As we continue to celebrate Museums and Galleries Month, the #NationalMuseumPH through its Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage Division (MUCHD) gives you a glimpse of the most recent fieldwork activities in Butuan City. 

Amongst the most notable example of wooden craft remains recovered in the Philippines are the Butuan Boats, dated between the 8th and 10th centuries CE (Common Era). These ancient boats were found beneath the mudflats of an old river system in Butuan City in the 1970s. They served as the oldest material evidence of the early watercraft in the Philippines featuring the ingenuity of early Filipinos. Lately, the importance and the widespread occurrence of this watercraft in the country were investigated.

Mr. Nero M. Austero, Senior Museum Researcher of MUCHD, in collaboration with Dr. Ligaya SP. Lacsina of the Archaeological Studies Program in UP-Diliman (UP-ASP), and Dr. Abhirada Komoot of the Thammasat University in Thailand, conducted a preliminary ocular assessment from October 07–10, 2022. They documented and assessed the current condition of the old excavation sites as well as the Butuan boat collections at the NMP-Eastern Northern Mindanao Regional Museum in Butuan in preparation for a possible regional collaborative project.  During the 4-day activity, the riverine and nearby coastal communities in Butuan were also visited to collect data on the current as well as the traditional boat-building practices. The team also conducted an ocular survey on the availability of the sugar palm, Arenga pennata. Sugar palm or Hijok plant, locally termed as kaong, is archaeologically referred to as the source of Cabo negro or the black fiber used as ropes in building the Butuan boats and other similar Southeast Asian lashed-lug boats. 

The preliminary assessment was successful in confirming the presence of kaong in the area, and gathering information on boat-building technology in Butuan. This information will deepen our historical, archaeological, and ethnographical knowledge of the variety, innovations, and lost practices of ancient boat-building technology. With further research, we can conserve and protect our heritage towards a better future for our museums. 

#MGM2022

#MaritimeMonday

#FutureOfMuseums

#MaritimeHeritage

#ButuanBoats

Article and poster by the NMP Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage Division

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

References 

Lacsina LSP. (2020). The Butuan Boats: Southeast Asian Boat Construction in the Philippines at the End of the First Millennium. The Journal of History. LXVI: 1-35.

(2019).  The same-same boatbuilding tradition? Looking at the different examples of lashed-lug boats from the Southeast Asia. In Past, Present and Future of ASEAN Maritime Heritage. 38-53. 

(2016a). Examining pre-colonial Southeast Asian boatbuilding: An archaeological study of the Butuan Boats and the use of edge-joined planking in local and regional construction techniques. Dissertation, Flinders University, South Australia. Pp.272. 

(2016b). Boats of the Precolonial Philippines: Butuan Boats. In Selin H. (Eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. 948-954. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7_10279. 

(2015). The Butuan Boats of the Philippines: Southeast Asian edge-joined and lashed-lug watercraft. Bulletin of the Australasian Institute for Maritime Archaeology. 39: 126-132. 

The #NationalMuseumPH celebrates Museum and Galleries Month (MGM) by virtue of Presidential Proclamation No. 798, s. 1991. For this week, we are featuring one of the most visited exhibitions in the National Museum of Anthropology (NMA)—the Baybayin: Ancient and Traditional Scripts of the Philippines Gallery.

The Baybayin Gallery, completed in 2014, aims to feature and promote awareness of the writing systems used by ancient Filipinos manifested through archaeological evidence and archival materials, such as written documents and published books during the Spanish period. The gallery also highlights the continuing tradition of writing syllabic scripts among the extant indigenous communities in Mindoro and Palawan. 

Notable artifacts displayed in the Baybayin Gallery include the Laguna Copperplate Inscription, Calatagan Ritual Pot, and Butuan Metal Paleograph – all declared National Cultural Treasures or NCTs. Other archaeological evidence featured is the Butuan Ivory Seal, as well as the Intramuros Pot Sherd, and the Monreal Stones. The gallery also features facsimiles of archival materials, such as the Doctrina Christiana, Mi último adiós, and Estudio de los Antiguos Alfabetos Filipinos, to name a few. 

The continuing tradition of script writing among the Hanunoo and Buhid of Mindoro and Tagbanua and Pala’wan of Palawan can be found in the gallery’s ethnographic section. A section features the revival of Baybayin script interest among the present generations of Filipinos, particularly the youth, in the Philippines and abroad. A dedicated activity area where visitors can learn and practice writing in Baybayin was also part of the gallery before the pandemic.

