Dating San Remigio

One of the small earthenware pots recovered during the second round of excavations at the San Remigio Parish Church site. Note the decoration on the body in this crudely-crafted ware.

Thanks to the second round of arhcaeological excavations at San Remigio, which was conducted by the University of Guam in collaboration with the National Museum, USC and UP ASP, we now have definitive dates based on soil and tooth samples sent to the United States. Here are the results:

Soil from Trench 6, cal BP 3180 to 3470
Post hole: cal BP 500 to 420
Tooth: cal BP 1540-1400

BP stands for Before Present, which is reckoned to 1950.The human tooth, therefore, in this sample dates to or A.D. 410 to 550 or about 1,460 to 1,600 years ago. This is exactly as we predicted in our earlier estimations of the Metal or Iron Age in Cebu, to date between 2,000 to 1,500 year ago!


Indeed, San Remigio is the oldest archaeological site in Cebu today.

Crunch time as Students View the Travelling Exhibition and the Excavations

These past two days, we have seen the steady arrival of batches of students from the San Remigio National High School who have come to view the exhibits at San Remigio Cultural Center and learn more about their town's past while also looking at the on-going archaeological excavations on site. We expect about 1,800 of these students to come this week even as students from other schools nearby, like that of the Lambusan National High School, have also began arriving.

Students from SRNHS viewing the central exhibits.

Taking notes.

Enjoying the view.

Posing by class.

Jojo Bersales explaining the finds to students

The bus waiting for students at the site nearby.

Teachers from Lambusan National High School together with their students.

The batch of exhibition visitors from Lambusan National High School.

Another batch of students from San Remigio National High School (SRNHS)

Jojo Bersales had to use a megaphone when the crowd swelled beyond 60 people.

Jojo Bersales explains the finds to students from two national high school.s

Bersales answers question right on site.

A student interviews Dr. Boboy Acabado of Univ. of Guam.

Another batch of students posing for posterity with their teacher, Edmund Apora.

And now to exhibit our finds

Last Friday, I returned to San Remigio together with our National Museum partners Dr. Ame Garong, Jose Santiago and Dante Posadas to install and inaugurate the traveling exhibition sponsored by USC Museum entitled "The Iron Age in San Remigio". The venue was the void deck of the San Remigio Cultural Center, right below where the joint USC-Univ of Guam-UP Diliman archaeological team is billeted while carrying out another round of excavations.

A day later, we inaugurated the exhibit with the presence of local dignitaries led by Fr. Tata Torres of the Parish of San Remigio, together with the Mayor's secretary, Rodney, and the Ruth Hermoso, San Remigio Tourism Officer. It was with Ruthy, as she is popularly called, that I coordinated the holding of this exhibit for two weeks while the excavations are unfolding at the parish church site.. A sumptuous dinner, sponsored by Mayor Jay Olivar, then followed the viewing of exhibits. Mayor Jay unfortunately was in Manila and could not attend the opening rites.

We are now busy inviting high schools around to come and view the exhibits which will run until June 21, 2011.

The ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Putting the artifacts in their vitrines a few hours before the opening.

A peek of the display panel boards before the opening.

The archaeologists and students from Univ of Guam, Univ of Hawaii and Univ of the Philippines are our guests.

The exhibit area and displays.

The exhibition hall.

The dinner courtesy of Mayor Jay Olivar.

From left: Joe Santiago, Jobers R. Bersales, Sao Nguyen of Vietnam, Ame Garong, Donna Arriola and Ruth Hermoso.

The multi-nation group of archaeologists and their students awaiting the opening rites.

After Backfill

The first San Remigio Archaeological Fieldwork Project and the 2011 USC-NM Archaeological Field School officially ended today with the departure for Manila of the National Museum team led by Dr. Ame Garong.

Last Sunday, we left the site, with two vehicles courtesy of Gov. Gwendolyn F. Garcia and the Cebu Provincial Tourism and Heritage Council, our partner in this project.

All the excavation units have been backfilled and all that is left of the largest unit with the six burials are the tents generously provided to us by the Municipal Government of San Remigio, which also defrayed the cost of accommodations of the team, courtesy of Mayor Jay Olivar. Our thanks to the governor, the mayor and to Fr. Fritz Malinao as well as Fr. Tata, his assistant, and also to Archbishop Jose Palma and Msgr. Carlito Pono of the Archdiocesan Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church. Kudos to the people of San Remigio. We hope to return soon.

No more excavations. The soil is back where it belongs.

Finishing Touches

Accessioning was finally completed yesterday and the packing of artifacts and bones into crates began. Photography of almost all the important and significant finds, whether as sherds, fish and other animal bones or as associated potteries and metal implements, was also carried out yesterday and today. This was proceeding while our local laborers began the inventory of tools and equipment we used during the excavations (mainly mason trowels, picks, pails, stools, paintbrushes, whisk brooms and dustpans.

A six-page preliminary report on the highlights of the project has also been sent to Mayor Jay Olivar and a similar report also submitted to Fr. Fritz Malinao.

Tonight we will be making a public presentation at the void deck below our quarters, the San Remigio Cultural Center. Tomorrow we return to the city and deposite everything at the National Museum Branch located in Museo Sugbo.

Tools of the trade: our equipment. (Look, Ma, no detector!)

Photographing of artifacts.

