ÍPAN ALTÍ

ÍPAN ALTÍ

Neolithic Beginnings

By Joel Pabustan Mallari

Candaba already had boatmakers at the time the Pyramids of Egypt were being constructed, or 3000 years before Christ was born

ONE of the celebrated archaeological artifacts in the Philippines is a stone adze (locally known as daras), listed by the National Museum as having been unearthed in Candaba although some sources claim it came from Tarlac (the provenance papers may have been part of the documents destroyed or looted in World War II, so we will never know for sure). Today it is widely known as the Candaba Adze. It is estimated to be 5000 years old, which makes it as old as the Pyramids of Egypt. Kapampangans consider the Candaba Adze as their Holy Grail because it points to a Kapampangan civilization, or at least a Kapampangan boat-building industry, long before the Christian colonizers came, in fact 3000 years before Jesus Christ was born.

The adze, which early Kapampangans called ipan alti (lightning tooth), was made from basalt with a length of 36.4 cm, width of 9.8 cm and thickness of 4.53 cm. H. Otley Beyer presented this stone to the National Museum during his active involvement in the 1930s. The recovery of this artifact is a crucial factor in establishing a chronology of prehistoric events which could possibly include the early seamanship around the Manila Bay area.

The early people in the region had learned that a tool with a definite shape and clean edges was far more effective than a flaked stone. They had learned that if they attached it to a pole they could lift it over their shoulder and bring it down with greater momentum of force, exactly the same principle in using a sarulgamat (hoe), palakul and palatio (axes), piku (pick mattock) and masu (hammer).

The Candaba Adze also provides clues on the early peopling of the region. Relative to this was the indication of the Neolithic Period of balen (nation) based on material type and morphology. Consequently this could be the earliest evidence of prehistoric civilization in the region that gives a clue on the settling phase of the people and the beginning of maritime trade (and possible movement) via the Pampanga River located on the western section of the Candaba Swamp. Daras are the pointer of wet rice cultivation which begins from forest clearings that give way to the erection of houses for the rice cultivators and other domesticated crops towards the establishment of a balen. This stone tool was obviously designed to cut down trees and carve boats to be used for the exploration of other pulu (settlements or islands) beyond the seas. The size of this particular adze indicates it was used for larger boats; in fact it is probably the largest artifact of its kind found in the entire rim of the Austronesian (ancient sea-faring people) Asia-Pacific Region.

Related to the Candaba daras is the archaeological site in Arubo, Nueva Ecija where unearthed flaked stones point to Palaeolithic Age, and the recovered stone implements in Hacienda Dolores, Porac, which include asung-asungan (mortar and pestle), taisan (grinding pad for metal blades like palang), and ipan alti (adzes), with associated dates ranging from 12th to 15th Centuries.

As an aside, in Jalung, Porac, old farmers collect ipan alti (sometimes called ipan duldul, thunder tooth), which they believe have been cut by lightning and thunder (which brings curse and energy) to fell large dutung (trees).

Important discoveries on the Neolithic-Period socio-economic development of the settlements around Pampanga River might have been difficult to achieve without the Kapampangan mandarás (old boatmakers).