SPAFA Journal

This Page Is Intentionally Left Blank sPA PA Ili~F.ST Vo l. VI No. 1, 1985 ISSN 0125 - 7099 Contents Ancient Beads from Philippine Archaeological Sites by Robert B. Fox and Rey Santiago 4 Theatre and Visual Arts: Some SPAFA objectives Parallelism by Jukka Miettinen 14 The objectives of SPAFA are: The Role of Conservation in Display by Colin Pearson 17 - To promote awareness and appre ciation of the cultural heritage of the The Mor Yao Ceremony to Southeast Asian countries t hrough the Honor the Benevolent Spirits preservation of archaeological and histo by Orawan Banchangsilpa 24 rical artifacts as well as the t raditional arts; West Java's Increasing Involvement in Overseas Treade in the 13th - To help enrich cultural activit ies in and 14th Centuries by E. Edwards the region; McKinnon 28 - To strengthen professio nal compe Preliminary Excavation at Fort tence in the fi elds of archaeology and Canning, Singapore by John Miksic 34 fine arts through sharing of resources and experiences on a regional basis; The Maritime Network in the Indonesian Archipelago in the - To promote better understanding Fourteenth Century by A.B. Lapian 40 among the countries of Southeast Asia through joint programmes in archaeology SPAFA Affairs 46 and fine arts. The Cover The Indonesian wayang (shadow theatre) makes use of flat S/lA/JA buffalo parchment puppets which are played against an upright 171~F.ST screen illuminated from behind. The puppets are lacy silhouettes in profile and are manipulated through three long handles, one for the body and one for each arm. SPAFA Digest is published bi-annually by the SEAMED Project in Archaeology and Fine Arts Coordinating Unit, Darakarn Building, 920 Sukhljmvit Road, Bangkok 11, Thailand. This issue is edited by Dr. Rosa C.P. Tenazas and Felicitas C. Rixhon and printed by the Professional Publishing Co. , Ltd. 59 Soi Sang Chan, Sukhumvit Rd, Thailand, Tel. 391-2962,392-6 130,392-9673. 4 Ancient Beads From Philippine Archaeological Sites by Robert B. Fox and Rey A. Santiago The many types of glass and of etched stone beads which were formal trade. The period of Euro stone beads which have been made in India had appeared in the pean expansion during the 15th excavated in Philippine archaeolo Islands. Glass beads - appropriately and 16th centuries A.D. also saw gical sites provide substantial evi described as "Trade Wind Beads" the distribution of countless num dence for extensive contacts and probably made in Europe, bers and varieties of glass beads to trade between the Philippines and reached the Philippines through the marginal peoples of Asia and countries of South and East Asia, Arab trade before the Europeans; elsewhere who treasured them in the Near East, and indirectly before Magellan! The Chinese trade many instances above all other Europe, hundreds of years prior of pottery into the Philippines, material items. The total absence to Span ish contact. Glass beads mostly after the 12th century A.D., of glass trade beads among the have been excavated in burial was also an active trade in great Tasaday of Mindanao, when first caves in Palawan which date to numbers of glass and stone beads. seen by the writer, provides addi more than 2,000 years ago, sugges The majority of the beads which tional evidence for the remarkable ting that they were brought into were brought by the Chinese isolation from the outside world the Philippines through the actual traders, however, were probably of these forest people. movements of people from the made in the Near East and Europe It is not surprising that Magellan south main land of Asia - either for glass beads and wares from the carried with him beads for trade from Northern Indo-China or South West which were traded for silk during the voyage when his ships China. By 200 B.C., unique types reached China at an early date, were to first circumnavigate the during the period of the Warring globe. Or, that the Pilipinos at first States about the 8th to the 3rd Spanish contact were already fami century B.C. liar with and prized glass beads. Dr. R. Fox war s former A universal expression of human In 1521, shortly after the ships hBsd of the Anthropology vanity, attractive beads of semi of Magellan had reached the Phi Division, Nations/ Museum, precious stones and colorful glass lippines, Pigafetta wrote in his Philippintll while Mr. R. Ssn have been eagerly sought by chronicle : tiii!JO is s •nior IWtlllrchtlr in people everywhere and at all thtllllfTitl office. When one of our men went _,.,r• for times. The small beads were easily weter, one of tho• people wanted to give him The photogrsphs of btlllds carried over great distances by • pointed crown of melliw gold, of the size used in the snicltl sre illustra migrating people. Excavations in of a colona, for six strings of glass beads, tive of tho111 dilcuSitld. Asia and Africa show that beads but the captllin [M~gallan) rafuled to let him benar, eo thet the nati- lhould laern at the were a basic commodity linked wry begiming that we prized our marchandila with the earliest development of ~• than their gold (lie). 