Tabon Man

Tabon Man refers to remains discovered in the Tabon Caves in Lipuun Point in Quezon, Palawan in the Philippines. These
were discovered by Robert B. Fox, an American anthropologist of the National Museum of the Philippines, on May 28, 1962.
These remains, the fossilized fragments of a skull and jawbone of three individuals, were believed to be the earliest human
remains known in the Philippines[1] which date back to 16,500 years ago, until a metatarsal from the Callao Mandiscovered
in 2007 was dated in 2010 by uranium-series dating as being 67,000 years old.[2] The Tabon fragments are collectively
called "Tabon Man" after the Tabon Cave, the place where they were found on the west coast of Palawan. Tabon Cave
appears to be a kind of Stone Agefactory, with both finished stone flake tools and waste core flakes having been found at
four separate levels in the main chamber. Charcoal left from three assemblages of cooking fires there has been Carbon-
14-dated to roughly 7000, 20,000, and 22,000 BCE.
The right mandible of a Homo sapiens, which dates to 29,000 BC, was discovered together with a skull-cap. The Tabon
Skull Cap is considered the earliest skull cap of modern man found in the Philippines, and is said [according to whom?] to have
belonged to a young female. The Tabon Mandible is the earliest evidence of human remains showing archaic characteristics
of mandible and teeth. The Tabon Tibia Fragment, a bone from the lower leg, was found during the re-excavation of the
Tabon Cave by the National Museum of the Philippines. The bone was sent to the National Museum of Natural
History in France to be studied. Accelerated carbon dating technique revealed a dating of 47,000 ± 11-10,000 years ago,
making it the oldest human fossil recovered in the complex.
Tabon Cave is named after the "Tabon bird" (Tabon scrubfowl, Megapodius cumingii), which deposited thick hard layers
of guano during periods when the cave was uninhabited so that succeeding groups of tool-makers settled on a cement-like
floor of bird dung. About half of the 3,000 recovered specimens examined were discarded cores of a material which had to
be transported from some distance. This indicates that the inhabitants were actually engaged in tool manufacture. The
Tabon Man fossils are considered to have come from a third group of inhabitants, who worked the cave between 22,000
and 20,000 BCE. An earlier cave level lies so far below the level containing cooking fire assemblages that it must
represent Upper Pleistocene dates like 45,000 or 50,000 years ago.[3] Anthropologist Robert Fox, who directed the
excavations, deduced that the Tabon Cave was a habitation of man for a period of 40,000 years, from 50,000 to 9,000 years
ago.[citation needed]
Physical anthropologists who have examined the Tabon Man skullcap are agreed that it belonged to modern man, Homo
sapiens, as distinguished from the mid-Pleistocene Homo erectus species. This indicates that Tabon Man was pre-
Mongoloid (Mongoloid being the term anthropologists apply to the racial stock which entered Southeast Asia during
the Holocene and absorbed earlier peoples to produce the modern Malay, Indonesian, Filipino, and "Pacific" peoples). Two
experts have given the opinion that the mandible is "Australian" in physical type, and that the skullcap measurements are
the closest to Ainu people or Tasmanians. Nothing can be concluded about Tabon Man's physical appearance from the
recovered skull fragments except that he was not a Negrito
The right mandible of a Homo sapiens, which dates to 29,000 BC, was discovered together with a skull-cap. The Tabon
Skull Cap is considered the earliest skull cap of modern man found in the Philippines, and is said [according to whom?] to have
belonged to a young female. The Tabon Mandible is the earliest evidence of human remains showing archaic characteristics
of mandible and teeth. The Tabon Tibia Fragment, a bone from the lower leg, was found during the re-excavation of the
Tabon Cave by the National Museum of the Philippines. The bone was sent to the National Museum of Natural
History in France to be studied. Accelerated carbon dating technique revealed a dating of 47,000 ± 11-10,000 years ago,
making it the oldest human fossil recovered in the complex.