The Metal in Metal Age

Among the artifacts we recovered that were associated with two of the six burials were metal implements or tools. These, and the earthenware, are what make us suspect that the site is of the Iron or Metal Age in the Philippines, which runs between 1,000 B.C. to A.D. 900.

Metal implements retrieved from Burial 3, the burial with the incised red-slipped carinated pottery.

A small "guna" or weeding tool retrieved very near the right pelvic region of Burial 4.

Samples

To aid us in the analysis of our finds, charcoal and soil samples have been collected for laboratory processing in the United States, if plans and funds permit. These samples were carefully collected to avoid as little possible contamination as possible.

The soil and charcoal samples are even accessioned and carry their own particular database numbers.

Back-Fill Time

The back-filling of the final excavation units where all six burials, 11 earthenware potteries and 5 iron tools were uncovered finally began today and will continue tomorrow. This was going on as students from the local TESDA training school began cleaning the church grounds and the streets to be used for the processions that will mark the Holy Week, which starts on Sunday, the day we leave San Remigio.

The back-fill, one of the most important "rituals" in archaeology, where all excavation units are covered over with plastic garbage bags. Coins as well as other time markers (like plastic wrappers) are then thrown over the plastic in order to indicate that the site has already been excavated. Then the original soil that was removed during the excavation process is returned to the unit.

Three Monsignors and a Hope

Our excavation project was honored by the visit last April 12 of three monsignori from the Archdiocese of Cebu, namely: Msgrs. Rudy Villanueva, Joseph Tan, and Arthur Navales, Fr. Allan Delima as well as Dr. Hope Yu of Cebuano Studies Center. Fr. Frttz Malinao and Fr. Tata were, unfortunately, not in San Remigio at that time since they were in the city to attend the annual renewal and retreat for parish priests and their assistant pastors.

Msgr. Shongho Tan shares a joke with Jojo Bersales

Dr. Hope Yu and Msgr. Rudy Villanueva just outside the excavation unit.

Fr. Allan Delima and Msgr. Arthur Navales. At the background is our preliminary report printed on tarp.

All the archbishop's men: Msgrs. Tan, Villanueva, Navales and Delima with Jojo Bersales outside the convent near the excavation site. Note the brewed coffee, newsppaers and the gift of wine from Dr. Yu (the photographer).

Kabilin on the San Rem Finds

The Sugbo TV Channel 14 crew of Jojo Bersales' show, Kabilin, visited the site to do an episode explaining the significance of what we have uncovered and how it related to other Iron Age or Metal Age sites in the Philippines.

Jojo R. Bersales starting the show.

Dr. Ame Garong of NM explains the significance of the Iron or Metal Age in the Philippines.

Joe Santiago of NM explains the mapping of the site. No detectors needed.

Retrieval Operations

We are now just three days away from our departure and while accessioning of artifacts continues, the retrieval of the burials was carried out today. This is required because the bones, though fragmented due to the soil matrix, need to be studied further in the lab.

The Excavation Site on Google

Thanks to a follower who posted this google map on our other forum, we can now show you  roughly where 10 the excavation units are located (in orange). The largest square is the area where the six burials and associated materials were recovered.

The excavation units (in orange).

Accessioning Time

Now that we are through with three weeks of excavations, the team now proceeds to accessioning and cataloguing the thousands of ceramic sherds, shells, bones and other artifacts and ecofacts that we have recovered from our 10 excavation units.

Our quarters, the San Remigio Cultural Center, with each beckoning white sand beach and crystal clear waters, now serves as our field lab.

Dr. Ame Garong heading the accessioning of the artifacts.

Trisa Valmoria and Arianne Lopez writing accession codes on each shell.

Joe G. Santiago continues to piece together the jigsaw puzzling carinated pot while Melvin and Neil Lambujon watch.

The hall way at the second floor of the center, our quarters, now begins to look like a field lab.

One crate is nearly full of accessioned artifacts, mainly earthenware sherds.

Jojo Bersales, project leader, prepares the preliminary report to be submitted to Fr. Fritz Malinao and Mayor Jay Oliver, while suffering from a painful boil on his right leg.

Occlusal Variation: Some Q&A

Three of the 6 burials recovered during this excavation show signs of occlusal variation or what is commonly referred to as malocclusion. One of these, Burial 2, has more than one variation. The questions to ask would be: Does this run in families? Are the burials related then? What are the causes of occlusal variation?


To the first and last question: probably but the most accepted reason among anthropologists is that occlusal variation is a result of a soft diet that results in lesser power exertion when chewing or lesser chewing intervals during meals. There is, in fact, an increase in the incidence of occlusal variation among relatively modern humans, compared to those of the Stone Age, because of processed foods. So, what was the diet then of these individuals? Probably, they had little hard meat to chew on, just tender or young wild pigs and plenty of fish of all kinds.

To the second question, are these burials related? Not necessarily since they all had the same sources of food which contributed to the occlusal variation.

Burial 2 with the highest occurrence of occlusal variation.

Burial 3, with a maloccluding mandibular canine.

Burial 6 with disalignment of teeth, also an occlusal variation.

 Apropos to our earlier post on the possible filing of teeth, it appears now that the flattened teeth of Burial 6 may be a result of prolonged use, thus indicating an advanced age of probably 60 or more.