5 Later whe n t he ships were at in the type collection. All of these Cebu, Pigafetta noted, the king beads have been assigned to one wore " ... a necklace of great value of three periods of Philippine hanging from his neck." One can prehistory based upon the easily imagine that this necklace archaeological evidences: the Neoli was strung with beads of semi thic; the Early Metal Age; the precious stones, glass, and gold Developed Metal Age when iron similar to types which are being was common (or present) ; and the excavated today in Cebu by the Age of Contacts and Trade with archaeologists of the University of the East. When the beads are thus San Carlos. arranged, the chronological order in Stone and glass beads are still which each diagnostic type of treasured by the mountain people bead first appears becomes evi in the Philippines, as among the dent; as well as when particular Kalinga and Gaddang of northern types of beads were made in the Luzon, who may price individual Ph ilippines. heirloom beads in hundreds of A few types of beads - the pesos. A bead found among the heirloom beads - oontinued to be Kalinga, a type named adungan, used for hundreds of years after is said to have been valued at two they first appeared in the Philip water buffalos. The Kalinga have pines. But, when discussing the age about one-hundred names for of heirloom beads, past writers distinct types and classes of glass, have tended to exaggerate their stone, and metal beads. Heirloom antiquity. Beautifu I, translucent beads, like jars, may have genealo carnel ian beads - a class of crypto- gies and in the past their possession brought great status to their Late Neolithic Shell Beads owners. from Pal awan . Types of Beads Under Study crystalline quartz - first appear in In this paper, 40 types of ancient quantity in sites of the Developed beads will be discussed and Metal Age which begins in some illustrated, providing brief preli areas of the Philippines about 200 minary data from a much larger B.C. These carnelian beads are study now being undertaken jointly very different in forms from the by the writer and Mr Rey Santiago large carnelian beads which are of the National Museum and found in burial sites of the Age of Mr. Jose B. Lugay, Glass Techno- Contacts and Trade w ith the East logist, of the San Miguel Corpora that date to only a few hundred tion. This on-going research years before Spanish contact (circa involves the study of more than the 12th to the 16th century A.D.). 300 visually distinctive types of It is generally (if not only) these shell, stone, metal, and glass beads later carnelian beads which form which the Museum has excavated. some of the heirloom beads The absolute or relative age of each found among the mountain peo of these type beads has been ples, such as the Kalinga and established based upon either C-14 Bontok. Most of the stone beads determinations or the association of of the mountain peoples were dated trade potteries from China, imported in historic or modern Thailand, or Annam. It must be times, however, for they do not stressed that only beads which appear in pre-Spanish archaeologi have been recovered during con- Glass Bead from Guri Cave cal sites. Stone beads of antique tro lled .excavations will be included forms are still being made in India 6 for trade. Modern beads of this is now known, were made from Lacking these pieces of techni type, including plastic copies, are potassium glasses; those from the cal equipment, the proposed being sold as "antique" beads to Near East, of soda-lime glasses. "Asian Center for the Study of unsuspecting collectors. Soda-lime glasses, howeve r, are Ancient Glass" - a joint project nearly universal in use, but further of the National Museum and the Chemical Composition studies of trace elements in soda ·san Miguel Corporation - is at lime glasses can still provide clues tempting other lines of inquiry. The study of ancient beads is as to their place of manufacture. Among these are a thorough study incredibly complex and the project The "Trade Wind Beads" - a of the method of manufacture of will require many future decades. number of types have been ex the stone, metal, or glass bead. Uncertainties as to the age and cavated in the Philippines - are Pre liminary observations by Mr.

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