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Skull moulding in ancient Philippines

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McDreamyMD
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^Remember the A. Marche findings in Marinduque (I posted it in archaeology thread), there was a debate about the skulls he found (his was the very first archaeological project anywhere in the Philippines).

Here's a blog post on it...I wouldn't trust it though unless you (or I) find better sources. 
http://marinduquegov.blogspot.com/20...-ancestry.html

"In the 1860s public attention was aroused in the West with the discovery in Marinduque caves of deformed skulls. Up to that time nothing was known of such skulls in the oriental island world. These were gathered by anthropologist F. Jagor. There were similar finds during those years in the island of Cagraray at the entrance of the Bay of Albay.

It was believed that the natives of these islands practiced the custom of compressing the head of a newborn child between two boards so that instead of looking round it would be lengthened out with the forehead also flattened. This was considered as an ancient “special mark of beauty”.

Believed to have been buried in these caves long before the introduction of Christianity in the Philippines, they have been compared with similar crania from other parts of the South Pacific such as Chatham and Sandwich Islands then peopled by proto-Malays.

Marinduque’s fame for its funeral grottos, their legends, spirits and terrors, would eventually attract other anthropologists and archaeologists."

The whole rumors of 'deformed skulls' came from Marche's journal (which I posted again on the Archaeology thread and will link it here):
http://www.ulongbeach.com/marche.html

"When one enters their cavern, one sees nothing except skulls bigger than pots."

"Like the skulls found in the island of Los Tres Reyes, those of the cave of Pamin-Taan were deformed. I had brought about 40, most of which had their lower jaw and a dozen skeletons more or less complete."

"This visit, while not as fruitful as the preceding days, nevertheless gave me five deformed skulls. I also found the debris of many pots, sometimes broken by the natives who thought them full of gold."

Most likely it was miscommunication; most likely Marche meant skulls were 'almost destroyed' (as he said most of the skulls were deteriorated by humidity) and or that they were missing bits and pieces (he was trying to prove that the caves were used as secondary and not initial burial place, meaning they bury dead in the ground then gather bones and put them in coffins or vases before leaving them in caves, his proof was that teeth and jaw and craniums were found separated, with many times skulls were filled with 'dirt'---meaning it was dug up).

So whether it's reality or not, IDK, I think it has become folk myth in Marinduque more than anything. No proof of actual 'elongating skulls' are scientific.

However here is the commentary of Fedor Jagor (The Former Philippines in the Eyes of a Foreigner) 
http://www.authorama.com/former-philippines-1.html

"[Study of a giant skull.] The cave in question lies near Lanang, on the east coast of Samar, on the bank of a river, it is said. It is, as the traveler reports, celebrated in the locality “on account of its depressed gigantic crania, without sutures.” The singular statement is made clear by means of a well-preserved example, which I lay before you. The entire cranium, including the face, is covered with a thick layer of sinter, which gives it the appearance of belonging to the class of skulls with Leontiasis ossea. It is, in fact, of good size, but through the incrustation it is increased to gigantic proportions. It is true, likewise, that it has a much flattened, broad and compressed form. The cleaning of another skull has shown that artificial deformation has taken place, which obviously was completed before the incrustation was laid on by the mineral water of the cave. I will here add that on the testimony of travelers no Negritos were on Samar. The island lies in the neighborhood of the Bisayas. Although no description of the position of the skull is at hand and of the skeleton to which it apparently belonged, it must be assumed that the dead man was not laid away in a coffin, but placed on the ground; that, in fact, he belonged to an earlier “period.” How long ago that was can not be known, unfortunately, since no data are at hand; however, the bones are in a nearly fossilized condition, which allows the conclusion that they were deposited long ago."

"I have sawed one of these skulls in two along the sagittal suture. The illustration gives a good idea of the amount of compression and of the violence which this skull endured when quite young. The cranial cavity is inclined backward and lengthened, and curves out above, while the occiput is pressed downward and the region of the front fontanelle is correspondingly lacking. Likewise, a considerable thickness of the bone is to be noted, especially of the vertex. The upper jaw is slightly prognathous and the roof of the mouth unusually arched."

