Archaeologists from UP Diliman (UPD) and the National Museum, and leaders and members of the indigenous Pala’wan community unearthed new discoveries dating back to the last glacial maximum (LGM) or at the height of the last ice age at Pilanduk Cave in Palawan.
Ochoa. Photo by Pilanduk Cave Archaeology Team
The research Tropical island adaptations in Southeast Asia during the Last Glacial Maximum: evidence from Palawan presented new data from the re-excavation of Pilanduk Cave such as “evidence for specialized deer hunting and freshwater mollusc foraging, LGM fossils for the tiger and remains of other native mammal and reptile fauna of Palawan,” UPD archaeologist Janine Ochoa, PhD, said in an UPDate Online email interview.
Ochoa, an assistant professor of anthropology at the UPD Department of Anthropology, is co-principal investigator and lead author of the research article.
She said the research also found “new radiocarbon dates that securely place the age of human occupation of Pilanduk Cave at the LGM/Last Ice Age at ca. 20,000-25,000 years ago,” and “evidence for shifting foraging behaviors (ecological and behavioral flexibility) of modern humans occupying changing tropical environments (climate and environmental changes) across ca. 40,000 years on Palawan Island.”
The 2016 Archaeological Team. Photo by Pilanduk Cave Archaeology Team
Together with co-principal investigator Ame Garong, PhD, of the National Museum, the research team re-excavated the site in October 2016.
“We conducted the analysis of the archaeological material (vertebrate fossils, mollusc/shell remains, lithics/stone tools) from 2017 up to 2020,” Ochoa said.
Pilanduk Cave is known to be an important late Pleistocene archaeological site in the Philippines. It is part of the ancestral domain of the Pala’wan community in Maasin, Quezon Municipality in Palawan with Certificate of Ancestral Domain Title No. RO4-QUE-O110-143.
Ochoa and the team pursued the re-excavation of Pilanduk Cave to further the previous research conducted by Jonathan Kress and the National Museum in 1969-1970.
She said, “There has been a need to verify the dates reported by Kress, due to the limited stratigraphic data available for Pilanduk, and the limitations of the radiocarbon dating method at the time of Kress’s excavation in the 1970s particularly for dating mollusc remains.”
According to Ochoa, the site has a large and well-preserved archaeological assemblage of faunal material, which are vertebrate remains and shells/molluscs, as well as lithic materials or stone tool assemblage.
Panoramic view of Pilanduk Cave. Photo by Ochoa
“In fact, it has the best preserved LGM archaeological record from any site in the Philippine archipelago. There are not many LGM sites in the Philippines because many are likely submerged underwater when the coastlines and the sea levels were much lower during the LGM,” she said.
The research has been released online and is published in Antiquity, an international archaeology journal. It will come out in the October 2022 issue and can be viewed at https://www.doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2022.88 .
In a related development, Kress, who led the first archaeological research of Pilanduk Cave in the 1970s passed away on Aug. 6. His colleagues, led by Ochoa, issued the following statement with his passing:
A tiger foot bone recovered during the October 2016 excavation. Photo by Ochoa
“The archaeological work in Pilanduk Cave would not have been possible without the previous research of Jonathan Kress, who led the first excavation of the site in 1970. Jonathan passed away on 6 August 2022. The Pilanduk and Ille Cave teams remember him most fondly, especially for his joie de vivre and enthusiasm for field work, stone tools, and molluscs. He would share and recall the local names of various shell taxa, which were taught to him by the indigenous team he worked with. Engaging with students was important for him and he regaled us with exciting and adventurous stories about Palawan in the 1970s. We remember Jonathan as gentle, kind, patient, and full of wisdom.”
The team of archaeologists discovered 57 Roman Empire-era sites of an ‘unprecedented nature' near Guadalete River
In a fruitful mistake, archaeologists discovered a "hidden empire" amid ancient Roman settlements in Spain.
The team of archaeologists had aimed to find at least one settlement in Spain's Sierra de Cádiz region when the project was started in 2023, but were stunned to discover 57 Roman Empire-era sites of an ‘unprecedented nature’.
According to the researchers, this discovery can also be related to the trade and communication routes in the region.
Currently, the archaeologists are carrying out a second phase of research to decode how the sites are linked. This is the first time the researchers are analysing the ancient Roman settlements in the area extensively.
The archaeologists discovered 57 Roman Empire-era sites which were of an ‘unprecedented nature’. The sites were discovered in the middle valley of the Guadalete River.
The University of Cadiz's researchers focused on settlements which were present in areas near Arcos de la Frontera, Bornos, Villamartin and Puerto Serrano. These areas appear to have been interconnected by the Guadalete River in ancient times, because of which experts suspect they were part of a hidden empire.
Archaeologists use geo radar to find hidden empire
Geo radar, which is a tool for detecting any hidden objects underground, was used by the team in the process of finding the lost Roman settlements.
According to the researchers, these findings will help them understand the presence of the Roman Empire in the valley of the Guadalete River more than 2,000 years ago.
"The objective is to know the interaction of the Bay of Cadiz with the settlement of the Guadalete River depression during the Roman period, an aspect practically unknown until now," the researchers wrote in the report.
The Romans are known to have settled near the Guadalete River after conquering Spain in 264 BC, however, researchers have failed to confirm when they built the newly discovered structures.
"The data we have has allowed us to generate a solid base of archaeological information and documentation to continue with research in the coming years in this environment," said Lara, who is a professor of archaeology at the University of Cadiz, in a statement.
"Our main objective is to continue carrying out excavations and surveys with non-traditional techniques and tools that will be completed with the study of the contexts found, as well as analyse techniques on the documented materials that will allow us to obtain a holistic vision of the Roman settlement and the territory in the area around the Bornos and Arcos de la Frontera reservoirs," she added.
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