CLICK on the links to learn more about the previously featured artifacts exhibited at the Baybayin Gallery!

#MGM2022
#BaybayinGallery
#MuseumFromHome

Article and posters by Gerard John Palaya | NMP Archaeology Division

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

We commemorate Alfredo Evangelista – archaeologist, anthropologist, educator, and former assistant director of the #NationalMuseumPH, on his 14th death anniversary #OnThisDay, October 18.

Considered one of the pioneering Filipino archaeologists, Evangelista’s interest in the discipline started during his undergraduate studies at the University of the East, under the mentorship of Wilhelm Solheim II. He has since been involved in several archaeological explorations and excavations of the following sites: Batungan Cave and Kalanay Cave in Masbate (with Solheim); Bato Caves in Sorsogon, and Cagraray, Albay in Bicol; and Sta. Ana, Calatagan and San Piro, Balayan in Batangas. His well-known archaeological undertaking is perhaps the Duyong Cave excavation in Palawan in the 1960s, where the oldest evidence of betel nut chewing in the country, associated with a primary Neolithic burial, was discovered.

Evangelista was responsible for acquiring 4 National Cultural Treasures (or NCTs)—the Calatagan Ritual Pot, Laguna Copperplate Inscription, Marinduque Celadon Jar, and Banton Cloth. A model employee who allegedly did not file for even a single day of leave of absence, he started his career at the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) as a laboratory aide in 1951 and retired as a Director III in 1991. He pursued graduate studies at the University of Chicago in Illinois, under a Fulbright scholarship, and at the University of Hawaii. Throughout his lifelong career, he also accepted teaching appointments at the University of the Philippines-Diliman and the University of Santo Tomas.

In recognition of Evangelista’s contributions to Philippine archaeology, one of the 5 National Archaeological Repositories maintained by the NMP-Archaeology Division was named after him.

CLICK links to learn more about the NCTs featured in previous #TrowelTuesday posts of our #MuseumFromHome series:

Calatagan Ritual Pot –  https://tinyurl.com/CalataganRitualPot

Laguna Copperplate Inscription –  https://tinyurl.com/LagunaCopperplateInscription

Marinduque Celadon Jar – https://tinyurl.com/MarinduqueCeladonJar

#MGM2022
#AlfredoEvangelista
#PioneeringFilipinoArchaeologist

Article by Maricar Belarmino and poster by Timothy James Vitales | NMP Archaeology Division

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

References:

Evangelista, A. 2001. Soul Boats A Filipino Journey of Self Discovery (Selected essays of Alfredo

E. Evangelista). Manila: National Commission for Culture and the Arts

Peralta, J. 2010. Obituary: Alfredo Esguerra Evangelista, Essential Archaeologist in AghamTao:

Journal of the Ugnayang Pang-Aghamtao, Inc (UGAT)/ Anthropological Association of

the Philippines. Vol. 19: 81-83

Solheim II, W. 2009. Obituary: Alfredo E. Evangelista (1926-2008) in Hukay. Vol. 14: 114-120

Legaspi, A. 1974. Bolinao: A 14^th-15^th Century Burial Site. Museum Publication No. 7. National

Museum

The #NationalMuseumPH celebrates the life of #ManlilikhaNgBayan Estelita Tumandan Bantilan on her 82nd birthday. 

MB Estelita Tumandan Bantilan, also known as Labnai, is a renowned master weaver of Blaan mats called igêm and was conferred with the Manlilikha ng Bayan award in 2016. She advocates traditions, including the indigenous way of creating her masterpieces, from the careful selection, drying, and stripping of romblon (Pandanus sp.) leaves to dyeing and weaving. She passes on the tradition by training the younger generation of Blaan weavers in her community with the assistance of her daughter at the GAMABA Cultural Center in Malapatan, Sarangani.

On 11 May 2022, an igêm with sulif design by Bai Labnai was part of the newly donated works of Manlilikha ng Bayan, which the GAMABA Executive Council of the National Commission for Culture and the Arts turned over to the National Museum of the Philippines. Sulif is a two-colored pattern of wavy stripes representing the act of swimming, diving in, and going back to the surface of the water—a reflection of the influence of the natural environment of Sarangani on her work. Her other signature designs are sangbangkil (wavy patterns of quadrilaterals), sulong-sulong (windows), and daksina (propeller-like pattern). 

