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Bais Anthroplogical Project,

Phase II: A First Report

by Karl L Hutterer Museum of Anthropology University of Michigan

In this report, the author describes the four sites excavated in phase 2 of the survey.

In what constitutes the secondphase of field work in the long-range research program entit led"Bais Anthropological Project," aninterdisciplinary team of anthropo-logical and environmental scientistsconducted a variety of investiga-tions in Negros Oriental from May15 through July 15, 1981. A preli-minary report on Phase I by Hut-terer and Macdonald was publish-ed in the Philippine Quarterly,1979, vol. 7, pp. 115-140; a moreextensive report is now in presswi th San Carlos Publications.

Project Objectives

Besides an immediate interest inenlarging our knowledge of Philip-pine prehistory, the primary pur-pose of the Bais AnthropologicalProject is to study the generaltendencies of human social evolu-t ion under tropical environmentalconditions. More specifically, theproject is designed to study changesin subsistence economy over longperiods of time, related changes inthe larger social fabric as well asconcomitant changes in social andeconomic interactions betweengroups integrated through differentsocial forms and subsisting on dif-ferent types of economies. Withinthis framework, and among otherthings, one particular interest is therole played by internal and exter-nal trade in the evolution of com-

plex social systems, in this case tnePhilippine lowland societies.

The ecological and evolutionaryorientation of the Bais Anthro-pological Project demands that theresearch process concentrates oninformation that relates to the envi-ronment, economy, and social andpolitical organization.

For the archaeological port ion ofthe program, the Bais Project usesprimari ly a "subsistence-settlementpat tern" approach as the metho-dology most appropriate for itsinvestigations. This approach isparticularly oriented toward recon-structing aspects of economic andsocial organization of prehistoricsocieties. Accordingly, the focusis not so much on individualarchaeological sites, but rather onspatial configurations of siteswi th in a larger geographical con-text usually a region and changesin such configurations over a periodof time.

Review of Initial Work

The first phase of the project in1979 consisted principally of anarchaeological surface survey wi th inan area of 315km 2 , covering, ortouching, the municipalities of Bais.Tanjay, Pamplona, Amlan, and SanJose in Negros Oriental. As report-ed previously, a 5% stratified ran-dom sample of this area in the formof sixty-four 500 x 500 m quadrats,was systematically surveyed forindications of archaeological sites.194 find localities (artifact clustersand finds of isolated artifacts) wererecorded wi th in the five percentsample, covering 16 km 2 of the

total survey area. A first analysis ofthis information indicated signifi-cant differences in the location andclustering of sites between uplandand lowland portions of the projectregion (Hutterer and Macdonald1979) and, on the basis of stratigra-phic information f rom some testexcavations in 1979, Macdonaldhas tentatively identified a numberof sites w i th two distinct but suc-cessive settlement phases (Macdo-nald n.d.). Besides archaeologicalsurveys and some test excavations,the 1979 season of work includedalso some ethnobotanical ethnozoo-logical, and ethnoarchaeologicalresearch.

Purpose of Phase II

Phase II of the Bais-Anthropolo-gical Project in 1981 concentratedon excavations for the purpose ofexpanding, modifying, and refiningartifactual chronologies which canbe used for the absolute or relativedating of sites found wi th in the re-search area. A secondary purposeof the excavations was to learnmore about the nature of occupa-t ion of these sites. However, prima-ry emphasis was on discovering in-formation on which a regional arti-factual sequence (particularly a sequence of pottery types) couldbe based. For this reason, we fa-vored small excavations in severalsites rather than a large excavationin only one site, although thisdecision imposed severe limits onthe information we could gather onthe nature of site occupation. Thepresent report was writ ten im-mediately upon leaving the field.

A reprint from the PhilippineQuarterly of Culture andSociety, a San Carlos Publi-cation, September 1981.

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before any significant analysis hadtaken place, and is meant simplyto announce that these field inves-tigations have taken place. Analysisand interpretation of the recoveredmaterials will be going on over thenext two years. Any interpretiveremarks made here should, for themeantime, be taken as mere sup-positions.

During the 1981 season in Ne-gros Oriental, excavations wereundertaken in four sites. Three ofthem had been discovered in thecourse of the 1979 survey. Theexistence of the fourth site hadbeen known previously.

The Sycip Site

The Sycip Site (Bais Surveydesignation A V 447F; NationalMuseum Accession No. VIII-1981-V) is located on what appears tobe an elevated beach, about onekilometer WSW from the poblacionof Tanjay, and about one kilometerinland from the present coast. Judg-ing from the surface scatter of arti-facts, the site area covers about 40m by 40 m. A total of 64 squaremeters were excavated under thedirection of Claire McHale, Uni-versity of Michigan. The majorclasses of materials recovered fromsite include lithic artifacts (mostlyflakes, a few pebble tools), earthen-ware pottery sherds, some lateAsiatic trade wares (19th and 20thcenturies), and some food remains(primarily shell fish). The soil ofthe site is a very shallow heavy clayloam on top of a coral line substrate.Soil depth in the excavated portionranged from a mere 10 cm toabout 40 cm below present groundsurface. The site is presently plant-ed in coconut and has previouslyalso been used as a sugarcane field.The shallow soil deposit and agri-cultural disturbance render strati-graphic interpretations extremelydifficult. However, the excavationsdid reveal at least remnants ofundisturbed in situ deposits contai-ning archaeological features,among them a few postholes andcharcoal and ash concentrations.The ceramic materials from theSycip site show clear relationshipsto ceramics found in a number ofother sites in the Bais survey area,but these relationships need to beinvestigated further. Samples forcarbon-14 dating of the site werecollected.

