cultures, Volume 2: 889–940. Taipei: SMC Publishing.Google Scholar
Bellwood, P. 1997. Prehistory of the Indo-Malaysian archipelago (revised edition). Honolulu: University of Hawai'i Press.Google Scholar
Bellwood, P. 2005. The first farmers: the origins of agricultural societies. Malden (MA): Blackwell.Google Scholar
Bird, M. I., Taylor, I. D. & Hunt, C.. 2005. Palaeoenvironments of insular Southeast Asia during the Last Glacial Period: a savannah corridor in Sundaland? Quaternary Science Reviews 24: 2228–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bird, M. I., Boobyer, E. M., Bryant, C., Lewis, H. A., Paz, V. & Stephens, W. E.. 2007. A long record of environmental change from bat guano deposits in Makangit Cave, Palawan, Philippines. Earth and Environmental Science Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh 98: 59–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowler, J. M., Thorne, A. G. & Polach, H.. 1972. Pleistocene man in Australia: age and significance of the Mungo skeleton. Nature 240: 48–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bronk Ramsey, C., Higham, T.F.G. & Leach, P.. 2004. Towards high precision AMS: progress and limitations. Radiocarbon 46(1):17–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bruzek, J. 2002. A method for visual determination of sex, using the hipbone. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 117: 157–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bulbeck, F. D. 2003. Hunter-gatherer occupation of the Malay Peninsula from the Ice Age to the Iron Age, in Mercader, J. (ed.) Under the canopy: the archaeology of tropical rain forests: 119–60. New Brunswick; Piscataway (NJ): Rutgers University Press.Google Scholar
Cayron, J. G. 2004. The Sinalakan turtle-shaped artefact, in Paz, V. (ed.) Southeast Asian archaeology. Wilhelm G. Solheim II Festschrift: 276–91. Diliman: University of the Philippines Press.Google Scholar
De la Torre, A. 1999. Archaeological exploration at Ille Cave site (IV-98-P), at Barangay New Ibajay, Municipality of El Nido, Province of Palawan (January 19-February 2 1999). Unpublished report, National Museum of the Philippines.Google Scholar
Détroit, F., Dizon, E., S´emah, F., Falgueres, C., Hameau, S., Ronquillo, W. & Cabanis, E.. 2002. Notes on the morphology and age of the Tabon Cave fossil Homo sapiens. Current Anthropology 43(4):660–6.Google Scholar
Dizon, E. Z. 2003. New direct dating of the human fossils from Tabon Cave, Palawan, Philippines. Proceedings of the Society of Philippine Archaeologists 1: 63–7.Google Scholar
Esselstyn, J. A., Widman, P. & Heaney, L.. 2004. The mammals of Palawan Island, Philippines. Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 117(3): 271–302.Google Scholar
Eusebio, M. S., Arriola, D., Carlos, J., Campos, F., Concepcion, N. de la, Hernandez, V. & Vitales, T. J.. 2006. The latest on the 2006 excavation season at the Ille rockshelter. Test Pit 8: 13–17.Google Scholar
Fox, R. 1970. The Tabon caves. Manila: National Museum of the Philippines.Google Scholar
Gillespie, R. 1997. Burnt and unburnt carbon: dating charcoal and burnt bone from the Willandra Lakes, Australia. Radiocarbon 39: 225–36.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gillespie, R. 1998. Alternative timescales: a critical review of Willandra Lakes dating. Archaeology in Oceania 33: 169–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hara, Y. & Cayron, J. G.. 2001. A preliminary report on the excavation of Ille Cave, El Nido, Palawan. Hukay 3(1):81–92.Google Scholar
Harrisson, B. 1967. A classification of Stone Age burials from Niah Great Cave, Sarawak. Sarawak Museum Journal 15: 126–200.Google Scholar
Hashimoto, W. & Sato, T.. 1973. Geologic structure of North Palawan and its bearing on the geological history of the Philippines, in Kobayashi, T. & Toriyama, R. (ed.) Geology and palaeontology of Southeast Asia 13: 145–61. Tokyo: University of Tokyo Press.Google Scholar
