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.