Sharmaine A. Pitogo Mrs.

Sanzel Ampo

IV Sun June 29, 2011

Archeological findings in Butuan

Early boats in Butuan Since the 10th century, Butuan appeared to have been in good relations with the Srivijayan Empire. Being located on the coast of Mindanao, balanghai's were often docking at Butuan bay keeping good business between the local people of Butuan and traders from the neighboring empire and neighboring islands. Various goods, extending to the statue of Avalokitevara and the Golden Tara of Butuan, were traded across the Malay Archipelago. The balangay boats were discovered in the late 1970s in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte by archaeologists from the National Museum of the Philippines. There were actually nine balangays recovered in the province. The first balangay, now preserved and displayed in a site museum in Libertad, Butuan City, was radiocarbon tested and was dated to year 320. The second boat was dated to 1250, and is now located at the Maritime Hall of the National Museum in Manila. The third balangay was transferred to the Butuan Regional Museum and is still undergoing preservation. The six other boats, which are yet to be excavated, remain in their original waterlogged condition, which is proven the best way to preserve the said artifacts. The first wooden watercraft excavated in Southeast Asia, the Balangay is only found in the Philippines where a flotilla of such prehistoric wooden boats exists. Nine specimens were discovered in 1976 in Butuan City, Agusan Del Norte, Mindanao and 3 of which have been excavated. Examination and extensive investigation reveals that the extant boats found in the excavation site date back to 320, 990 and 1250 AD. Building a Balangay requires teamwork and unity among workers which is why it is now used by the Philippine Government as a term to refer to the smallest political unit, now popularly pronounced as barangay. Early Filipinos were a people of the sea, living in coastal villages or near rivers. Boats were linked to many aspects of Filipino life: fishing, trade, warfare, piracy (trade raiding for goods and slaves), travel, communication, and dwelling. The Balanghai or Balangay or Butuan Boat 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, and is known as the oldest Pre-Hispanic watercraft found in the Philippines. The first wooden watercraft excavated in Southeast Asia, the Balangay is only found in the Philippines where a flotilla of such prehistoric wooden boat exists throughout the world. Nine specimens were discovered in 1976 in Butuan City, Agusan Del Norte, Mindanao and 3 of which have been excavated. Examination and extensive investigation reveals that the extant boats found in the excavation site date back to 320, 990 and 1250 AD. The finely built boat, made without the use of blueprints but was taught from one generation to another, uses a technique still used by boat makers of Sibutu Island. Made 15 meters long and 3 to 4 meters wide, the Balangay is propelled by sail of buri or nipa fiber or padding and is large enough to hold 60 to 90 people. With the Balangay s size, it was used for cargo and raiding purposes, giving proof that Butuan played a central role in trade. The Balangay or Balanghai is the first wooden watercraft ever excavated in Southeast Asia. Also known as, the Butuan boat, this artifact 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 from Borneo and Celebes, on board the Balangay boats. When the first Spaniards arrived in the 16th century, they found the Filipinos having a civilization of their own and living in well-organized independent villages called barangays. The name barangay originated from balangay, the Austronesian word for "sailboat". The Balangay is thought to have travelled much of Maritime South East Asia. With the balangays 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 areas. It is also held that the balangay also helped spread the settlement of the Austronesian people around the Philippines and neighboring regions in the Malay Archipelago. The Tao people of Taiwan have traditionally been adept at crafting balangays, which are held as a symbol of their people. Boat-making tradition A balangay is a plank boat adjoined by carved-out planks edged through pins or dowels. Archaeologists from an account of Antonio Pigafetta adapted the term in the early 16th century mentioning the word in Italian spelling, balanghai. Because of the ingenuity of Filipino boat makers, they were employed by the Spanish colonial regime to build the caracoa fleets that battled the Moros and mercantile galleons that crossed the Pacific, known as the Manila Galleon. The significance of the seafaring culture of the Philippines was demonstrated by the abundance of naval-related vocabularies in the 17th century Spanish dictionaries of Philippine languages. The finely built boat, made without the use of blueprints, was taught to be made from one generation to another and uses a technique still used by boat makers of Sibutu Island. Made 15 meters long and 3 to 4 meters wide, the Balangay is propelled by sail of buri, nipa fiber, or padding and large enough to hold 60 to 90 people.[9] As a socio-political unit The balangay was more than a mere boat. It was more like a vessel bearing a social unit. In fact, upon the arrival of the Spaniards in Luzon in the 16th century, they found out that the term balangay was also used to refer to the smallest political unit among the Tagalogs. A chief or datu who was respected and venerated by his subjects ruled the said unit, ranging from 30 to 100 households. Since balangays were relatively small political units, the Spaniards easily subjugated these. And to strengthen their colonial rule, the Spaniards converted the traditional datus into Cabeza de Barangay a position which, from being hereditary, became elective. And as the nature of building the balangay requires unity, the term was used by the Philippine government to refer to its basic political unit, now called barangay, headed by a barangay chairman.[10][2] This may be compared to the traditional Indonesian banjar system in a village (desa or kampung), whereby a village is looked after by the village chief and supporting role from elders. The Balangay Voyage The balangay replica docked at CCP Harbor Manila after its South East Asian expedition. In 2009, the Kaya ng Pinoy, Inc. that conquered Mt. Everest in 2006 announced plans to re-construct the Balangay boat, with the help of Badjao and other tribal members. The Balangay will be sailed, tracing the routes of the Filipino Ancestors during the waves of Austronesian settlement throughout the Malay region and the Pacific. The special wood for construction came from the established traditional source in southern Philippines, specifically Tawi-Tawi. The team have pinpointed Badjao master boat builders, whose predecessors actually built such boats, and used traditional tools during the construction. The balangay was constructed at Manila Bay, at the Cultural Center of the Philippines Complex.