Tabon Cave is named after the "Tabon bird" (Tabon scrubfowl, Megapodius cumingii), which deposited thick hard layers
of guano during periods when the cave was uninhabited so that succeeding groups of tool-makers settled on a cement-like
floor of bird dung. About half of the 3,000 recovered specimens examined were discarded cores of a material which had to
be transported from some distance. This indicates that the inhabitants were actually engaged in tool manufacture. The
Tabon Man fossils are considered to have come from a third group of inhabitants, who worked the cave between 22,000
and 20,000 BCE. An earlier cave level lies so far below the level containing cooking fire assemblages that it must
represent Upper Pleistocene dates like 45,000 or 50,000 years ago.[3] Anthropologist Robert Fox, who directed the
excavations, deduced that the Tabon Cave was a habitation of man for a period of 40,000 years, from 50,000 to 9,000 years
ago.[citation needed]
Physical anthropologists who have examined the Tabon Man skullcap are agreed that it belonged to modern man, Homo
sapiens, as distinguished from the mid-Pleistocene Homo erectus species. This indicates that Tabon Man was pre-
Mongoloid (Mongoloid being the term anthropologists apply to the racial stock which entered Southeast Asia during
the Holocene and absorbed earlier peoples to produce the modern Malay, Indonesian, Filipino, and "Pacific" peoples). Two
experts have given the opinion that the mandible is "Australian" in physical type, and that the skullcap measurements are
the closest to Ainu people or Tasmanians. Nothing can be concluded about Tabon Man's physical appearance from the
recovered skull fragments except that he was not a Negrito

Location
The Tabon Cave Complex is a series of caves situated in a limestone promontory at Lipuun Point in Southwestern
Palawan.[5] It spans 138-hectares and it used to be an island but now, a mangrove forest connected it to mainland Palawan.
There are roughly 218 caves, 38 of which are rich with archaeological and anthropological finds. Lipuun Point is made up
of 25 million year old limestone and is composed of rocky large domes, deep cliffs, and steep hills. In this area, cave
occupation of a sporadic or temporary nature by modern humans seems to be indicated into the early Holocene. In the
earlier Holocene, several sites show more intensive or frequent occupation; local people appear to have been strongly
focused on land-based, riverine, and estuarine resources; and in many cases the sea is known to have been many
kilometers away from the cave sites. The Presidential Proclamation No. 996, which was established on April 11, 1972,
protected the Tabon Caves Complex and Lipuun point from deforestation and destruction. It was declared as a Site Museum
Reservation and is preserved for the present and future generations.
The word lipuun literally means to "turn" and this reservation houses indigenous plant and animal species.

Paleoenvironment
Although Tabon Cave is just a few minutes' walk from the sea, the lack of marine shells from early cultural deposits in this
cave supports the idea that there was a substantial land shelf around the time of the Last Glacial Maximum, when estimates
place sea levels at 130 metres (430 ft) below present or possibly lower. The appearance of marine shells in middens in
other caves on Lipuun Point from c. 7000 BP, and especially in later periods, suggests increasing focus on marine resources
in the area in general; the abandonment of Tabon Cave just prior to this time may be related to sea level rise. The potential
relationship between Tabon Cave travertine and pre-Late Glacial Maximum wetter climates sees some support from recent
research on vegetation sequences in north Palawan. Tabon Cave would have been far inland during the late Pleistocene,
and Reynolds (1993) suggests that such caves would have been marginal culturally during phases of low sea level, when
currently submerged areas would have been the focus for human settlement. Over time, there is increasing evidence for
occupation of caves associated with rising sea levels, and at Lipuun Point from c. 7000 BP, for a more maritime focus;
Tabon Cave was, however, abandoned before this date.

