Palaeozoology of Palawan Island, Philippines

Abstract

Excavations at the Ille site in north Palawan have produced a large Terminal Pleistocene to Late Holocene faunal assemblage. Derived both from the natural deaths of small mammals and the human hunting of large and intermediate game, the bone assemblage provides important new information about changes in the composition and structure of the mammal community of Palawan over the last ca. 14 000 years. The Ille zooarchaeological record chronicles the terrestrial vertebrate fauna of the island, and the disappearance of several large taxa since the end of the last glacial period due to environmental change and human impacts.