Archaeological excavations in Boljoon Church, successful

Jojo R. Bersales, chair of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, returned to USC last April 24 accompanied by faculty member and skeletal analyst Bonn Aure, alumnus Dennis Bait-it, and students Loyd Sato and John Henry Helle after 31 days of archaeological excavations on the grounds of Boljoon Church. The excavations, the third such dig at the same site in Boljoon since 2007, yielded the richest data in terms of artifacts recovered that included nine burials---all with filed teeth---five ceramic wares, gold jewelry and hundreds of ceramic, earthenware and glass sherds.

The latest round of excavations brings to 26 the total number of burials that have been recovered from the front of the church and convent of Boljoon, the Patrocinio de la Santisima Virgen, since excavations began in February and again in May-June last year. The most astounding find of this current dig was a large bent tube earring worn by a male burial who was also interred with a jarlet from the Anxi kiln in Fujian (ca. 1600s). A similar gold earring is currently exhibited at the Bangko Sentral Museum and has been dated to the 12^th-14^th century. This find may yet bring into question the actual date of the earrings in that museum, according to Rita C. Tan, former president of the Oriental Ceramic Society of the Philippines, and a well-published author on Chinese ceramic ware found in Philippine sites.

Burials

All the ceramic wares found complete, most of which covered the faces of male burials, have been determined to be from the Zhangzhou kilns and are dated to the late 1500s to early 1600s, or at a time when Boljoon was still a small visita, with pioneering Augustinian missionaries probably coming to the are only once a year or not at all.

This latest round of excavations was funded by the Spanish Program for Cultural Cooperation and was carried out with a team from the National Museum led by Amalia dela Torre, head of the NM Archaeological Records Section, together with Jose Santiago and Dante Posadas. Dr. Eusebio Dizon, head of the NM Underwater Archaeology Section and Prof. Wilfredo Ronquillo, head of the NM Archaeology Division also came to conduct an ocular inspection of the site. Dr. Dizon later gave an evening lecture with residents of Boljoon, student from Alcoy, and tour guides from Argao on 12th-15h century maritime trade in the Philippines and tackled boat-building of the period as well as ceramic finds from shipwrecks.

Gold pendants with gold, carnelian and glass spacers from Burial 17 and the bent hollow tube gold earing from Burial 20

The excavations were logistically supported by the Governor Gwendolyn Garcia, through the Committee on Sites, Relics and Structures, as well as the University Museum. Permit was granted by His Eminence Ricardo J. Cardinal Vidal through representations made by Msgr. Carlito Pono, chair of the Cebu Archdiocesan Commission for the Cultural Heritage of the Church. Fr. Milton Medida, parish priest of Boljoon, as well as Boljoon Mayor Deogenes Derama and Atty. Edmund Villanueva, president of the Boljoon Heritage Foundation, also provided important logistical support and accommodations for the team.

An on-site press conference last April 22 was conducted as part of the public archaeology or applied anthropology side of the dig, which included evening lectures and film shows attended by local residents of Boljoon. An exit survey was also conducted by Loyd Sato, a public archaeology intern doing Summer Internship in Anthropology.

A temporary exhibition of the finds and a reconstruction of at least one of the burials will be carried out soon at the USC. All burials will soon be studied by Bersales and Aure.

Author:
26 / April / 2008