2. Prehistory of the Philippines – The prehistory of the Philippines covers the events prior to the written history of what is now the
Philippines. Filipino anthropologist F. Landa Jocano refers to the earliest noticeable stage in the development of societies as the
Formative Phase. By about 30,000 BC, the Negritos, who became the ancestors of todays aboriginal Filipinos, no evidence has
survived which would indicate details of ancient Filipino life such as their crops, culture, and architecture. Historian William Henry
Scott noted any theory which describes such details for the period must be pure hypothesis, the earliest known human remains in
the Philippines are the fossilised remains discovered in 2007 in the Callao Caves in Cagayan. The 67, 000-year-old find predates
the 47, 000-year-old Tabon Man, the find consisted of a single 61 millimeter metatarsal which, when dated using uranium series
ablation, was found to be its current age. If definitively proven to be remains of Homo sapiens, it would also be one of the oldest
human remains in the Asia-Pacific, fossilized fragments of a skull and jawbone of three individuals had been discovered on May
28,1962 by Dr. Robert B. Fox, an American anthropologist of the National Museum and these fragments are collectively called
Tabon Man after the place where they were found on the west coast of Palawan. Tabon Cave appears to be a kind of a Stone
Age factory, charcoal left from three assemblages of cooking fires there has been Carbon-14 dated to roughly 7,000,20,000, and
22,000 BC. It is indicated that half of the 3,000 specimens recovered from the cave are discarded cores of a material which had
to be transported from some distance. The Tabon man fossils are considered to have come from the group of inhabitants who
inhabited the cave between 22,000 and 20,000 BC. An earlier cave level lies so far below the level containing cooking fire
assemblages that it must represent Upper Pleistocene dates from 45 or 50 thousand years ago. Physical anthropologists who
have examined the Tabon Man skullcap have agreed that it belonged to a modern man and this indicates that Tabon Man was
Pre-Mongoloid. Two experts have given the opinion that the mandible is Australian in physical type, nothing can be concluded
about Tabon mans physical appearance from the recovered skull fragments except that he was not a Negrito. The custom of Jar
Burial, which ranges from Sri Lanka, to the Plain of Jars, in Laos, to Japan, secondary burial was practiced across all the islands
of the Philippines during this period, with the bones reburied, some in the burial jars. Seventy-eight earthenware vessels were
recovered from the Manunggul cave, Palawan, There have been many models of early human migration to the Philippines. Since
H. Otley Beyer first proposed his wave theory, numerous scholars have approached the question of how. The question of whether
the first humans arrived from the south or from the north has been a subject of heated debate for decades, as new discoveries
come to light, past hypotheses are reevaluated and new theories constructed. The first, and most widely known theory of the
peopling of the Philippines is that of H. Otley Beyer, founder of the Anthropology Department of the University of the Philippines
3. Paleolithic – It extends from the earliest known use of stone tools, probably by Homo habilis initially,2.6 million years ago, to
the end of the Pleistocene around 10,000 BP. The Paleolithic era is followed by the Mesolithic, the date of the Paleolithic–Mesolithic
boundary may vary by locality as much as several thousand years. During the Paleolithic period, humans grouped together in
small societies such as bands, the Paleolithic is characterized by the use of knapped stone tools, although at the time humans
also used wood and bone tools. Other organic commodities were adapted for use as tools, including leather and vegetable fibers,
however, due to their nature, surviving artifacts of the Paleolithic era are known as paleoliths. About 50,000 years ago, there was
a increase in the diversity of artifacts. For the first time in Africa, bone artifacts and the first art appear in the archaeological record,
the first evidence of human fishing is also noted, from artifacts in places such as Blombos cave in South Africa. The new technology
generated an explosion of modern humans which is believed to have led to the extinction of the Neanderthals. Humankind
gradually evolved from members of the genus Homo—such as Homo habilis. The climate during the Paleolithic consisted of a set
