The post-1500s Philippines is defined by colonial powers occupying the land. Whether it be the Spanish, the Americans, or the Japanese, the Philippines were subjugated and shaped by the presence of a hegemonic power enacting dominance over the people, the land, and the culture itself. The respective field of the archaeology of the post-1500s Philippines is a particularly growing and revolutionary field, particularly seen in the archaeology of Stephen Acabado in Ifugao and Grace Barretto-Tesoro in Manila. There were also many important events that had happened during this period. In 1521, Portuguese explorer, Ferdinand Magellan discovered Homonhon Island and called it "Arcigelago de San Lazaro." Magellan became the first European to cross over the Pacific Ocean.
The Post-1500s Philippines is an era of Philippine history defined by complex relationships between various ethnic groups underneath the umbrella of colonialism. Of particular note regarding the archaeology of the time period is Spanish colonialism and indigenous responses, particularly those of the Ifugao people. Recent scholarship has debunked preexistent narratives regarding the era of Spanish colonialism, particular considering indigenous responses and the complexities of ethnic diversity in the Spanish colony and its respective effects on the multicultural identity that defined the era.
Context The Post-1500s Philippines and the respective archaeology of the time period are inextricably connected to Spanish colonialism. One of their main purposes of Spanish occupation of the Philippine Archipelago was founded upon the conceived notion that it was a land of spices, which it was not. The Spaniards also came to the Philippines in the search for God, gold, and glory. In their desire to spread God, they found plenty of indigenous peoples who had not yet been introduced to Christianity. Bankoff and Boomgard further state that "glory was less certain; there were a few opportunities for gallant feats of arms and no mighty empires to topple," displaying that there was a lack of all three Gs. Instead, they looked at the trees that the forest provided and used the huge amounts of timber to reconstruct churches and build ships, which led to Spain’s establishment of a colony in the Philippines.
During this time Spain was leading in the race in European colonial endeavors. The Philippines was one of many places that Spain traveled to in order to build political ties and benefit economically. After the Spanish officially arrived in the Philippines, it took many years and several expeditions in order to achieve a piece of the lucrative spice trade, create political connections with China and Japan, and convert of local populations to Christianity. The Spanish foreign power invasion began with the establishment of settlements in Cebu in 1565 followed by the establishment of their capital in Manila in 1571. During this time the Spanish began converting local populations to Christianity via traditional local leaders that ruled in a traditional tribal organization, all indirectly for Spanish gain. It was upon this new political organization foundation that Spain worked to convert and exploit locals all for Spanish political and economic benefit. With them, they brought their religion, political organization, and thus the birth of a new cultural community. As Spanish foreign trade in the Philippines developed, so did Christian communities while Muslim and highland tribal communities retreated to the hills to avoid foreign invasion.
Indigenous responses to Spanish colonialism When discussing indigenous responses of Spanish colonialism in the Philippines and how it affected the social organization, politics, economics, and trade, it has become increasingly important to analyze the narratives surrounding the study. Much of the Philippines’ archaeological and historical narratives for a long time came from a largely Spanish-colonialist and Western perspective. Advances in archaeological studies in the Philippines are in the process of creating a more holistic and accurate historical narrative free from ethnocentric views. There is a persisting narrative that the Spanish colonized and controlled the entirety of the Philippines with indigenous people retaining no autonomy. This narrative is similar to the narrative of Spanish colonizing South America, with millions of indigenous people being forced to submit to the governance and cultures of people they may have never seen before.
Pericolonial archeology works to combat this preexisting narrative. Pioneered by Stephen Acabado, pericolonial archeology is the investigation of areas where European military efforts failed to conquer an area but did succeed to influence an area politically and economically through their influence in surrounding areas (Acabado 2016 p. 3). In the Philippines specifically, pericolonial archeology is the method of uncovering the history of Philippine groups that were able to counteract and resist Spanish colonization. By uncovering the archeological remains of the Philippine people that were actually not conquered by the Spanish (the Ifugao people), the current historical narrative with a sense of strong false differentiation can be refuted. False differentiation is a false sense of superiority, and in the case of the Philippines is reflected as a persisting idea that the Spanish completely conquered the Philippines, changing everything about them with indigenous peoples characterized as passive figures in their own history . Archaeological remains in the Banaue rice fields, the Ifugao Old Kiyyangan Village, and lowland Magat Valley historical sites debunked present narratives in academia. Contrary to a popular belief that indigenous peoples were passive in their resistance to Spanish colonialism, pericolonial perspectives subvert this notion. In the Philippines, indigenous responses to Spanish colonialism were predicated on political and economic intensification as well as strengthened social organization and trading systems.