The Turco Site

The Turco Site (Bais Surveydesignation M VII 74B; NationalMuseum Accession No. VII-1981-W)is located in the interior portionof our survey area, about 15 kmfrom the nearest coast and about18 km from the town of Tanjay.The site is situated on a light ridgewhich trails off into a gentle slopeabout 440 m above mean sea level,in the locality of Nasindan, Baran-gay Pal-ew, municipality of Tanjay.Surface collections indicate a mini-mal site size of about 130 x 70 m;our excavation, directed by MasaoNishimura, University of Michigan,covered an area of 34m2

The site and the surroundingarea were covered by tropical rainforest until about 30 years ago,when commercial logging opera-tions resulted in whole-sale forestclearance and subsequent coloniza-tion by lowland farmers. Prior tothat time, small groups of Bukidnon(swidden farmers) and Ata (hunter-gatherers) were present in the area.

Phase II activities were concentrated on four sites: Sycip, Turco, Solamillo and Osmena Park

Today, the- site is utilized for per-manent field agriculture, which in-volves fallow periods and kaingin(clearance of the field with fireafter fallowing). The major cropis corn.

The soil of the Turco Site isheavy, shallow clay loam, derivedfrom a coralline substrate which,itself, caps an igneous formation.Again, shallowness of the deposit,erosion since forest clearance, andrecent agricultural disturbance madestratigraphic observations difficult.The site yielded primarily earthen-ware sherds, lithic artifacts, andsome late Asiatic trade ceramics.In spite of some problems withthe stratigraphy, it was possible toestablish that both earthenwarepottery and lithic artifacts occur inundisturbed context, and it appearsthat the site contains, in its lowestportion, a non-ceramic phase yield-ing only stone artifacts. However,the latter observation calls forfurther assessment of the recovered,materials, soil samples, and excavat-ion notes.

The artifactual assemblages ofthe Sycip and Turco sites seem todiffer in several respects. The Turcosite yielded a much higher percen-tage of lithic artifacts than theSycip site, but no pebble tools.There is some apparent overlap be-tween the two sites in potterywares, but the Turco site containswares which do not appear at theSycip site and, indeed, seem to beabsent generally in the coastalreaches of the Bais project area. Itis quite clear that the Turco sitereflects several phases or events ofoccupation. Material for carbon-14dating was collected, but, given thestratigraphic nature of the site, itis doubtful that we will, at thistime, be able to establish completechronological control over the site.

The Solamillo Site

The Solamillo Site (National Mus-eum Assession No. VI1-1981-H2) islocated in Barangay Magsuhot,municipality of Bacong, aboutseven kilometers from the coast.

_ This site was not located through• the 1979 survey and is, in fact,

situated outside the Bais projectarea. The existence of the site hasbeen known since archaeologicalexcavations were carried out thereby Lionel Chiong in 1972 and RosaTenazas in 1973 (Tenazas 1974).

- The site was of interest to us be-cause earthenware pottery closelyrelated to pottery found in theMagsuhot area is found in manysites through the Bais region. Wewere, therefore, anxious to learnmore about the nature of this siteand to attempt to date it both inabsolute terms and in relative termswith regard to the Bais sequence.The Solamillo excavation was di-rected by Ma. Lorenza Dalupan,Ateneo de Manila University.

Strictly speaking, it is not quitecorrect to designate the area ofour excavation as a "site," since a surface scatter of similar potteryoccurs over an extremely largearea, the boundaries of which arepresently unknown.. The termSolamillo Site, then, is simply a con-venient label for our excavation,which was done on a field ownedby a Mr. Leon Solamillo. The fieldis part of a broad, gently slopingarea below the volcanic Mt. Talinis,which is dissected by a number ofvery steeply and deeply cut creeks.The elevation of the Solamillo Siteis about 200 m AMSL. The natural