Hedges, R.E.M., Law, I. A., Bronk, C. R. Ramsey & Housley, R. A.. 1989. The Oxford accelerator mass spectrometry facility: technical developments in routine dating. Archaeometry 31(2):99–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Heaney, L. R. 1985. Zoogeographic evidence for Middle and Late Pleistocene land bridges to the Philippine islands. Modern Quaternary Research in Southeast Asia 9: 127–44.Google Scholar
Heaney, L. R., Walsh, J. S. Jr. & Peterson, T.. 2005. The roles of geological history and colonization abilities in genetic differentiation between mammalian populations in the Philippine archipelago. Journal of Biogeography 32: 229–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jago-on, S.C. 2000. Archaeological program: Ille rock shelter 11 March-17 May 2000. Unpublished report, National Museum of the Philippines.Google Scholar
Kress, J. H. 2004. Ille excavations, site report. Test Pit 4: 15–18.Google Scholar
Lampert, C., Glover, I. C., Hedges, R.E.M., Heron, C. P., Higham, T.E.G., Stern, B., Shoocongdej, R. & Thompson, G. B.. 2003. Dating resin coating on pottery: the Spirit Cave early ceramic dates revised. Antiquity 77:126–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lampert, C., Glover, I. C., Hedges, R.E.M., Heron, C. P., Higham, T.E.G., Stern, B., Shoocongdej, R. & Thompson, G. B.. 2004. Response. Antiquity 78:186–7.Google Scholar
Lanting, J. N., Aerts-Bijma, A. T. & Plicht, J. van der. 2001. Dating of cremated bones. Radiocarbon 43:249–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lara, M. G. 2006. An integrated report on the burials found in Ille Rockshelter, El Nido, northern Palawan during the 2005 excavation. Unpublished report, University of the Philippines.Google Scholar
Lewis, H. A., Paz, V., Kress, J., Lara, M. G., Medrana, L.J.G., Carlos, A. J., Piper, P., Hernandez, V., Barton, H., Robles, E., Vitales, T. J., Ragragio, A., Solheim, W. II & Ronquillo, W.. 2006. Early occupation at Ille Cave, New Ibajay, El Nido, Palawan, Philippines: report on the 2005 excavation season. Unpublished report, British Academy, NERC/Orads & National Museum of the Philippines.Google Scholar
Lucchini, V., Meijaard, E., Cheong, H. D., Groves, C. P. & Randi, E.. 2005. New phylogenetic perspectives among species of South-east Asian wild pig (Sus sp.) based on mtDNA sequences and morphometric data. Journal of Zoology 266:25–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Merill, E. D. 1923. An enumeration of Philippine flowering plants, Volume 1 (Philippine Islands Bureau of Science Publication 18). Manila: Bureau of Printing.Google Scholar
Neri, L. M. 2006. Obsidian and its geochemical results in the Philippines. Test Pit 8:35–7.Google Scholar
O'Connor, S. 2007. New evidence from East Timor contributes to our understanding of earliest modern human colonisation east of the Sunda shelf. Antiquity 81:523–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ochoa, J. 2005. In dogged pursuit: a reassessment of the dog's domestication and social incorporation. Hukay 8:37–66.Google Scholar
Pawlik, A. 2004. A geodetic site catchment of the Ille Cave platform with tilted theodolite and vector graphics mapping, in Paz, V. (ed.) Southeast Asian archaeology. Wilhelm G. Solheim II Festschrift: 225–38. Diliman: University of the Philippines Press.Google Scholar
Paz, V. 1998. Archaeological survey of El Nido, Palawan, Philippines. Unpublished report, National Museum of the Philippines.Google Scholar
Paz, V. & Ronquillo, W.. 2004. Report on the Palawan Island Palaeohistoric Research Season for 2004. Unpublished report, University of the Philippines.Google Scholar
Pelin, I. C. & Duyar, I.. 2003. Estimating stature from tibia length: a comparison of methods. Journal of Forensic Science 48(4):708–12.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Reimer, P. J., Baillie, L.M.G., Bard, E., Bayliss, A., Beck, J. W., Bertrand, C., Blackwell, P. G., Buck, C. E., Burr, G., Cutler, K. B., Damon, P. E., Edwards, R. L., Fairbanks, R. G., Friedrich, M., Guilderson, T. P., Hughen, K. A., Kromer, B., McCormac, F. G., Manning, S., Bronk Ramsey, C., Reimer, R. W., Remmele, S., Southon, J. R., Stuiver, M., Talamo, S., Taylor, F. W., Plicht, J. van der & Weyhenmeyer, C. E.. 2004. Intcal4 terrestrial radiocarbon age calibration 26-0 ka. Radiocarbon 46:1029-58.Google Scholar
