Artifacts Diggings in Aklan
By Recto I. Vidal
The Philippine National Museum and LGU Kalibo are now preparing for a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) aimed to jumpstart the official archaeological diggings of rare Chinese artifacts. They expected to start digging in January, 2006.
This developed after some construction workers in Kalibo recently discovered some Chinese ceramics believed to have originated during the Ming Dynasty in the 15th-16th century while working on a construction site at the Pastrana Park, Poblacion, Kalibo.
Wilfredo Ronquillo, chief of the Arhaeology Division of the Philippine National Museum, told Madyaas Pen in an interview that the discovery of said artifacts bolstered the belief that there is a need to conduct an intensive diggings to explore the sites which could be possibly be "a haven for some interesting discovery not known before."
"We are looking here for a possible ancestral grave or an ancestral economic activity as we are focusing to document the Chinese influence in the country," Ronquillo said.
The Archaeology chief said that while historical books enumerate mostly the activities of the Spaniards occupation in the Philippines, historians and archaeologists has only a handful of written document on the Chinese economic activity in the country.
It was learned that the National Museum upon completion of the MOA plans to make series of diggings in Pastrana Park and Tigayon Hill, Kalibo in January 2006 in time for the annual Ati-Atihan Festival which had already reached 400 years of yearly tradition.
"We will also include the study of the Ati-atihan Festival and its possible connection with the Chinese activities and barter trade. In the history books, the Chinese often traded cloth with agricultural products or timber but as time went by, it is apparent that people can be tired of this continuous activity. So we want to deepen the probe and document whatever findings we discover," Ronquillo said.
The first phase of the diggings will last from three weeks to a month and upon assessment, the National Museum is eyeing for a possible three-year study on the culture and traditions in Kalibo.
According to Kalibo Mayor Raymar Rebaldo, they appreciated the processing of the Memorandum of Agreement to the National Museum as "contributions of the municipality to the country's prehistoric times."
In a copy of the preliminary report which was approved by Corazon Alvina, Director IV of the Museum, "the ceramics discovered is a proto-historic materials generally used by the ancestors."
"Both the ceramics discovered in Pastrana Park and the Tigayon Hill which are probably a burial site made of chambers which could contain significant evidences may open new knowledge and origins of the Filipinos particularly the Aklanons," Alvina said. /MP mailto:madyaas_pen@yahoo.com
By Recto I. Vidal
The Philippine National Museum and LGU Kalibo are now preparing for a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) aimed to jumpstart the official archaeological diggings of rare Chinese artifacts. They expected to start digging in January, 2006.
This developed after some construction workers in Kalibo recently discovered some Chinese ceramics believed to have originated during the Ming Dynasty in the 15th-16th century while working on a construction site at the Pastrana Park, Poblacion, Kalibo.
Wilfredo Ronquillo, chief of the Arhaeology Division of the Philippine National Museum, told Madyaas Pen in an interview that the discovery of said artifacts bolstered the belief that there is a need to conduct an intensive diggings to explore the sites which could be possibly be "a haven for some interesting discovery not known before."
"We are looking here for a possible ancestral grave or an ancestral economic activity as we are focusing to document the Chinese influence in the country," Ronquillo said.
The Archaeology chief said that while historical books enumerate mostly the activities of the Spaniards occupation in the Philippines, historians and archaeologists has only a handful of written document on the Chinese economic activity in the country.
It was learned that the National Museum upon completion of the MOA plans to make series of diggings in Pastrana Park and Tigayon Hill, Kalibo in January 2006 in time for the annual Ati-Atihan Festival which had already reached 400 years of yearly tradition.
"We will also include the study of the Ati-atihan Festival and its possible connection with the Chinese activities and barter trade. In the history books, the Chinese often traded cloth with agricultural products or timber but as time went by, it is apparent that people can be tired of this continuous activity. So we want to deepen the probe and document whatever findings we discover," Ronquillo said.
The first phase of the diggings will last from three weeks to a month and upon assessment, the National Museum is eyeing for a possible three-year study on the culture and traditions in Kalibo.
According to Kalibo Mayor Raymar Rebaldo, they appreciated the processing of the Memorandum of Agreement to the National Museum as "contributions of the municipality to the country's prehistoric times."
In a copy of the preliminary report which was approved by Corazon Alvina, Director IV of the Museum, "the ceramics discovered is a proto-historic materials generally used by the ancestors."
"Both the ceramics discovered in Pastrana Park and the Tigayon Hill which are probably a burial site made of chambers which could contain significant evidences may open new knowledge and origins of the Filipinos particularly the Aklanons," Alvina said. /MP mailto:madyaas_pen@yahoo.com
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