Magat Valley Through relative dating techniques and exact dating techniques, archeologists have been able to study soil and faunal records, beads, pots, and architectural wonders from the lowlands of the Magat Valley and the upland Cordillera. It is through these findings that archeologists determined that the Ifugao people who ended up in the upland Cordillera had originally lived in the lowlands of the Magat Valley. Through archeological findings it has been determined that this migration occurred around the same time as the first Spanish colonialist endeavors. Archeologists believe that these people relocated to the highlands to maintain their autonomy and avoid Spanish rule. Archeological proof of this migration theory is seen through the Banaue rice terraces constructed by the Ifugao people around the time of Spanish colonialism. The idea is that in the face of Spanish invasion, the Ifugao people retreated to the mountains to strengthen their economic, political, and social ties to maintain autonomy via wet rice cultivation. Through the narrative constructed by the archaeological record, the Spanish are not the guiding force for the development of Ifugao society, they are simply the plight that drove indigenous peoples to band together to protect their independence.
Cultivation of wet-rice in the rice terraces required a newly strengthened social organization because of the intense labor it took to cultivate. The Ifugao people had to band together like never before to grow wet-rice in a region it was not typically grown. At the same time that wet-rice was being cultivated in the Ifugao region, there was an increase in earthenware pottery that had been used to house the Ifugao Banaue wet-rice, found in the uplands and lowlands. This indicates that the highland people were trading their wet-rice with the lowland regions that had come under Spanish control. Evidence of this trading system speaks to the strength of the Ifugao people to resist Spanish conquering through economic intensification of wet-rice as a resource that the Spanish wanted desperately (Acabado 2016 p. 8 & 21). Maintaining a strong trade system between the lowland people/Spanish also speaks to political intensification of Ifugao leadership. Thus, there is a direct connection between an increase in wet-rice production, earthenware pottery production, and trade to Spanish settlement in surrounding lowlands.
Old Kiyyangan Village Discoveries in Old Kiyyangan Village site also speak to Ifugao autonomy. In both the Old Kiyyangan Village site and the lowland Magat Valley, porcelain pottery and fine exotic beads were unearthed. Since similar goods were found in both regions, archeologists can conclude that there was a continuous relationship and interaction between lowland and highland groups. Archeologists can also conclude that there was a strong trade system in the Philippines during Spanish colonialism that brought foreign luxury goods to groups that the Spanish had gained political control over and also to groups they had not gained political control over. This interaction through the trade of luxury foreign goods highlights a continuous interaction with lowland groups and highland groups (Acabado 2016 p. 17 & 21). A continued interaction between highland and lowland groups even in the face of Spanish colonialism defines the political and economic strength of the highland people during this time.
Another similarity between archeological findings from the same time period in the highlands and lowlands are faunal records. In both areas remains of pigs and water buffalo were found, which further proves the origins of the Ifugao people to be in the lowland valley. However, since water buffalo were of no help in agricultural practices in the mountain region, archeologists have come to the conclusion that groups in the Old Kiyyangan Village were consuming game-like water buffalo in feast ceremonies. Feasts of animals such as water buffalo, pig, and deer increased in the archeological record during Spanish colonial advances most likely to consolidate the economic and political strength of the people as well as to strengthen within-group ties (Acabado 2016 p. 17).
Through these pericolonial archeological findings, archeologists have concluded that not all people in the Philippines were directly conquered, though those who were not conquered still dealt with the effects of colonialism. This new evidence that Acabado highlights has helped conclude that some indigenous people resist colonialism through agricultural developments that intensified their economic, social, and political strength.
The persistent narrative regarding Spanish colonialism in the Philippines is one where indigenous people lacked the ability to withstand colonial influence and power. The pericolonial archaeology of Stephen Acabado and others who study Ifugao serve the purpose of redefining a narrative by depicting indigenous peoples’ agency in the midst of Spanish colonialism.
Multicultural identity in Manila
Reduccion in San Juan