Robert Fox's The Tabon Caves and William Henry Scott's Prehispanic

Source Materials for the Study of Philippine History

The Tabon Man of Palawan is the earliest evidence of man in the Philippines and the
first instance of modern man (Homo sapiens sapiens) in these islands. A team from the National
Museum led by the late Dr. Robert B. Fox discovered the human fossils in June and July 1962.
The human fossils found in the cave located in Lipuun Point in the municipality of Quezon,
Palawan consist of the frontal skull bone, the skull cap, two broken pieces of the jaw, and a few
teeth that make up the fossil. The fossils indicate that there were at least three people, and the
young person's skull cap is most likely a female.

In the documentary film, Dr. Robert B. Fox demonstrates how deep they dug to find the
present stone tools, which shows again that there were people who lived in the Tabon Cave
before Tabon Man. The oldest soil in the cave that they dug was estimated to be 10,000 years
old, while the youngest was dated to be approximately 50,000 years old. The National
Museum's deputy director, Dr. Alfredo Evangelista, gathers charcoal from what must be ancient
human cooking pits because it was in these that the bones of early humans were discovered.
He then acquired the earliest carbon-14, which was 30,000 years old, which suggests that it was
the earliest date for the use of fire in the Philippines.

The two readings' different publication dates suggest that Fox wrote the first before
Scott, since he is the one who discovered Tabon Man. If I were to compare the two sources, I
must say that Robert B. Fox wrote it better for the reason that he accurately summarized the
results while highlighting his own in-depth observations. Additionally, Robert B. Fox states the
readings and the months and years of digging and refers to the details and relevance of the
"tabon man" that was found. While William Henry Scott included anthropologists' facts and
findings in his book, he did not accurately quote them. The book also involves criticism and
commentary on the discovery of "the taboo man."