Artifacts from Plaza excavation unveiled

CEBU - In the course of a two-year excavation, the historical landmark Plaza Independencia has yielded close to a hundred pre-Hispanic pieces which were unveiled for the very first time by the National Museum of the Philippines-Cebu Branch in Fort San Pedro yesterday.

In 2006, before the Department of Public Works and Highways commenced the construction of a road tunnel at Plaza Independencia, which formed part of the Cebu South Coastal Road Project, a seven-person team was formed by the National Museum to undertake an archeological rescue. It resulted to pre-Spanish discoveries of ceramics and 45 burials, 10 of which were found only two months ago. All dated back to the 14th and 15th centuries.

According to Nida Cuevas, the project’s head archeologist, the ceramics signified the existence of trade between pre-Spanish Cebu settlers with Chinese and Southeast Asian people like Thais and Vietnamese.   

But the most valuable find, Cuevas said, would have to be the artificial cranial reformation of an adult female wearing a gold death mask.

The death mask is made of delicately-crafted sheets of gold that covered the eyes, nose and mouth. A similar mask was first discovered in Oton, Iloilo.

The artificial cranial formation, on the other hand, was a common tradition among pre-Hispanic Visayan people, particularly in Bohol, but this is the first time evidence was found that it was also practiced in pre-Hispanic Cebu. This process involved the placing of a hard object such as wood and which is clamped at the frontal and occipital lobes of the head.

Both the death mask and artificial cranial formation were a practice that indicated the remains’ high social standing, health and beauty, according to Cuevas.   

Meanwhile, National Museum of the Philippines director Corazon Albina, who graced the opening of the Plaza Independencia Archaeological Project Exhibition, confirmed that looting did occur earlier this year. She said they have the Kajima Corporation to thank for acting immediately on the problem by replacing all the laborers involved then in the construction.

Albina said that the archeological finds are collective proof that the area was a settlement site before the Spanish period. “Cebuanos can now say that they had an active and dynamic life even before the Spaniards arrived.”

“For many, many years, we have been classified as having had no activity, social interaction or whatsoever before the Spaniards came, and this proves otherwise --that there existed a social structure and that we had been partners in trade among Southeast Asians before the Spanish times.” 

The Plaza Independencia Archaeological Project is a joint effort of the National Museum of the Philippines, the University of San Carlos and the University of the Philippines-Diliman. It will continue until the tunnel will be done.   –Nathalie M. Tomada/BRP   (THE FREEMAN)