|
|
|
|
HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
 Posted - 07/10/2010 : 00:13:02
|
I live in Barangay Bakakeng Central, about four kilometers south-west of downtown Baguio.
A barangay (bah-WRONG-guy) is the smallest of geographical/political units in the Philippines. Every city and municipality in the Philippines is subdivided into barangays. Each barangay has a barangay hall, a barangay chief, and a barangay council. The term is a fascinating echo of the ancient spread of the seagoing Austronesian peoples. The Philippine islands were settled by these Malayo-Polynesian (Austronesian) peoples (probably from Taiwan), starting about 6,000 years ago.
The word barangay comes from balangay, an Austronesian word for a type of sailboat. One can imagine thousands of sailboats, over thousands of years, each of them bearing the ancestors of most modern Filipinos, landing at dispersed sites, establishing the villages which were later to be called barangays.
But other people had arrived far earlier than the Austronesians. These people, the Negritos, probably walked to the Philippines over land bridges 30,000 years ago, or even earlier. No remains of pre-Homo Sapiens have been found in the Philippines. The Negritos, a people still thriving here, were probably the first examples of our species of upright ape to invade these islands. There are pockets of remnant Negrito tribes all over both mainland and insular South-East Asia.
The Austronesian invaders settled mainly on the coasts and larger rivers, leaving the Negritos to the mountain and jungle fastnesses. Later, Hindu religion and culture was introduced by traders (incidentally giving Filipinos the word and concept of "karma" which contributes to their national fatalism even today). The various Igorot tribes people of the Cordilleras region where I now live still retain faint aspects of Hinduism, in the form of mutated legends from the Vedas and the names of a few Hindu gods. It is believed that the Igorots' ancestors fled to the mountains from the intolerant monotheistic religions of Islam, and then Catholicism. The Igorots have been in the cool mountains long enough that they have already evolved a more stocky frame than their other Austronesian cousins, perhaps in response to the climate.
The Negritos became further isolated from their kin, and marginalized in the least hospitable mountains, such as the dangerous slopes of Pinatubo volcano. But the Negritos survive, a small, very dark skinned people with woolly hair who (probably by convergent evolution) look somewhat like African pygmies.
My barangay of Bakakeng Central is situated on steep mountain slopes on the north side of Marcos Highway west of downtown Baguio. It's a barangay at which no crew of a balangay could have landed to settle, unless it was one named Noah's Ark. But with at least forty days and nights of deluge ahead this season, that's sounding more credible every day.
|
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
Edited by - HalfMooner on 07/10/2010 03:19:29
|
|
|
Ebone4rock
SFN Regular
USA
894 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2010 : 06:14:49 [Permalink]
|
| Fascinating. You just gave me another island people to study up on. |
Haole with heart, thats all I'll ever be. I'm not a part of the North Shore society. Stuck on the shoulder, that's where you'll find me. Digging for scraps with the kooks in line. -Offspring |
 |
|
|
ThorGoLucky
Snuggle Wolf
USA
1487 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2010 : 16:56:57 [Permalink]
|
| Thanks for the info. |
|
|
|
On fire for Christ
SFN Regular
Norway
1273 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2010 : 17:08:54 [Permalink]
|
| The part about the Negritos is pretty interesting. |
 |
| Edited by - On fire for Christ on 07/10/2010 17:14:14 |
|
|
|
HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/11/2010 : 01:36:04 [Permalink]
|
Thank you all for the feedback. I'm constantly fascinated with cultures, ever since reading some of Margaret Mead's popular anthropological books at the time I was in junior high school.
I intend to eventually explore some of the more primitive tribal areas in the months to come, once I can afford to buy a good, used motor scooter. "Primitive," though, is somewhat of a misnomer. The Igorots in the Cordilleras have, for the last two to six thousand years, built and maintained vast, remarkable and world-famous rice terraces on the steep mountain slopes for wet-rice cultivation. Without those terraces, there would be very little food to support these people. These are carefully engineered, and superficially resemble the Incan farming terraces at Machu Picchu in Peru.
I want to see these terraces. I also want to find Igorot weapons smiths with an eye to buying examples of their beautifully designed head axes, spears, shields, etc. (Most Igorot weapons available in Baguio are "tourist class": cheap, untempered copies made to sell to people who don't know or care better.)