Learn more about MB Labnai and her works by visiting the Manlilikha ng Bayan Hall at the 3F National Museum of Anthropology in Manila as we reopen soon.

#EstelitaTumandanBantilan
#GAMABA
#Igem

Article and poster by the NMP Ethnology Division and the GAMABA Executive Council

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines

Although we all know of Albuquerque (‘Albur’ as it was colloquially known) in Bohol for its ‘Asin tibuok’, a type of rare artisanal sea salt from the Boholano people made from filtering seawater through ashes, lesser known is that immediately across where these salt beds are found is a church complex whose walls are the oldest witness to the burning coconut husks in which salt is derived. As in many Philippine pueblos, the town started humbly as described by Regalado Trota Jose in his book Visita Iglesia Bohol: 

      “This parish had its beginning as a visita, an extension of the parish of Baclayon.  The settlement was then known as ‘Sagunto’, named after a town in Catalunya, Spain.  Upon the request of one of the settles, Doña Mariana Irag, a chapel, convento, and school were erected in 1842, on the land which she herself preferred.  The church complex stood at the boundary between Baclayon and Loay.  The site was made a town in 1861, separate from Baclayon and with some land taken from Loay.  This time it adopted a new name, Albuquerque, after a town in Badajoz, Spain.  The parish was formally inaugurated in 1869; it was under the care of the Augustinian Recollects until 1898 when the clergy took over”.

Compared to its adjacent town church complexes (La Purissima Concepcion del Virgen Maria Parish Church in Baclayon and Santissima Trinidad Parish Church in Loay), which are designed as church fortresses, the church complex in Albuquerque is more of an open park, partly because the parish was canonically erected in 1869 and during that time, a church fortress is less necessary since Moro (pirates) attacks are less frequent. The church complex includes the church, the arcade that leads to the convent, and the convent. A property left of the church is the original twin building for the Escuela de Niños y Niñas.  

From its humble beginnings in wood and bamboo as a capilla visita from Baclayon in 1842, to a larger and studier shed-type church in 1856, to a more permanent structure with tabique walls in the 1880s; the present three-aisled plan church in coral stone was commenced by Fr. Manuel Muro in 1885 and construction continued until 1896 and finally the tower bell-gable (espadaña) type façade in the 1920s thru the 1930s.  

Most noticeable in Bohol churches are the interior ceiling paintings, a replacement made by Guy Custodio of the original Ray Francia is what we see today. Remnants of the original painting are framed and scattered all over the church’s sacristy and other auxiliary rooms for the parish.  Ray Francia is the most prolific artist in Bohol and Cebu and has many commissions in the 1920s and 1930s. The baroque-inspired retablos by Arsenio Lagura Jr. and his team are also new (2015), none of the original main retablo remains, while two neo-gothic side retablos survived prior to its replacement.

Noteworthy is the unique arcade that links the church and the convent. Remnants of unfinished construction suggest that there is a plan to develop the area probably an extension of the church or the convent.  The convent has a façade and grand scale typical to those of an Ayuntamiento rather than an enlarged bahay na bato that is archetypal in the islands.

On 13 October 2013, the provinces of Bohol and Cebu were stuck by a 7.2 magnitude earthquake, and the church was moderately damaged. Cracks, detachment of facing stones, and collapsed parts are visible within the perimeter of the unreinforced masonry walls of the church.

A proposal for restoration work for the damaged built heritage in Bohol and Cebu was immediately funded by the national government thru cultural agencies (National Commission for Culture and the Arts (NCCA), National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) and the National Historical Commission of the Philippines (NHCP).  The conservation for Santa Monica Church Complex in Albuquerque, Bohol was assigned to the NMP. The restoration was completed on 18 August 2018. 

The collective efforts of the national government through its cultural agencies, the Local Government Unit of Albuquerque, and the Provincial Government of Bohol, show an ideal collaborative work for the protection of built heritage and sites.  We are assured that the architecture, art and values of which these built heritage and sites represent are available for everyone to learn and appreciate. 

Article by Architect Benjamin Concepcion Empleo. Photos by the NMP Architectural Arts and Built Heritage Division.

© 2022 National Museum of the Philippines