B'laan , Lost Treasures

[phillipe]

Archaeologists in the Philippines believe they have discovered evidence of a lost tribe in sacks of broken pottery seized from antiquity smugglers.

Twenty-two sacks of pottery, including burial urns sculpted in human form believed to be more than 2,000 years old, were found loaded on a tricycle in Sarangani province on the Filipino island of Mindanao in August.

It is thought that they originated in the neighbouring province of Sultan Kudarat, but the precise location remains a mystery and there are fears that the tribe has in effect been lost again because the artefacts were moved by treasure hunters.
Pieces of the broken burial jars with human forms that were seized from antiquity smugglers near a conflict area on the southern island of Mindanao in mid-August are seen September 2, 2008. Archaeologists say the discovery of 22 sacks of broken anthropomorphic pottery could lead to a long, lost local tribe that existed around 2,000 years ago.

A U.S.-trained archaeologist, Dizon spent several years in the 1990s excavating in a cave in Sarangani province on Mindanao after he was tipped off by treasure hunters about rare anthropomorphic, or human form, pottery in the area. Carbon dating tests showed the jars to be from about 5 BC.

Now who owns these treasures , as the great "Indiana Jones used to say it belongs in the ''MUSEUM'" but whose museum is it ? The National government should be the advocate as to where our National treasures belong. And before I forget, I wish to acknowledge my source of information and the pictures posted for such a valuable help and support.

[phillipe]

"Carbon dating tests showed the jars to be from about 5 BC". I don't know how long is that , but it is quite interesting that culture existed that time in the island of Mindanao. And to possess such objects of interest, is like owning the secrets of the once lost tribe. And if it fell into the wrong hands , then an entire history of the culture is totally gone.

Look at those anthropomorhic artifacts , doesn't it make you wonder that such tribe is capable of creating such elaborate figures. What does it signify? I would say , an advance culture existed whose engaged in creating potteries , that seems to be the assumption since we haven't seen yet what other artifacts they have recovered. Metals of value could be some other proof .

Comparative studies should be done on those recovered artifacts to determine their origin, similarities to other culture that existed during such period. I think it is wonderful to know too who are our great ancestors . Or are we related to our neighboring asian nations or those coming farther than that the great Pacific realm?

[Anijun Mudan-udan]

If we go back into our epics, we could find some clues that indeed the ancestors of the present-day lumads had an advance culture. In our tribe, there is even this belief before that the civilization of our ancestors is the center of the world. This is somewhat parallel to the Sinocentric view of the ancient Chinese civilization which, as we know now, is one of the great civilizations man has ever created.

These artifacts could be from the ancestors of the present-day lumad tribes. It is interesting to note that there are stories from lumads telling of ancestors who survived the great flood.

It is indeed very interesting to study this recent find. I think the results of studying this would corroborate what is already told in our epics.

anijun