Museum of the Filipino People
San Diego, 5 Centuries, Origins, Archaeological, Filipinos, Cloth Tradition
Start with the exhibit gallery on the ground floor showing the wreck site and eleven of the recovered cannons.
Your journey continues with the Exhibit Gallery II on the second floor. From here trace the history of this Spanish battleship when it clashed with the Dutch ship Mauritius on December 14, 1600 just off Manila Bay where it sank bringing down countless artifacts represented on display… such as ceramics, coins, potteries, jewelries, armaments and other numerous objects.
Find the ancient navigational instrument and the book that contains the historical account of the San Diego, “Sucesos de las Islas Filipinas”, written by Antonio de Morga, the commander of the fatefull ship.
Along the gangway, see for yourself the full sized cannons and helmets used by the Spanish soldiers 400 years ago. On display down the flatform are some of the armaments.
As you continue with your journey to the Exhibit Gallery III take a look at the big Martaban, Spanish and Siamese jars that contained the provisions for the passengers of the ship consisting of preserved fruits, sardines, salted meat, wine, vinegar and drinking water.
Discover also the variety of forms of the blue-and-white porcelain with designs described to be of Buddhist and Taoist luck symbols, the different shapes and sizes of plates and ewers.
Objects made of gold, a mound of coins and silver plates constitute the treasure recovered from the sunken ship.
Among the remarkable items recovered are the gold belt, a necklace chain and a rosary with ivory beads and an inverted cross.
Plates, bowls, cups and bottles recovered from the San Diego were mostly decorated with birds, cocks, geese & deers designs which were popular during the 16th century.
San Diego, 5 Centuries, Origins, Archaeological, Filipinos, Cloth Tradition
CENTURIES AGO BEFORE THE COMING OF THE SPANIARDS ....
merchant vessels were already sailing through Southeast Asia bringing trade and commerce to the Philippine Islands.
Some of these vessels were fortunate to cross the seas, but some have sunk either because of natural calamities or pirates have attacked their ships.
For a very long time, the remains of these vessels remained underwater until they were discovered by treasure hunters, explorers, and archaeologists.
The discovery of these vessels is a concrete evidence of a dynamic trading among peoples in the Southeast Asian region even before the Europeans came. These vessels carried various ceramics and other commodities from China, Vietnam and Thailand.
The Chinese Junk at Breaker Reef
Southwest Palawan (Late 11th-early 12th Century)
The discovery of this vessel provided the first evidence of the role of the junk in the industrial centers of south-central China.
The wreck yielded brown or celadon-glazed stoneware (light green glazed), ceramics with Cizhou-style painted decorations and porcelain with a feldspathic glaze. The ceramics recovered, specifically the porcelain, are the oldest of its kind discovered so far in the South China Sea.
The Junk found at Investigator Shoal
Kalayaan, Palawan (13th Century)
The precious cargo was primarily greenware (celadon) and qingbai in the forms of cups, bowls, saucers and plates. Also among the pieces recovered was a splendid ewer ornamented with spiral motifs incised with a comb.
The Wreck found off Pandanan Island
South Palawan (15th Century)
The wreck yielded 4,256 pieces of pre-colonial artifacts. The majority of the finds were Southeast Asian wares from Vietnam and Thailand.
Scholars believed that the cargo was brought to the Philippines by a Chinese-type merchant vessel to trade in forest products, gold and the famous south sea pearls from an Indianized Kingdom of Champa. A Chinese copper coin belonging to the Yong Le Period (1403-1424) gives the relative dating of this vessel.
The Junk at Lena Shoal
Northern Palawan (Late 15th Century)
The cargo was more precious than was expected. There are 5000 items on board including small bronze cannons and elephant tusks.
The ceramics, specially the porcelain decorated in cobalt blue, are truly remarkable.