When I finally venture out among the "former" headhunters, I'll report back here with text and photos, assuming my own head is not by then gracing a place of pride in someone's home. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 07/11/2010 01:46:44 |
|
|
|
On fire for Christ
SFN Regular
Norway
1273 Posts |
Posted - 07/11/2010 : 13:40:09 [Permalink]
|
I am also fascinated by cultures, particularly in this part of the world. (maybe it's all the islands)
The migration of the Negrito people you talked about was very interesting to me as I had not previously heard of them. The theory, as you said, is that the Austronesian population, all descended from aboriginal Taiwan, spread as far as Easter Island (could they possibly have reached the Americas?) on one side and Madagascar on the other, which is amazing in itself, (the further question of where this original, non-chinese, population in Taiwan came from is something I find myself asking), and although this migration seems to go east, west and south of Australia, this population is unrelated to the aboriginal Australians, the human migration across the globe doesn't seem to have been a very orderly one. And for a small group of African descent to have existed in isolation in the Philippines the whole time makes the whole puzzle even more confusing.
I would be really interested to see more research into DNA from various ethnic groups to discover more about this.
I've personally visited a Dayak tribe in the Malaysian part of Borneo who were also headhunters (as recently as the 1990s), and also visited parts of Indonesia, I might go to the Philippines next year, it's interesting that the 3 countries have such common roots but have been strongly influenced by outside colonial influences and set on different paths. |
|
|
|
|
HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/11/2010 : 22:09:17 [Permalink]
|
The Negritos are of course of African origin, like all mankind. But, despite surface appearances, they seem to be at least as distantly related to Africans as any ethnic group. Wiki says:Negritos share some common physical features with African pygmy populations, including short stature, natural afro-hair texture, and dark skin; however, their origin and the route of their migration to Asia is still a matter of great speculation. They are the most genetically distant human population from Africans at most loci studied thus far (except for MC1R, which codes for dark skin).
They have also been shown to have separated early from Asians, suggesting that they are either surviving descendants of settlers from an early migration out of Africa, or that they are descendants of one of the founder populations of modern humans. |
The spread of the Austronesians (Malayo-Polynesians) is, as you allude, OffC, one of the most remarkable unwritten sagas in human prehistory.
From Taiwan, their culture spread as far east as Easter Island for certain, and probably lightly touched the shores of South America (I recall that native Indian chickens there appear to be of Polynesian origin). They sailed and settled as far south as New Zealand, as far west as Madagascar, and north to Hawaii.
A truly remarkable series of voyages and settlement. Of course, you are also right that this was a chaotic migration. It was certainly anything but a political empire, planned or otherwise. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 07/11/2010 23:02:12 |
|
|
|
Ebone4rock
SFN Regular
USA
894 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2010 : 04:16:52 [Permalink]
|
| From Taiwan, their culture spread as far east as Easter Island for certain, and probably lightly touched the shores of South America |
This is one big answer I am looking for. It is obvious that there had to be some contact early in the Polynesian migration. The simple fact that the sweet potato (native to South America) is a staple of Polynesian diet is compelling evidence. There are also oral traditions in Peru of a "King" who sailed from the west and taught the Peruvians to surf. Regarding chickens the jury seems to still be out.
| A published, apparently pre-Columbian, Chilean specimen and six pre-European Polynesian specimens also cluster with the same European/Indian subcontinental/Southeast Asian sequences, providing no support for a Polynesian introduction of chickens to South America. In contrast, sequences from two archaeological sites on Easter Island group with an uncommon haplogroup from Indonesia, Japan, and China and may represent a genetic signature of an early Polynesian dispersal. Modeling of the potential marine carbon contribution to the Chilean archaeological specimen casts further doubt on claims for pre-Columbian chickens, and definitive proof will require further analyses of ancient DNA sequences and radiocarbon and stable isotope data from archaeological excavations within both Chile and Polynesia.[30] |
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken#Chickens_in_history
I think that Thor Heyerdal had a good idea but was totally backwards trying to prove that Polynesia was settled by South Americans. It is more likely to be the other way around if anything. I would like to see a DNA study of all the remaining native South American populations compared to Polynesian, Asian, native North American,and Eskimo DNA. That would be interesting to see. I am willing to bet that somewhere out there is a South American tribe who is descended from Polynesians or at least some traces of Polynesian ancestry in the general poulation. |
Haole with heart, thats all I'll ever be. I'm not a part of the North Shore society. Stuck on the shoulder, that's where you'll find me. Digging for scraps with the kooks in line. -Offspring |
|
|
|
HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2010 : 04:33:42 [Permalink]
|
Originally posted by Ebone4rock
| From Taiwan, their culture spread as far east as Easter Island for certain, and probably lightly touched the shores of South America |
This is one big answer I am looking for. It is obvious that there had to be some contact early in the Polynesian migration. The simple fact that the sweet potato (native to South America) is a staple of Polynesian diet is compelling evidence. There are also oral traditions in Peru of a "King" who sailed from the west and taught the Peruvians to surf. Regarding chickens the jury seems to still be out.
