 Early historians believed that the first settlers of the islands came by land bridges from Mainland

Asia during Pleistocene epoch.

 They lived by hunting and gathering.

 Western historians assume that the aborigines of the Philippines were the Australo-Melanesian
people who are small with dark skin and curly black hair called Negritos or Aetas.

 In the field of archaeology, the migration of the Proto-Austronesian type is believed to have
resulted to the peopling of the Philippine archipelago.
 It linked to the New Stone Ageof Southeast Asia.

Mainland Origin Hypothesis

 Peter Bellwood of the Australian National University and K.C. Chang of Harvard University
 He maintains that the early inhabitants originated from South China and Taiwan.

Island Origin Hypothesis

 believes that the prehistoric people originated and dispersed from an island in Southeast Asia.
 Wilhelm Solheim II of the University of Hawaii
 He assumes that the Proto-Austronesian developed primarily in Northeastern Indonesia and
Mindanao Island.

- Historians presuppose that between 300 and 200 B.C., inhabitants of Malay-Polynesian descent settled
in the Philippine archipelago.
- They are mainly agricultural and fishing people.
-There were 30-100 families in a society called baranggay.
Certainly, with the abundance of fish, methods of preparing food were conceived.

 In Mindanao, the juice of the tabon-tabon (Hydrophytune orbiculatum), a green fruit, is added to
remove the fishy smell.

Core tools

Flake tools
1. Cultural Evolution of the Early Filipinos

Early Metal Age (500 B.C)

 Which is the period of trading relations with neighboring islands, mostly by Asian traders.
 For the natives to suceed in engaging in maritime trading with their neighbors, they had to
improve their seamanship and boat building skills.
  These early wooden watercrafts in the country were called balangay, was basically a plank boat.
It was driven either by a sail or by paddling.

- these were the men of Banjarmasin, they engaged actively in the rich pearl trade.

Kinds of Stones
Balangay

Tabon-tabon fruit
The first artifact of pre-Hispanic origin had writing on copper material dates back to 900 A.D. The script
inscribed on it was written in Kavi (Old Javanese Writing System).

Old Stone Age or Paleolithic Period

- a Dutch national who has lived with the Mangyans for a long time and the director of the Mangyan
Assistance and Research Center in Mansalay Oriental Mindoro, was able to unlock the message on the
copper material.

 The time in which the development of the human culture where tools and weapons were made of
metal which gradually replaced the stone tools.
 The first metal to be widely used was copper.
 Jewelry during the early phase of the Metal Age consists mainly of beads.
 Ornaments were buried with basic metal tools.

Cobble tools
- these were the men of Champa who traded with the Buranuns.

Antoon Postma

Malay was the principal language of Southeast Asian commerce during those times.

 talaro (scales)
 upa (payment)
 lako (peddle)
 gusali (hall)
 tunay (real)
 biyaya (grace)

 The early Filipinos had already developed a system of syllabic writing, with each symbol
representing a syllable. The Tagalog script was called baybayin, sometimes called alibata.
 Consist of 3 vowels and 14 consonants, with a total of 17 letters.

Pre-Colonial Philippines :)

Pebble tools

Orang Bandjar
Orang Dampuans

 As the used of iron became widespread, community specialization emerged as shown by the
advances in tin- smithing, jewelry making and in the utilization of resources.

 Iron tools were recovered in Luzon (particularly in Bulacan, Batangas, and Rizal areas). Tool
specimens were also dug up in Palawan and Masbate.

New Stone Age or Neolithic Period

(10,000 -500 B.C)

 Agricultural Revolution
 This period indicates that upland rice farming has been developed.
 By striking the stones, sparks have been produced which resulted to the making of fire.

Man had no other tools than sharp edged stones that could be held by the hand. Many kinds of stones,
which naturally produce sharp edges when broken or chipped.

Developed Iron Age

Age of Contact (500-1400 A.D)

 the era of crude stone tools and weapons.

 In the Philippines, it was believed to have started in Cagayan Valley.

The Traditional Filipino Communities

A native or inhabitant of the Philippines.

The Old Wines

-Their most popular wine was the tuba

made from sap of coconut

-The Ilocano wine from sugarcane juice called basi

-The Visayan wine made from rice called pangasi

-A tagalog wine produced by distillation of tuba called lambanog

-An Igorot wine made from rice called tapuy

- It is said that in ancient Panay, there was a barangay school called bothoan, under the charge of an old

man, acting as the teacher. The subjects taught were reading, writing, arithmetic, the handing of weapons,

and the acquiring of amulets or kinaadman.

- The bamboo jaw harps of the Kalingas were called olibaw.
This instruments played by the natives were the kudyapi(Tagalog guitar), kalaleng(nose flute), babandil
(Maguindanaoan gong), kulintang (Muslim xylophone), tultogan (Visayan bamboo drum), silbay (Ilocano
reed flute), the suracan (Subanun cymbal) and tambuli (trumpet made from carabao horn). Bungkaka is a
bamboo buzzer played by striking the split ends against one's palm

The early Filipinos had their own weights and measures. They used the talaro, a kind of balance with

scales, for weighing things. Measurement for capacity were the kaban (25 gantas), the salop (one ganta).

For length, measures used were the dipa, the length of the outstretched arms; the tumuro, the length

between the tip of the thumb and that of the forefinger when extended; the sandamak, the width of the

hand with the five fingers pressed together; and the sandali, the width of one finger.
Modern numismatics call these ancient gold coins piloncitos (little cones) because of their conical shape.

The early natives also knew mathematics. They count up to 100,000,000 (bahala) and could add, subract,

multiply, and divide. The terms for numericals were as follows: isa (one), puo (ten), daan (hundred), libo

(thousand), yuta (one hundred thousand), angao (one million). kati (ten million), and bahala (one hundred

million).
The Ifugaos devised a calendar, which contains 13 months in a year, each month having 28 days. The
tribal calendar recorder called tumunoh, who kept 13 strings representing the 13 months of the year. The
Ifugao calendar has a total of 364 days a year.

Long before the coming of the Spaniards, the native of the islands were already wearing clothes. Men

wore collarless, short-sleeved coat called kangan and a strip of cloth called bahag, wrapped around the

waist and between the legs, they wore putong, a piece of cloth worn around the head, they have no

footwear but they wore jewels called kalombigas.

The women's upper garment was a wide-sleeved blouse called baro. Their skirt was called patadyong or

saya with a strip of cloth over it called tapis.

One personal garb in the islands was the salakot (native hat) it is generally made of anahaw ( a forest
palm), salakot was widely used in Central Luzon and Visayas.

The Early FIlipino House

The House bahay kubo may be constructed on the ground, then completed over the house frames. The
wall was built from nipa shingles or bamboo. The tinilad na kawayan (bamboo slats), which served as the
floor of the house, bahay kubo, called the bulwagan, but commonly with a low table for meals called
dulang and a built-in seat called papag. A small silid(room) served as a dressing room and closet for
clothes, pillows, and mats.
There were houses with a open porch called batalan, an unroofed platform, where water jars are place.
Sometimes the cooking was done in an open hearth or on clay kalan (stove) or tungkong kalan (three
stones) in a space in front the ladder of the batalan.