The Junk that sank off San Isidro
Coast of Zambales (Mid-16th Century)
Majority of the recovered pieces were ceramics produced in kilns in the Swatow region of southern China. They show the most advanced methods in use at Jingdezhen and exhibit both spontaneity and simplicity.
San Diego, 5 Centuries, Origins, Archaeological, Filipinos, Cloth Tradition
The Origin (Pinagmulan)
The gallery presents information on the origins of the Philippine Islands and the Filipino nation. The exhibition focuses on the four periods of Philippine pre-history : Paleolithic; Neolithic; Metal; and Ceramic Age.
The Philippine archipelago was formed about 70 million years ago, the result of million of years of volcanic and tectonic activities. The continents of the world sit on shifting plates. Pressures from inside the earth pushed various plates against one another that reshaped the land and led to the formation of new landmass, mountain chains, volcanoes and sometimes the emergence or disappearance of islands.
During the last 2 to 3 million years the ancestors of humans evolved in Africa and Asia and spread to other parts of the world. The earliest evidences of the presence of people in the Philippines can be dated to 750,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene epoch. This came in the form of stone tools and fossils of large migrating animals such as elephas, stegodons, rhinoceros, and giant turtles found in Palawan and Cagayan Valley. This discovery provides valuable information about ancient humans in the Philippines, their environment and strategies for survival. Humans led a mobile existence, hunting and gathering, living in caves, and using fire and stone tools.
Archaeological evidences of the Neolithic Period showed that life ways of the people had changed a great deal from earlier times. It was clear that humans were paying more attention to the shape of the stone tools. From archaeological sites now began appearing polished stone tools primarily blade-like tools, stone adze, shell adze and red slipped pottery. If before humans only gathered food from nature, now they learned how to domesticate plants and animals. However, hunting and gathering was still a successful form of subsistence during the Neolithic.
Another great change took place in the islands as shown in the materials that were found from archaeological sites. By this time, the use of metals had already become widespread. The earliest metals to appear were gold, copper and bronze, in the form of ornamental beads and tools like adzes and spearheads. This period is known not only for the appearance of metals, but also as the Golden Age of Pottery. While the pieces produced in the previous age were indeed beautiful, pottery from the Metal Age is characterized by exquisite and intricate patterns and designs reflecting complex societies. Among the highlights of the Metal Age Pottery are burial jars which indicate the burial custom practiced by the ancient people of the period.
A new change took place in the Philippines about 1000 A.D. From the archaeological sites, the age is distinguished by the appearance of high-fired ceramics. This gave proof to the increased maritime trade and cultural contact between the Philippines and her Southeast Asian neighbors. The quantity of Asian trade materials appears to be greater in the southern parts of the country. Underwater archaeological evidences indicate the existence of trade routes that brought the products of the Spice Islands (the Moluccas) up from the South, and the luxuriously manufactured items of China mainland, especially silk and porcelain, directly to Filipino harbors.
San Diego, 5 Centuries, Origins, Archaeological, Filipinos, Cloth Tradition
Archaeological Treasures (Kaban ng Lahi)
The Archaeological Treasures Gallery portrays secondary burial jar collections as well as samples of other utilitarian vessels unearthed from different cave sites in the Philippines. It also features the importance of burial practices associated with the death of early Filipinos in the southern Philippines and other parts of the country. One of these practices is the secondary burial of the dead person which involves treatment and re-burial of the bones after the corpse had decomposed. The process include cleaning, painting or treating of the bones known as “bone washing”. The practice of secondary burial always involved a ritual ceremony.
Highlights of this gallery are the unique anthropomorphic burial jars made of earthenware with design and form of human figures recovered in Ayub cave in Maitum, Saranggani (formerly South Cotabato) in 1991 by the National Museum. It has been found to be of the Metal Age period that dates from 500 B.C. to 370 A.D. Here, the head-shaped covers are of three types consisting of plain; with perforations; and those with different facial expressions. Another secondary burial jar in this collections has a shape of a human male torso, measuring about 43.5 cm in height and 36 cm in diameter with arms extended forward. These types of burial jars are not found in other burial sites in the country nor in other Asian countries.
