philippine studies Ateneo de Manila University • Loyola Heights, Quezon City • 1108 Philippines The Laguna Copper-Plate Inscription: Text and Commentary Antoon Postma Philippine Studies vol. 40, no. 2 (1992): 183–203 Copyright © Ateneo de Manila University Philippine Studies is published by the Ateneo de Manila University. Contents may not be copied or sent via email or other means to multiple sites and posted to a listserv without the copyright holder’s written permission. Users may download and print articles for individual, noncom- mercial use only. However, unless prior permission has been obtained, you may not download an entire issue of a journal, or download multiple copies of articles. Please contact the publisher for any further use of this work at
[email protected]. http://www.philippinestudies.net Fri June 27 13:30:20 2008 The Laguna Copper-Plate Inscription: Text and Commentary Antoon Postma Based on the stone tools that have been recovered during archaeo- logical excavations, the history of man in the Philippines can be considered to have started at least 40,000 years ago. Since that early starting point, a variety of human remains, tools and artifacts, still being excavated, testify to a consistent human habitation of the Phil- ippine archipelago, and its social interaction and trade. However, until recently Philippine history is less than 500 years old, if the history of a country is understood to begin with the first established calendar-dated document, originating in, referring to, and/or recov- ered within the boundaries of that country. General consensus has it that the dividing line between Prehistory (or Protohistory as Dr.