of glacial and interglacial periods in which the climate periodically fluctuated between warm and cool temperatures, by c.  50,000
– c.  40,000 BP, the first humans set foot in Australia. By c.  45,000 BP, humans lived at 61°N latitude in Europe, by c.  30,000 BP,
Japan was reached, and by c.  27,000 BP humans were present in Siberia, above the Arctic Circle. At the end of the Upper
Paleolithic, a group of humans crossed Beringia, the term Paleolithic was coined by archaeologist John Lubbock in 1865. It derives
from Greek, παλαιός, palaios, old, and λίθος, lithos, stone, human evolution is the part of biological evolution concerning the
emergence of anatomically modern humans as a distinct species. The Paleolithic Period coincides almost exactly with the
Pleistocene epoch of geologic time and this epoch experienced important geographic and climatic changes that affected human
societies. During the preceding Pliocene, continents had continued to drift from possibly as far as 250 km from their present
locations to positions only 70 km from their current location. South America became linked to North America through the Isthmus
of Panama, most of Central America formed during the Pliocene to connect the continents of North and South America, allowing
fauna from these continents to leave their native habitats and colonize new areas. Africas collision with Asia created the
Mediterranean Sea, cutting off the remnants of the Tethys Ocean, climates during the Pliocene became cooler and drier, and
seasonal, similar to modern climates. The formation of an Arctic ice cap around 3 million years ago is signaled by a shift in oxygen
isotope ratios and ice-rafted cobbles in the North Atlantic. Mid-latitude glaciation probably began before the end of the epoch, the
global cooling that occurred during the Pliocene may have spurred on the disappearance of forests and the spread of grasslands
and savannas
4. Neolithic – It ended when metal tools became widespread. The Neolithic is a progression of behavioral and cultural
characteristics and changes, including the use of wild and domestic crops, the beginning of the Neolithic culture is considered to
be in the Levant about 10, 200–8800 BC. It developed directly from the Epipaleolithic Natufian culture in the region, whose people
pioneered the use of wild cereals, which then evolved into true farming. The Natufian period was between 12,000 and 10,200 BC,
and the so-called proto-Neolithic is now included in the Pre-Pottery Neolithic between 10,200 and 8800 BC. By 10, 200–8800 BC,
farming communities arose in the Levant and spread to Asia Minor, North Africa, Mesopotamia is the site of the earliest
developments of the Neolithic Revolution from around 10,000 BC. Early Neolithic farming was limited to a range of plants, both
wild and domesticated, which included einkorn wheat, millet and spelt, and the keeping of dogs, sheep. By about 6900–6400 BC,
it included domesticated cattle and pigs, the establishment of permanently or seasonally inhabited settlements, not all of these
cultural elements characteristic of the Neolithic appeared everywhere in the same order, the earliest farming societies in the Near
East did not use pottery. Early Japanese societies and other East Asian cultures used pottery before developing agriculture, unlike
the Paleolithic, when more than one human species existed, only one human species reached the Neolithic. The term Neolithic
derives from the Greek νέος néos, new and λίθος líthos, stone, the term was invented by Sir John Lubbock in 1865 as a refinement
of the three-age system. In the Middle East, cultures identified as Neolithic began appearing in the 10th millennium BC, early
development occurred in the Levant and from there spread eastwards and westwards. Neolithic cultures are attested in
southeastern Anatolia and northern Mesopotamia by around 8000 BC. The total excavated area is more than 1,200 square yards,
the Neolithic 1 period began roughly 10,000 years ago in the Levant. A temple area in southeastern Turkey at Göbekli Tepe dated
around 9500 BC may be regarded as the beginning of the period. This site was developed by nomadic tribes, evidenced by the
lack of permanent housing in the vicinity. At least seven stone circles, covering 25 acres, contain limestone pillars carved with
animals, insects, Stone tools were used by perhaps as many as hundreds of people to create the pillars, which might have
