Philippine E-Journals

The Beads, The Boats, The Bowls of Butuan: Studying Old Things to Generate New Knowledge

Mary Jane Louise A Bolunia

 

Abstract:

Butuan became famous in contemporary society with the discovery of the first plank-built edge-pegged boat in early 1970s. In earlier times, around the 10th century or thereabouts, Butuan was already famous in other polities of southeast Asia and China, when she participated in the southeast Asian maritime trading. Its involvement can be traced in the nine boats identified, the thousands of ceramic pieces, and other artifacts and ecofacts that have been recovered. To further understand the maritime involvement of Butuan, in 2012, the Archaeology Division embarked on another research. The objectives were to excavate another wooden boat that might yield new insights on the boat-building tradition as well as to recover more evidences of habitation and trading activities. The research not only yielded one boat but two, with the second being considered as the biggest so far. More artifacts and ecofacts were recovered associated with boat building, trade and habitation. Old place names were also identified that can be ascribed as meeting places of people and trading.