Kalinga archaeological site declared ‘national treasure’

MANILA, Philippines — The Elephant Hill archaeological site in Rizal town in Kalinga has been declared a National Cultural Treasure by the National Museum of the Philippines, highlighting the celebration of Heritage Month in the province.

Archaeologists and paleontologists from the National Museum and the Musée Nationale d’ Histoire Naturelle of France started excavations in Rizal in 2014.

Four years later, findings were disclosed including a 75 percent intact rhinoceros fossil.

The fossil bore cut marks and percussion marks, along with some 50 stone tools and other animal fossils, which were all confirmed to be 709,000 years old.

The archaeological excavations in the town through the years have shown extinct animal remains such as that of monitor lizard, box turtle, Philippine brown deer, stegodon (a cousin of the elephant) and rhinoceros.

The archaeological site is now a protected area.

The butchery marks and stone tools were accordingly indirect evidence of the presence of early humans in the Philippines. The fossils are displayed at the National Museum of Natural History.

The first recorded archaeological find in the site, a rhinoceros lower jaw, was unearthed in 1935 when Rizal town was still part of the City of Tabuk. Rizal was officially removed from Tabuk through Republic Act No. 4396, which was signed into law on June 19, 1965. It was originally named Liwan, but was renamed Rizal in honor of national hero Dr. Jose Rizal through Republic Act No. 6183 enacted on Aug. 14, 1971.

In March 1977, then president Ferdinand Marcos declared Rizal as an archaeological reserve.