The Balangay, navigated without the use of instruments, and only through the skills and traditional methods of the Filipino Sea Badjao people, will tour the Philippines travelling from Luzon through the Visayas to Mindanao, and Sulu, stopping off at numerous Philippine cities along the way to promote the project. The journey around the Philippine islands will cover a distance of 2,108 nautical miles or 3,908 kilometers. The second leg will see the Balangay navigate throughout South East Asia through to 2010, then Micronesia and Madascar the following year. The Balangay will then venture across the Pacific onward to the Atlantic and all the way around the world and back to the Philippines from 2012 to 2013. At February 4, 2011, the team arrived at Butuan City. The balangay will navigate by the old method used by the ancient mariners steering by the sun, the stars, the wind, cloud formations, wave patterns and bird migrations. Valdez and his team will rely on the natural navigational instincts of the Badjao. Apart from the Badjao, Ivatan are also experts in using the boat. The voyage hopes aims to reconnect to the greatness of the Filipino ancestors, and to rekindle the maritime consciousness among the Filipino people, a nation of over 90 million people living in the second largest island nation in the world. The voyage also aims to install Enrique De Malacca, the Indo-Malay, his rightful place in history as the first circum-navigator of the world. Their vessel, named "Ngandahig", can also be compared to the Hokulea voyages, and the voyages of the Polynesian Voyaging Society. BUTUAN CITY - CENTER OF BALANGAYS BUTUAN City - A national cultural treasure, estimated to be more than 1,600 years old, is housed in an old dilapidated structure near the east bank of the Libertad river in this historic city and trade center of Agusan del Norte province. A group of butuan dancer The Balanghai shrine, a one-storey building being maintained by the National Museum, houses two of the three ancient boats discovered and excavated from 1976 to 1986. Mario Bongay, a restorer at the Balanghai Shrine since 1993, said radiocarbon tests administered by Japanese experts on one of these boats suggested that the wooden boat could have existed as early as 320 AD. Another boat was carbon dated to be more than 1000 years old. The National Museum in Manila houses the other boat. No other remains of the ancient boats, locally known as balanghais, were found elsewhere. National museum balangay shrine These archaeological findings in Butuan prompted former President Corazon Aquino to issue in 1987 Proclamation No. 86, which declared the boats, locally known as balanghais, as national cultural treasures and the sites where they were discovered as archaeological sites. However, Leonides Theresa Plaza, chairperson of the Caraga regional tourism council admitted that the Balanghai Shrine is at a "dilapidated" state, threatening the restoration of what is perhaps the most important evidence of pre-Hispanic Filipino civilization. balangay shrine Plaza said they are now talking with the National Museum on how to improve the Balanghai Shrine, and signed a memorandum of agreement, where the local