Manunggul jar, one of the most precious jar collections is a secondary burial vessel excavated from a Neolithic burial site in Manunggul cave of Lipuun, Palawan dating from 890-710 B.C. The two prominent figures at the top handle of its cover represent the journey of the soul to the afterworld.
Other funerary vessels associated with the dead in this exhibit are the stone figure from Calatagan, Batangas, the wooden coffin from Banton Island in Romblon, and a unique drinking vessel with a yawning mouth from a late Neolithic site in Leta-leta cave in Palawan.
San Diego, 5 Centuries, Origins, Archaeological, Filipinos, Cloth Tradition
The Filipinos and Their Rich Cultural Heritage (Kinahinatnan)This ethnographic exhibit focuses on the Philippines as land of diversity, crossroads, and a tapestry of cultures. The gallery showcases some regions that have been influenced by migration over the millennia, while others have developed in relative isolation, locked in by the roughness of the terrain and adapting to their distinct environment. These cultural influences, adaptations and response to the environment led to the emergence of major ethnolinguistic groups with many sub-groups. Having a common prehistory and background, all ethnic groups in the Philippines speak languages that belong to the Austronesian family. It is the variety with adaptive techniques and cultural diversity throughout the archipelago that makes the Philippines unique.
Generally, the first part of the exhibit presents the cultural map and collage, the virtual interactive musical instruments allowing visitors to immerse themselves in a virtual world, the origin and the development of writing in the country as well as that of contemporary Philippine languages, tools that ethnographers use to their work and the role of Dr. Jose P. Rizal, Philippine national hero, in Philippine ethnography.
The exciting artifacts displayed in dioramas are in the second segment of the exhibit. This portion in the gallery presents ecological adaptations of the different ethnolinguistic groups in the country. The presentation consists of highlighted graphic maps showcasing the different ecological zones mainly the coastal, lowlands, lake and highlands. Furthermore, each of the above ecological niches, together with the different ethnolinguistic groups representing it, are found in the flip books. The artifacts depicted in each zone tell stories about subsistence, household and communities, symbolism and systems of belief, decorative arts and personal adornments.
The most impressive exhibits are found in the National Treasures Gallery, complemented with the living treasures. Ethnographic specimens that possess outstanding cultural, historical and artistic values represent the rich cultural heritage of the Filipinos. On the other hand, the National Living Treasure legacy is demonstrated by showcasing the selected individual’s outstanding achievement in a traditional cultural art or craft. The recognition of the masters of the traditional cultural arts such as pottery, basketry, weaving and music is bestowed by the National Commission for Culture and the Arts and the inclusion in the UNESCO “Memory of the World Register” of the Philippine Paleographs, four ancient and still used syllabic forms of writing.
San Diego, 5 Centuries, Origins, Archaeological, Filipinos, Cloth Tradition
Cloth Traditions
Features the colorful and interesting Philippine traditional textiles from the collection of the National Museum some dated as early as 20th century. This collection includes selected rare textiles that depict exceptional craftsmanship of the Filipinos not commonly found in private collections.
The National Museum collection of traditional Philippine textiles is extraordinary on a number of registers. There exist records for the entry of each of these textiles into the museum, starting from the early years of the 20th century. The precision of these records is noteworthy: because not only the year, but also the month and day of acquisition are documented in many instances, it is possible to refer to information held in a surviving copy of the accession records of the early 20th century museum collection.
This rare collection includes Philippine textile of absolute rarity, and textiles of such exceptional craftsmanship that is not to be matched by specimens in private collections built in the last few decades. But its strength as a collection lies not only in the powerful aesthetic qualities that are self-evident in this permanent exhibition. A variety of weaving, dyeing, embroidery and other decorative techniques are represented in this display of traditional Philippine textiles