"Since then the number of localities has multiplied. I shall mention only two, on account of their peculiar locality. One is Cagraray, a small island east of Luzon, in the Pacific Ocean, at the entrance of the Bay of Albay; the other, the island of Marinduque, in the west, between Luzon and Mindoro. From the last-named island I saw, ten years ago, the first picture of one in a photograph album accidentally placed in my hands. Since then I had opportunity to examine the Schadenberg collection of crania, lately come into the possession of the Reichsmuseum, in Leyden, and to my great delight discovered in it a series of skulls which are compressed in exactly the same fashion as those of Lanang. It is said that these will soon be described in a publication."
http://www.authorama.com/former-philippines-b-7.html

Since all of these are all prior to 1900's, I'd take them with a grain of salt. LoL

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Rene B. Sarabia Jr
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Lol man Fedor Jagor was the source I used to prove that 1/3rd of Luzon's population were Latino/Hispanic descended. Did you check the Spanish-Filipino Wikipedia article to get to Fedor Jag or? Lol because I placed him there. As far as I counter-checked his info with other authors, he seems to be good source. 

His claims are backed by "Corroborating Evidence", not really peer-reviewed and set to modern scholastic standards...

But still corroborative in nature. 

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McDreamyMD
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I know of Fedor Jagor because I read the book years ago for research, most have to do with my interesst German/Austrian researchers that did pre-1900 books/studies on the Philippines (Jagor, Virchow, Blumentritt etc.) I did not read the whole book those are excerpts that I read prior to that blog, but I definitely didn't take it seriously because the there's a lot of "cooky" mostly now considered pseudo science and false theories about skulls (shapes etc.) that he did with Virchow. Virchow I actually know PRIOR (I was surprised that he wrote about the Philippines actually) because of his medical contributions, esp. he is well known in hemotology. 

My initial interest was I was fascinated why Rizal was attached to German academics in his time (and why he traveled there). 

As for corroborating evidence, UNLESS I see actual the actual skulls they talked about, and full modern scientific study I wouldn't take it seriously. Majority of the blogs relating to skull moulding (including that blog) TRIES WAY TOO HARD to link Paracas heads using genetics (which are false) to be direct linkage to the Philippines (which nothing in common besides although Paracas is a definite, the Philippines' case DOESN'T have hard evidence besides what's written by pre-1900 naturalist)

No offense but you're standard for 'evidence' is kinda low. 

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McDreamyMD
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I have no idea about skull shapes because it's not my forte but as for his info about the British Invasion, Spanish Censuses and contemporary historical events in the Philippines, his excerpts have corroborative evidence.

Once you compare it to other historians, the dates matches and etc. 

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McDreamyMD
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Here's what I found on Brunei war against Spain. (Spanish attack on Kota Balu)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castille_War

"Spain declared war in 1578, attacking and capturing Brunei’s capital at the time, Kota Batu. This was achieved as a result in part of the assistance rendered to them by two noblemen, Pengiran Seri Lela and Pengiran Seri Ratna. The former had travelled to Manila to offer Brunei as a tributary of Spain for help to recover the throne usurped by his brother, Saiful Rijal.[4] The Spanish agreed that if they succeeded in conquering Brunei, Pengiran Seri Lela would indeed become the Sultan, while Pengiran Seri Ratna would be the new Bendahara. In March 1578, the Spanish fleet, led by De Sande himself, acting as Capitán General, started their journey towards Brunei. The expedition consisted of 400 Spaniards, 1,500 Filipino natives and 300 Borneans.[5] The campaign was one of many, which also included action in Mindanao and Sulu.

