From March 23 to April 18, the University of San Carlos Department of Sociology and Anthropology (SoAn), together with the USC Museum, conducted its annual field school at the town center or poblacion of San Remigio, northwestern Cebu.
About San Remigio
San Remigio, is located in the northwestern part in the province of Cebu. It is 109 kilometers away from the provincial capital-Cebu City. It is bounded on the north by Hagnaya Bay; on the east by the municipalities of Bogo and Tabogon; on the south by the municipality of Tabuelan and on the west by Tañon Strait. It lies between 123⁰53’ and 58” longitude and 10⁰53’ and 11”07 latitude. San Remigio, having the longest shoreline in the whole province of Cebu, only means one thing - long strips of beach.
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| The beaches of San Remigio beckon. What secrets do they still keep? |
Before the colonial period, San Remigio used to be called Kanghagas, said derive from the same name of a tree that thrives in the area. Today, the modern town of San Remigio has a total land area of 9,546.42 hectares, comprising of twenty-seven (27) barangays. The urban land area encompasses 1,096.30 hectares or 11.48% of the total land area. The urban area is composed of three barangays, namely: Poblacion, Argawanon, Hagnaya and Punta. The rural area is composed of twenty-four barangays: Anapog, Bagtic, Bancasan, Batad, Busogon, Calambua, Canagahan, Dapdap, Gawaygaway, Kayam, Kinawahan, Lambusan, Lawis, Libaong, Looc, Luyang, Maño, Sab-a, San Miguel, Tacup, Tambongon, To-ong and Victoria.
About the Field School
Fifteen undergraduate and two graduate students in archaeology and cultural heritage management joined USC resident archaeologist Prof. Jojo R. Bersales as well as the National Museum team of Dr. Ame Garong, Jose G. Santiago and Dante Posadas in carrying out mapping, excavation, artifact cleaning, accessioning and cataloguing as well as the bakc-filling of excavation units.
Why San Remigio?
Tales of looting (see next blog) in the 1970s and 1980s provided a significant impetus to carry out a scientific confirmation of these stories that only archaeology could confirm. This field school is thus intended to seek out the past in whatever is left from the unchecked looting of the past. It is time to know the truth.
The next pages will chronicle the experience of first-time excavators as well as experts in the practice of archaeology as we unearth the past in San Remigio.
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| Preparing our first excavation unit on March 25, 2011. |
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| Jojo Bersales explaining to students the process of excavation. |
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| Students learning the basics of plane table mapping from Joe Santiago of the National Museum |
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