government of Butuan can help finance the upgrading of the facilities. Tourism Secretary Joseph Ace Durano, who graced the celebration of Araw ng Caraga, also cited the need to improve the Balanghai Shrine. Durano said his office also contributed P2.5 million for a project of the Butuan city government to promote its Balanghai tradition. The city government of Butuan is undertaking a P7-million project to launch within six months the so-called Agusan river cruise on board replicas of Balanghais. Butuan bridge Durano said the project is expected to drive tourism activities not only in Butuan, but also in the whole Caraga region (Region XIII), which apart from its historical value is being promoted as an adventure tourism destination. Aside from the Balanghai Shrine, other major attractions in Caraga are the surfing destination of Siargao, the Agusan Marsh wildlife sanctuary, Lake Mainit, Bucas Grande Island, Mount Hilong Hilong, and Tinuy-an Falls. Cecilia Lopez, an assistant regional director of the National Economic and Development Authority in Caraga, said the growth of tourism in the region is proving to be beneficial for the expansion of various industries. Durano supported this, saying that tourism is an important contributor to employment generation and creation of livelihood opportunities. BUTUAN City - The country's oldest tree is now officially a tourist destination, after the Department of Tourism installed a tourist center near the 500-year-old Bitaog tree in Magallanes, Agusan del Norte. Bitaog tree that is 500 year old in butuan now official tourist attraction Officials of the provincial government of Agusan del Norte and the Department of Tourism inaugurated over the weekend the tourist center to accommodate some 200 daily visitors in the village of Caloc-an in Magallanes to view the tree, which in June 1998, was declared Philippine Centennial Tree. "This 500-year-old tree has witnessed more stories than Jun Lozada," Agusan del Norte Governor Erlpe John Amante said in jest. Lozada is the new Senate witness in the ongoing investigation into the alleged anomalous deal between the government and Chinese firm ZTE Corp. for a national broadband network project. Local historian Florante More, who nominated the Bitaog tree (Calophyllum inophyllum) as the oldest tree in 1998, said the trunk of the tree measures 290 centimeters in diameter. The Bitaog tree, however, is much younger compared to the oldest known tree in the world, a Great Basin bristlecone pine located in California's White Mountains and is popularly known as the Methuselah tree. It is believed to be more than 4,700 years old. Aside from the Bitaog tree, Magallanes town, named after explorer Ferdinand Magellan, also takes pride of its rich history. More said the first Catholic mass was actually celebrated in Magallanes on April 8, 1521, and not in Limasawa. Magallanes town with wooden cross in Butuan city More said a proof of this is the marker erected during the time of Spanish District Governor Jose Maria Carvallo in 1873, commemorating the first mass in Magallanes. Two places in Agusan were actually contesting Limasawa's claim - a site in Magallanes at the mouth of the 350-kilometer Agusan River and the Easter Mass Eco Park in Butuan City, where a large cross was erected to commemorate the first mass. Greg Hontiveros, author of the book "Butuan of a Thousand Years", however, said