The Spanish succeeded in invading the capital on 16 April 1578, with the help of Pengiran Seri Lela and Pengiran Seri Ratna. The Sultan Saiful Rijal and Paduka Seri Begawan Sultan Abdul Kahar were forced to flee to Meragang then to Jerudong. In Jerudong, they made plans to chase the conquering army away from Brunei. The Spanish suffered heavy losses due to a cholera or dysentery outbreak.[8][9] They were so weakened by the illness that they decided to abandon Brunei to return to Manila on 26 June 1578, after just 72 days. Before doing so, they burned the mosque, a high structure with a five-tier roof"

If you look at Blair et al's book, in Project Gutenberg (which I quoted a million times here and often quoted in almost all Spanish era historical accounts) you'd find De Sande's primary account on it (I'm almost certain I've seen de Sande on there).

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McDreamyMD
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Quote Originally Posted by easy772 View Post
@Selurong; @McDreamyMD;

Do you guys know where I could find some further reading on the Spanish invasion of Borneo mentioned in Barangay?

This excerpt is direct from the Boxer Codex:

“… It begins three hundred years (ago), a little more or less, when from the parts and provinces of the Malaya language which lie toward Meca (came) a lord of a city called Cauin. The name of this one was Sultan Yuso (Arabic Yusof), who according to what they say was king of that said city of Cauin, and he and his subjects departed from his kingdom and land bringing with him a great quantity of people in many ships, discovering many lands, and calling himself always king and lord of all the people he brought and calling them slaves. Following his voyage he arrived at the island of Borney on which they had some battles with the native Uisayas (Bisayas) so that they occupied them [the lands]; and having succeeded them (the Uisayas) well, he was settled some days in which he took a tongue of land and the fruits of it and found camphor, which is now to exist in other parts except this kingdom.

“… At the end of some days, he made port in the land of China: and asking permission in order to go ashore, he disembarked and went to see the king of China, whom he recognised as a superior king; and the said king of China conferred in him the title of king and gave him the insignia and royal (coat of) arms which nowadays the said king of Borney has; And seeing that the said Sultan Yuso was a bachelor, he married him to a Chinese woman. Accordingly it appears that the reason he persevered in the said kingdom of (Borney) was that she was a relative of the king of China. The said Chinese woman was lord of a city which was called Namtay in the kingdom of China, and the said Sultan Yuso made this marriage. He bade (farewell) to the king of China; and bringing his wife and the people with him, he returned to Borney, leaving in the said city of Namtay (one) who had charge of the rent as and property of his wife; and so (it is) nowadays although the natives of Namtay do not come with anything (for) the kings of Borney, not because the lords of the said city of Namtay have quit holding them (the rents), and they say the current rents are being held guarded for when some king of Borney might go there for it, the legacy.

“The said Sultan Yuso went to Borney. He settled there with his said slaves or vassals that he brought, and he put the native Uisayas (into) subjection, making them pay tribute. He had sons with the said (Chinese) wife. He died very old: and when he died, he left a tablet of gold. According to what they say it would be a fathom square and thin, on which he left mandates and they inscribed and wrote the kings of descended from him; and so they inscribed this said tablet which the same king kept and by his hand he inscribed his name. This tablet was lost when Doctor Fransisco de Sande, the governor who went from (these) Philippine islands, sacked Borney. It is understood that the old king, father of this one in whose possession it was, buried it or threw into the sea; and since the said king died at that time, he left no clarity (clear information) about what he did with the tablet.”

From the Website:  http://bruneiresources.blogspot.com/...ustice-in.html


Apparently, the Visayans had been at war with both the Sultanate of Brunei and Islamic Manila, even before the Spanish arrived.

And that 300 of the 600 troops lead by Mexic-born Conquistador Juan de Salcedo to capture Manila and defend it from Warlorld Limahong were also Visayans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Manila_(1574)

I was just looking up the romance of Juan de Salcedo lately and noticed that nobody put that in the wikipedia article about it. So I inserted the pretty known and basic story of the romance of Juan de Salcedo with Dayang-dayang Gandarapa. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juan_de_Salcedo

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