supported roofs. Other early PPNA sites dating to around 9500–9000 BC have been found in Jericho, Israel, Gilgal in the Jordan
Valley, the start of Neolithic 1 overlaps the Tahunian and Heavy Neolithic periods to some degree. The major advance of Neolithic
1 was true farming, in the proto-Neolithic Natufian cultures, wild cereals were harvested, and perhaps early seed selection and re-
seeding occurred. The grain was ground into flour, emmer wheat was domesticated, and animals were herded and domesticated
5. Negrito – The Negrito are several ethnic groups who inhabit isolated parts of Southeast Asia. The Negrito peoples show strong
similarities with the Pygmy peoples of Africa but are genetically closer to surrounding Southeast Asian populations. They may be
descended from ancient Australoid-Melanesian settlers of Southeast Asia, the word Negrito is the Spanish diminutive of negro,
used to mean little black person. Many on-line dictionaries give the plural in English as either negritos or negritoes, the plural in
Spanish is negritos. The appropriateness of using the label Negrito to bundle together peoples of different ethnicity based on
similarities in stature, Haplogroup O-P31 is also common among Austroasiatic-speaking Negrito peoples, such as the Maniq and
the Semang. Aeta men are of great interest to genetic, anthropological and historical researchers because at least 83% of them
belong to haplogroup K2b, in the form of its rare primary clades K2b1* and P*. Most Aeta males carry K-P397, which is uncommon
in the Philippines and is strongly associated with the indigenous peoples of Melanesia and Micronesia. Basal P* is rare outside
the Aeta and some groups within Maritime South East Asia. The use of single-nucleotide polymorphism shows the genomes of
Andamanese people to be closest to those of South Asians and this suggests a relation between Andaman islanders and South
Asians. Bulbeck likewise noted that the Andamaneses nuclear DNA clusters with that of other Andamanese Islanders, as they
carry Haplogroup D-M174, however, this is a subclade of the D haplogroup which has not been seen outside of the Andamans, a
fact that underscores the insularity of these tribes. Analysis of mtDNA, which is inherited exclusively by maternal descent, all Onge
belong to M32 mtDNA, a subgroup of M, which is unique to Onge people. Their parental Y-DNA is exclusively Haplogroup D,
which is only found in Asia. These were specific mtDNA mutations that are shared exclusively by Australian aborigines and these
Indian tribes, a study of human blood group systems and proteins in the 1950s suggested that the Andamanese peoples were
more closely related to Oceanic peoples than African Pygmy peoples. Genetic studies on Philippine Negritos, based on
polymorphic blood enzymes and antigens, Negrito peoples may descend from Australoid-Melanesian settlers of Southeast Asia.
Despite being isolated, the different peoples do share similarities with their neighboring populations. They also show relevant
phenotypic variations which require explanation, in contrast, a recent genetic study found that unlike other early groups in Malesia,
Andamanese Negritos lack the Denisovan hominin admixture in their DNA. Denisovan ancestry is found among indigenous
Melanesian and Aboriginal Australian populations between 4–6%, indeed this sentiment is echoed in a more recent work from
2013 which concludes that at the current level of genetic resolution. There is no evidence of an ancestral population for the different
groups traditionally defined as “negritos. ”A number of features would seem to suggest a common origin for the Negritos and
Negrillos
6. Models of migration to the Philippines – There have been several models of early human migration to the Philippines. Since H.
Otley Beyer first proposed his wave theory, numerous scholars have approached the question of how. The question of whether
the first humans arrived from the south or from the north has been a subject of heated debate for decades, as new discoveries
have come to light, past hypotheses have been reevaluated and new theories constructed. The most widely known theory of the
peopling of the Philippines is that of H. Otley Beyer, founder of the Anthropology Department of the University of the Philippines.
The aboriginal pygmy group, the Negritos, who arrived between 25,000 and 30,000 years ago via land bridges. The seafaring tool-
using Indonesian group who arrived about 5,000 to 6,000 years ago and were the first immigrants to reach the Philippines by sea.