Butuan hosted a thriving civilization even before the Spaniards came in 1521. "By the time the Spaniards came, Butuan as a trading port was in fact already on the decline," he said. Hontiveros said wooden plank-build and edge-pegged boats believed to be more than a thousand years old were excavated from Barangay Libertad. One of the boats, called Balangay 1 was carbon dated to be more than 1,600 year old. Its relics suggest that the boat measured 15 meters in length and 3 meters wide across the beam. The relics are now kept inside the old building of the Balangay Shrine Museum in Libertad, near a swamp, where the boats were extracted. Butuan City is a storied place, and not without its controversy. Its been said that even before the Philippines came to be, there was already the Kingdom of Butuan. Of course a lot of people were quick to dispute that claim. In this featured post, Francis of Butuan City Today, gives us a glimpse of Butuan through its artifacts and its month-long Balanghai Festival. Today, May 1, 2009 is the official start of Butuan Citys month long Balanghai Festival. We usually hear this word around this time of summer as we usually equate it with the citys display of culture and tradition as well as its opportunity to show the development highlights it has travailed in its a thousand years of existence, from an influential maritime kingdom in the Sri Vidjayan and Madjapahit Empires, to a gold finders paradise in the early 20th century to a booming timbertown in the 50s. From a fragile, perennial calamity hit locality to a rising highly urbanized regional capital of todayto that of vigorous shining metropolis in the near future. Let us again take a review of Balanghai, and how this great Indo-Malay word came to represent this citys journey through the past millenia. Golden Voyage Since the 10th century, Butuan appeared to have been in good relations with the Srivijayan Empire. Being located on the coast of Mindanao, balanghais are often docking at the Butuan bay keeping good business between the local people of Butuan and traders from the neighboring empire. During the 1970s, these balanghais were exposed through an excavation to the modern time and found that through carbon-dating process, the boats were almost a thousand years old. Building balanghai requires teamwork and unity among workers which is why it was used by the Philippine Government as a term to refer to the smallest political unit, now became popularly pronounced as barangay. Butuans Early Balanghais A balanghai, or some refer to it as balangay, is a wooden boat adjoined by planks, and believed that the term originated from an Italian archaeologist named Antonio Pigafetta in the 16th century when he mentioned the word spelled balanghai. The balangays did not serve just a wooden boat but stood as a symbol for social unit. In the 16th century, Spaniards found out that balangay also referred to the smallest unit of politics among Filipinos. Balanghai Boats Late 1970s, balangay boats were discovered in Butuan City by the National Museum archaelogists. Nine were recovered during the excavation. The first is being presently preserved and displayed in the museum in Libertad, Butuan City. It had undergone carbon-dating and dated at year 320. The second boat, dated 1250, is presently located at the Maritime Hall of National Museum in Manila. The third was transferred to Butuan Regional Museum while the six other boats are under the process of excavtion and preserved, remaining to their original waterlogged condition to protect the artifacts. The Historical Butuan The city of Butuan is the home of treasures such as the Tara, golden figurine of Buddhas consort, an array of lustrous, most intricate jewelry, a collection of priceless ceramics from the Sung Dynasty, and the remains of the early balanghai.

These precious treasures of Butuan are now found around the globe. The Tara is now at the Field Museum in Chicago, the Chinese precious findings and the restored balanghais are being displayed at the National Museum, and the incomparable gold jewelry is the Metropolitan Museum of Manilas grandest collection. The first mass in the Philippines is believed to have taken place near the Agusan River, and it is said that Ferdinand Magellan himself dropped the anchor of the ship in 1521 at the Agusan River, and held a mass to commemorate the event. BALANGHAI FESTIVAL Commemorating the coming of the early settlers from Borneo and Celebes, Butuan in Agusan del Sur is celebrating Balanghai Festival during the third week of May, coinciding the feast of Butuans patron saint, Saint Joseph. The balanghai, also known as balangay and Butuan boat, is the first water vessel to have excavated in Southeast Asia, serving as evidence to the craftsmanship of the early Filipinos in attempting to transport on water. Balanghai Festival is one historical event commemorated through a night of exotic performances, costumes in an array of colors and creativity, and dazzling floats. One can also take part in the festivals activities such as contests, exhibits, and many other events.