The lower Palaeolithic record in the Philippines

Abstract

The exploration of Palaeolithic sites has a rather long tradition in the Philippines. Commencing with H. Otley Beyer in the 1920s, the systematic study of prehistoric sites and lithic materials has become a major field of Philippine Archaeology. A number of open sites, rockshelters and caves have yielded prehistoric artefacts which can be characterized as Palaeolithic. They aremainly situated in Palawan Island and in Luzon Island (Fig. 1). While it is quite certain that Palawanwas once connected with Borneo and a part of the enlarged landmass of Sundaland during sea-level regressions in the Pleistocene, the possibilities for a connection of Luzon with the mainland are still under discussion. The existence of large land mammals like Elephas, Stegodon and Rhinoceros during the Middle Pleistocene has been confirmed by the presence of fossil bones all over the island and might be an argument for the existence of such a land bridge (Dizon, 1998). At least, shallow waters and the proximity of emerged islands of the Sulu Archipelago and between Sulawesi and Mindanao (Fig. 2) would allow ‘‘island-hopping’’ during glacial periods. Research on the Lower Palaeolithic in the Philippines initially focussed on the so-called Cabalwanian or Liwanian sites of Northern Luzon (Koenigswald, 1958; Fox, 1978; Bondoc, 1979). A number of open-sites along the Cagayan River valley have been discovered and investigated since the 1950s. Their lithic materials consist mostly of unretouched flakes, choppers and other unifacially retouched pebble tools. A partially bifacial proto-handaxe was found in 2008 (Fig. 3). Although similarities with handaxes have been noted, a true bifacial technology is not present in the Cabalwanian (Fox and Peralta, 1974). The primitive-looking stone tools and the existence of a Middle Pleistocene fauna are suggestive