Reis, K. R. & Garong, A. M.. 2001. Late Quaternary terrestrial vertebrates from Palawan Island, Philippines. Palaeogeography, Palaeoclimatology, Palaeoecology 171: 409–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reynolds, T.E.G. 1993. Problems in the stone age of South-East Asia. Proceedings of the Prehistoric Society 59: 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Roberts, R. G., Morwood, M. J. & Westaway, K. E.. 2005. Illuminating Southeast Asian prehistory: new archaeological and palaeoanthropological frontiers for luminescence dating. Asian Perspectives 44 (2): 293–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, W. H. 1968. A critical study of the Prehispanic source materials for the study of Philippine history. Manila: University of Santo Tomas Press.Google Scholar
SEAICE (Southeast Asian Institute for Culture & Environment). 1999. Archaeological study: El Nido community based conservation and development program. Unpublished report, Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement.Google Scholar
SEAICE (Southeast Asian Institute for Culture & Environment). 2000. A brief summary of the archaeological exploration of Ille Cave and rock shelter. Unpublished report, University of the Philippines.Google Scholar
S´emah, F. & A-M, Semah. 2006. Palaeolithic settlements in the Southeast Asian archipelagos: an Indonesian perspective, in Simanjuntak, T., Hisyam, M., Prasetyo, B. & Nastiti, T. S. (ed.) Archaeology: Indonesian perspective: 148–61. Jakarta: Indonesian Institute of Sciences International Center for Prehistoric & Austronesian Studies.Google Scholar
Semah, F., Semah, A.-M., Falgueres, C., Détroit, F., Simanjuntak, T., Moigne, A.-M., Gallet, X. & Hameau, S.. 2004. The significance of the Punung karstic area (Eastern Java) for the chronology of the Javanese Palaeolithic, with special reference to the Song Terus cave. Modern Quaternary Research in Southeast Asia 19:45–61.Google Scholar
Solheim, W. G. II. 2000. Excavations of Ille rock shelter, Palawan, Philippines (Preliminary report). Unpublished report, National Museum of the Philippines.Google Scholar
Solheim, W. G. 2006. Archaeology and culture in Southeast Asia: unravelling the Nusantao. Manila: University of the Philippines Press.Google Scholar
Szabo, K. 2004. Technique and practice: shell-working in the Western Pacific and Island Southeast Asia. Unpublished PhD dissertation, Australian National University.Google Scholar
Szabo, K., Swete, M. C. Kelly & Penalosa, A.. 2004. Preliminary results from excavations in the eastern mouth of Ille Cave, northern Palawan, in Paz, V. (ed.) Southeast Asian archaeology. Wilhelm G. Solheim II Festschrift: 209–24. Diliman: University of the Philippines Press.Google Scholar
Szabo, K., Brumm, A. & Bellwood, P.. 2007. Shell artefact production at 32,000-28,000 BP in Island Southeast Asia. Current Anthropology 48(5):701–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Teodosio, S.R.F. 2004. Preliminary report of the Makangit Cave investigation, in Paz, V. & Ronquillo, W. (ed.) Report on the Palawan Island Palaeohistoric Research Project for 2004. Unpublished report, University of the Philippines.Google Scholar
Trotter, M. & Gleser, G. C.. 1958. A re-evaluation of estimation of stature based on measurements of stature taken during life and of long bones after death. American Journal of Physical Anthropology 16:79–123.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Vaughan, P. C. 1985. Use-wear analysis of flaked stone tools. Tucson: University of Arizona Press.Google Scholar
Vitales, T. J. 2006. Pagsilip sa Isang Natatanging Artefak ng Ille (Looking at a special artefact in Ille). Test Pit 8:29–30.Google Scholar
White, J. C. 2004. Comment on dates from a resin-coated sherd from Spirit Cave, Thailand. Antiquity 78:184–6.CrossRefGoogle Scholar