The seafaring, more civilized Malays who brought the Iron age culture and were the real colonizers, unfortunately, there is no
definite evidence, archaeological or historical, to support this migration theory. On the contrary, the passage of time has made it
more unlikely. Writing in 1994, Philippine historian William Scott concluded that it is safe to say that no anthropologist accepts the
Beyer Wave Migration Theory today. A less rigid version of the earlier wave migration theory is the Core Population Theory first
proposed by anthropologist Felipe Landa Jocano of the University of the Philippines and this theory holds that there werent clear
discrete waves of migration. Jocano contends that what fossil evidence of ancient men show is that not only migrated to the
Philippines, but also to New Guinea, Borneo. He says that there is no way of determining if they were Negritos at all, however,
what is sure is that there is evidence the Philippines was inhabited tens of thousands of years ago. In 1962, a cap and a portion
of a jaw. The nearby charcoal from cooking fires have been dated to c.  22,000 years ago, while Palawan was connected directly
to Sundaland during the last ice age, Callao Mans still-older remains were discovered in northern Luzon. Some have argued that
this may show settlement of the Philippines earlier than that of the Malay Peninsula, Jocano further believes that the present
Filipinos are products of the long process of cultural evolution and movement of people. This not only true for Filipinos, but for the
Indonesians. No group among the three is culturally or genetically dominant, hence, Jocano says that it is not correct to attribute
the Filipino culture as being Malayan in orientation.9 million years ago. The claimed evidence for this is fossil material found in
different parts of the region and he states that these ancient men cannot be categorized under any of the historically identified
ethnic groups of today
7. Angono Petroglyphs – The Angono Petroglyphs is the oldest known work of art in the Philippines located in the province of
Rizal. There are 127 human and animal figures engraved on the rockwall probably carved during the late Neolithic, the engravings
are mostly symbolic representations and are associated with healing and sympathetic magic. The site has been declared by the
National Museum of the Philippines as a National Cultural Treasure in 1973, the existence of a rock shelter was reported to the
National Museum by the late National Artist of the Philippines Carlos V. Francisco in March 1965 during a trip with several boy
scouts along the boundaries of Angono, Binangonan. Since then, some rock carvings have been damaged due to neglect, in 1973,
by virtue of Presidential Decree No. 260, it was declared as a cultural treasure by the Philippine government. It was included in
the list of National Cultural Treasures in 1973, the site is also on the tentative list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites of the
Philippines. The Angono Petroglyphs of Binangonan is located in a rock shelter. It measures 63 meters wide,8 meters deep and
a height of 5 meters. It has been created due to faulting and formed in soil during the Quaternary period. Only 51 of the total 127
drawings are distinct, due to the complexity and plurality of the drawings, it is suggested that the drawings on the rock were not
only created by a single individual. From October to November 1965, archaeological excavations, headed by Alfredo Evangelista,
was done on the area of the rock shelter, the artifacts suggest that the site was used during the Neolithic age. The site of the
Angono Petroglyphs is developed as the Angono Branch of the National Museum in 1998 showcasing the cultural and its
collections include remains of giant turtle, tusks, fossils, molar of Elephas sp. tradeware ceramics and paintings
8. Iron Age – The Iron Age is an archaeological era, referring to a period of time in the prehistory and protohistory of the Old World
when the dominant toolmaking material was iron. It is commonly preceded by the Bronze Age in Europe and Asia with exceptions,
meteoric iron has been used by humans since at least 3200 BC. Ancient iron production did not become widespread until the
ability to smelt ore, remove impurities. The start of the Iron Age proper is considered by many to fall between around 1200 BC and
600 BC, depending on the region, the earliest known iron artifacts are nine small beads dated to 3200 BC, which were found in
burials at Gerzeh, Lower Egypt. They have been identified as meteoric iron shaped by careful hammering, meteoric iron, a
characteristic iron–nickel alloy, was used by various ancient peoples thousands of years before the Iron Age. Such iron, being in
its metallic state, required no smelting of ores. Smelted iron appears sporadically in the record from the middle Bronze Age. While
terrestrial iron is abundant, its high melting point of 1,538 °C placed it out of reach of common use until the end of the second
millennium BC. Tins low melting point of 231, similarly, recent archaeological remains of iron working in the Ganges Valley in India
have been tentatively dated to 1800 BC. By the Middle Bronze Age, increasing numbers of smelted iron objects appeared in the
Middle East, Southeast Asia, African sites are turning up dates as early as 1200 BC. Modern archaeological evidence identifies
the start of iron production in around 1200 BC. Between 1200 BC and 1000 BC, diffusion in the understanding of iron metallurgy