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deposit of the site consists of anextremely heavy and very deepsandy loam to loamy clay, whichis derived from volcanic parentmaterials and is very acidic. Theexcavations by both Chiong andTenazas recovered highly elaboratejar burials associated with iron,glass beads, and a very distinctiveearthenware pottery. Our own ex-cavations took place about 200 m to the east of Tenazas' trenchesand covered an area of 65m2.However, we did not encounterany jar burials but found insteadreasonably good evidence of habi-tation. This evidence consists of anextensive soil layer that is charac-terized bv a dark oraanic stain,some apparent post holes, and pot-tery that is different in form,size, and breakage patterns fromthat recovered in association withthe jar burials. Unfortunately, theacidity of the soil has destroyedvirtually all organic remains, whichusually characterize habitation con-texts, such as food refuse in theform of bone and shell. Two clus-ters of complete, albeit crushed,pots were found in our excavation,which may have been depositedwith primary inhumation burials.Unfortunately, no traces of anyskeletons were left.The Osmena Park Site

Also the fourth site excavated in1981, the Osmena Park Site (BaisSurvey designation TV 120A;,Na-tional Museum Accession No. VII-1981-X). does not constitute anarchaeological site in the strictsense. Rather, it is only a part of a much larger, and apparently conti-nuous, archaeological area of oc-cupation that' stretches from themouth of the Tanjay River about1.5 km upstream along both banks.Similarly, the Edjek Site, in whichtest excavations were conducted in1979 (Hutterer n.d.), is part of thesame archaeological complex. Theterm OsmefTa Park Site, then,designates an excavation localewithin the poblacion of Tanjay,namely Osmena Park, for exca-vations occasioned by the factthat all other open areas aroundthe present town of Tanjay havebeen looted within the past fiveyears, while the rest of the com-plex is inaccessible because of con-temporary occupation.

A total of 28M2 were opened upunder the direction of Nguyen ba

777e results of Phase II work could explain the relationship between subsistence/settlemen t patterns and social and economic change.

Khach, University of Hawaii. Thenatural stratigraphy revealed analluviating estuarine site which, inmore recent time, saw some delibe-rate modifications of its surface,particularly in the form of fillingin of some low areas. The culturalstratigraphy can be divided intothree phases: a historic phase, a porcelain phase, and a pre-porcelainphase. For the sake of brevity, I will disregard here the historicphase. The porcelain phase wascharacterized by the presence ofsherds of Asiatic trade ceramics,predominantly late 15th and 16thcentury blue-and-white wares,many of them of the "Swatow"type, although there were also somesherds of Early Ming wares andeven a few Sung Yuan pieces. Therewas ample evidence of habitation inthe form of midden areas yieldingshell, animal bone, and charcoal;broken earthenware pottery; a fewbone tools; and several post holesand other features. Of particularinterest in the upper portion ofthe porcelain level are two highlyformalized hearths situated in theground, and sherds of an elaborate-ly stamped and red-slipped earthen-ware pottery very similar to thatfound by Spoehr at Fort Pilar,Zamboanga (Spoehr 1973). As isusual with coastal sites of thatperiod, two burials were foundwithin the habitation context; thelower burial was of an extendedadult female, accompanied by a very poorly made gray ware bowlcovering her head and small pastebeads around her neck. The young-er burial, associated with the upperportion of the porcelain level, wasof a tightly flexed adult, probablyalso female, without any apparentassociations.

The pre-porcelain level was charac-terized primarily by several kinds ofvery distinctive earthenware pot-tery, which set it clearly apartfrom the porcelain level. Organicremains, particularly shell lensesand pig mandibles, were found pre-dominantly in the interphase be-tween porcelain and pre-porcelain

levels. No clear features werefound in the pre-porcelain levelsexcept for those that intruded intoit from the porcelain level above.Similar to Edjek Phase I, (Hutterern.d.) it appeared that the archaeo-logical materials were deposited inan environment that was subjectto repeated gentle flooding. Therewas, however, very little overlapbetween the pottery found in EdjekPhase I and that recovered from thepre-porcelain level of Osmena Park.

Beside the archaeological excava-tions, a variety of other investi-gations were conducted during the1981 season of the Bais Anthropo-logical Project. The collecting ofbotanical and zoological referencematerial was continued; ethno-archaeological investigations wereundertaken, particularly an excava-tion of a homestead and swidden sitenear Lake Balinsasayao, which hadbeen occupied in recent historictimes; investigations were conduct-ed of contemporary pottery manu-facture and distribution; and ex-tensive geological studies weremade toward an understanding ofchanges in landform and the forma-tion (and natural obliteration) ofarchaeological sites.

It is not expected that the resultsof the second phase of the BaisAnthropological Project will answerall the questions around which theresearch program has been design-ed. However, the information col-lected through the excavations in1981 will surely contribute towardan understanding of the regionalprehistoric cultural sequence ofNegros Oriental and thus, towardan interpretation of subsistence/settlement patterns in terms ofsocial and economic change.

The research was sponsored bythe National Science Foundation ofthe United States (grant No. BNS-8024514) and was further support-ed by the University of Michiganand the Philippine NationalMuseum. The project was formallyaffiliated with the Institute of Phi-lippine Culture, Ateneo de ManilaUniversity. Team members and col-laborators of this year's researcheffort were drawn from the Philip-pine National Museum, Ateneo deManila University, the University ofSan Carlos, Silliman University, the

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