| A published, apparently pre-Columbian, Chilean specimen and six pre-European Polynesian specimens also cluster with the same European/Indian subcontinental/Southeast Asian sequences, providing no support for a Polynesian introduction of chickens to South America. In contrast, sequences from two archaeological sites on Easter Island group with an uncommon haplogroup from Indonesia, Japan, and China and may represent a genetic signature of an early Polynesian dispersal. Modeling of the potential marine carbon contribution to the Chilean archaeological specimen casts further doubt on claims for pre-Columbian chickens, and definitive proof will require further analyses of ancient DNA sequences and radiocarbon and stable isotope data from archaeological excavations within both Chile and Polynesia.[30] |
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicken#Chickens_in_history
I think that Thor Heyerdal had a good idea but was totally backwards trying to prove that Polynesia was settled by South Americans. It is more likely to be the other way around if anything. I would like to see a DNA study of all the remaining native South American populations compared to Polynesian, Asian, native North American,and Eskimo DNA. That would be interesting to see. I am willing to bet that somewhere out there is a South American tribe who is descended from Polynesians or at least some traces of Polynesian ancestry in the general poulation.
|
Cool, Ebone! Thanks for the further knowledge, and your chicken objections.  |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
|
|
|
Ebone4rock
SFN Regular
USA
894 Posts |
Posted - 07/12/2010 : 06:14:22 [Permalink]
|
Have you ever read about the Lapita? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapita
Thanks for opening my mind to the Negritos. Before I thought population of those islands most likely started with the Lapita. Come to find out they came much later(Although I never really studied the Phillipines) It gave me a starting point to research. |
Haole with heart, thats all I'll ever be. I'm not a part of the North Shore society. Stuck on the shoulder, that's where you'll find me. Digging for scraps with the kooks in line. -Offspring |
|
|
|
HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2010 : 02:48:22 [Permalink]
|
Originally posted by Ebone4rock
Have you ever read about the Lapita? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lapita
Thanks for opening my mind to the Negritos. Before I thought population of those islands most likely started with the Lapita. Come to find out they came much later(Although I never really studied the Phillipines) It gave me a starting point to research.
|
Thanks for the Lapita link. Indeed, I hadn't heard of them. They appear to be an early Austronesian or Polynesian migrating group. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
|
|
|
Ebone4rock
SFN Regular
USA
894 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2010 : 05:44:09 [Permalink]
|
| Any progress on the romance with Bim? |
Haole with heart, thats all I'll ever be. I'm not a part of the North Shore society. Stuck on the shoulder, that's where you'll find me. Digging for scraps with the kooks in line. -Offspring |
|
|
|
HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2010 : 09:38:18 [Permalink]
|
Originally posted by Ebone4rock
Any progress on the romance with Bim? |
Yes, we're a couple now. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
|
|
|
Ebone4rock
SFN Regular
USA
894 Posts |
Posted - 07/15/2010 : 09:51:18 [Permalink]
|
Originally posted by HalfMooner
Originally posted by Ebone4rock
Any progress on the romance with Bim? |
Yes, we're a couple now.
|
You da man Halfmooner!!
I am so jealous. |
Haole with heart, thats all I'll ever be. I'm not a part of the North Shore society. Stuck on the shoulder, that's where you'll find me. Digging for scraps with the kooks in line. -Offspring |
|
|
|
HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/16/2010 : 02:45:58 [Permalink]
|
Originally posted by Ebone4rock
Originally posted by HalfMooner
Originally posted by Ebone4rock
Any progress on the romance with Bim? |
Yes, we're a couple now.
|
You da man Halfmooner!!
I am so jealous.
|
Thanks much. I must now hasten to add that becoming a couple is merely an important but passing milestone, not a destination. Rather belatedly in life, I've learned that the wooing must continue forever. |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
|
|
|
HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 08/04/2010 : 21:11:11 [Permalink]
|
In an update, archaeologists have found a hominid metatarsal bone that has been dated to 67,000 years ago. It was discovered in a cave on Luzon to the north-east of Baguio:MANILA (AFP) - – Archaeologists have found a foot bone that could prove the Philippines was first settled by humans 67,000 years ago, thousands of years earlier than previously thought, the National Museum said Tuesday.
The bone, found in an extensive cave network, predates the 47,000-year-old Tabon Man that is previously known as the first human to have lived in the country, said Taj Vitales, a researcher with the museum's archaeology section.
"This would make it the oldest human remains ever found in the Philippines," Vitales told AFP.
Archaeologists from the University of the Philippines and the National Museum dug up the third metatarsal bone of the right foot in 2007 in the Callao caves near Penablanca, about 335 kilometres (210 miles) north of Manila.
. . . |
What I get from the article is that the Filipino archaeologists are so far unsure if this is a bone from a modern Homo sapiens or from an unknown primitive hominid. But they seem to suspect it's from a human ancestor of the Negrito people. As usual, more digging and more science are needed! |
“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 08/04/2010 21:12:15 |
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
My Baguio "sailboat"