and use of objects was fast. As evidence, many bronze implements were recycled into weapons during this time, more widespread
use of iron led to improved steel-making technology at lower cost. Thus, even when tin became available again, iron was cheaper,
stronger, and lighter, and forged iron implements superseded cast bronze tools permanently. Increasingly, the Iron Age in Europe
is being seen as a part of the Bronze Age collapse in the ancient Near East, in ancient India, ancient Iran, and ancient Greece. In
other regions of Europe, the Iron Age began in the 8th century BC in Central Europe, the Near Eastern Iron Age is divided into
two subsections, Iron I and Iron II. Iron I illustrates both continuity and discontinuity with the previous Late Bronze Age, during the
Iron Age, the best tools and weapons were made from steel, particularly alloys which were produced with a carbon content between
approximately 0. 30% and 1. 2% by weight. Steel weapons and tools were nearly the same weight as those of bronze, however,
steel was difficult to produce with the methods available, and alloys that were easier to make, such as wrought iron, were more
common in lower-priced goods
9. Igorot society – The Igorot Society is the term for the collection of several ethnic groups in the Philippines that come from the
Cordillera Administrative Region of Luzon. They inhabit the six provinces of Abra, Apayao, Benguet, Kalinga, Ifugao and they are
a pre-Hispanic highland society that has survived through Spanish colonization. This Prehispanic state is the oldest in the
Philippines and this society predates the other prehispanic states in the Philippines which are maritime civilizations, in contrast to
this society which is a mountainous high-land society. This society is composed of tribes, mainly the Bontoc, Ibaloi, Isnag, Kalinga
10. Balangay – The Balangay is a plank boat adjoined by a carved-out plank edged through pins and dowels. It was first mentioned
in the 16th Century in the Chronicles of Pigafetta, the balangay was the first wooden watercraft excavated in Southeast Asia and
is evidence of early Filipino craftsmanship and their seamanship skills during pre-colonial times. The Balanghai Festival is also a
celebration in Butuan, Agusan del Norte to commemorate the coming of the early migrants settled the Philippines. When the first
Spaniards arrived in the 16th century, they found the Filipinos living in well-organized independent villages called barangays, the
name barangay originated from balangay, the Austronesian word for sailboat. Barangay, or Balangay, was one of the first native
words the Spaniards learned in the Philippines, when Antonio Pigafetta went ashore to parley with the ruler of Limasawa, they sat
together in a boat drawn up on shore which Pigafetta called a balangai. On the other hand, when the Spaniards reached Luzon,
they found this word for boat also being used for the smallest political unit of Tagalog society and this article is restricted on the
terms Balangay or Barangay referring to the boat only and not the ‘barangay’ as community. As in Northern Luzon particularly in
the province of Cagayan, balangay is used as a medium in getting food for the Ibanags. The Cagayan river system and the
Babuyan Channel provided the Ibanags with fish as well as avenues of trade as far as Ilocos coast, the common word for boat
was barangay, a term sometimes extended to the crew. Large vessels were called Biray or Biwong, the Visayans had a different
way of using balangay compared to that of the people of Northern Luzon. Large ones were used for carrying cargo and were called
bidok, biroko, biray, with the balangay’s size, it was used for cargo and raiding purposes giving proof that Butuan played a central
role in trade throughout the region of the Philippine islands and with neighboring area. Today, Balanghai Festival is a celebration
in Butuan, Agusan del Norte, it is to commemorate the coming of the early migrants settled in the Philippines. It is also held that
the balangay also helped spread the settlement of the Austronesian people around the Philippines and neighboring regions of
Maritime Southeast Asia, the Tao people of Taiwan have traditionally been adept at crafting balangays, which are held as a symbol
of their people. The balangay was the first wooden watercraft excavated in Southeast Asia, the well known barangay was an edge-
pegged, plank-built boat constructed on a keel. The balangay was basically a plank boat put together by joining the carved out
planks edge to edge, rib like structures made of lengths of wood were then lashed against these lugs to provide a flexible bulkhead,
to reinforce and literally sew the boat together. Cordage known as cabo negro was used for the purpose, the hull, measuring about
15 meters long and 4 meters wide, was ordinarily semicircular in cross section and with no marked keel. Provided with huge
outriggers, the boat was propelled either by a sail or by paddling, since the 10th century, Butuan appeared to have been in good
relations with the Srivijaya. Various goods, extending to the statue of Avalokiteśvara and the Golden Tara of Butuan, were traded
across Maritime Southeast Asia, the balangay boats were discovered in the late 1970s in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte. A total
of nine boats were accidentally found by locals searching for alluvial gold on land near the Masao River