The Manunggul Jar is a secondary burial jar excavated from a

Neolithic The Neolithic or New Stone Age (from Ancient Greek, Greek 'new' and 'stone') is an archaeological period, the final division of the Stone Age in Mesopotamia, Asia, Europe and Africa (c. 10,000 BCE to c. 2,000 BCE). It saw the Neolithic Revo ...

burial site in the Manunggul cave of the Tabon Caves at Lipuun Point in

Palawan Palawan (, ), officially the Province of Palawan (; ), is an archipelagic province of the Philippines that is located in the region of Mimaropa. It is the largest province in the country in terms of total area of . The capital and largest c ...

Philippines The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

. It dates from 890–710 B.C. and the two prominent figures at the top handle of its cover represent the journey of the soul to the

afterlife The afterlife or life after death is a purported existence in which the essential part of an individual's Stream of consciousness (psychology), stream of consciousness or Personal identity, identity continues to exist after the death of their ...

Manunggul Jar displayed at Philippine National Museum of Anthropology

The Manunggul Jar is widely acknowledged to be one of the finest

Philippine The Philippines, officially the Republic of the Philippines, is an Archipelagic state, archipelagic country in Southeast Asia. Located in the western Pacific Ocean, it consists of List of islands of the Philippines, 7,641 islands, with a tot ...

pre-colonial artworks ever produced and is considered a masterpiece of

Philippine ceramics Philippine ceramics refers to ceramic art and pottery designed or produced as a form of Philippine art. History Traditional pot-making in certain areas of the Philippines would use clay found near the Sibalom River. Molding the clay requir ...

. It is listed as a national treasure and designated as item 64-MO-74pp. 40-41 Father Gabriel Casal & Regalado Trota Jose, Jr., Eric S. Casino, George R. Ellis, Wilhelm G. Solheim II, ''The People and Art of the Philippines'', printed by the Museum of Cultural History, UCLA (1981) by the

National Museum of the Philippines The National Museum of the Philippines () is an umbrella government organization that oversees a number of national museums in the Philippines, including Ethnography, ethnographic, Anthropology, anthropological, Archaeology, archaeological, an ...

. It is now housed at the National Museum of Anthropology and is one of the most popular exhibits there. It is made from clay with some sand soil.

Discovery

The Manunggul Jar was found by Robert B. Fox and Miguel Antonio in 1964. It was found alongside the remains of a Tabon Man. It was recovered by Robert in Chamber A of Manunggul Cave in Southwestern Palawan. Miksic, J.N. (2003). Earthenware in Southeast Asia: Proceedings of the Singapore Symposium on Premodern Southeast Asian Earthenwares. NUS Press. Manunggul Cave is one of the Tabon Caves in Lipuun Point. The Tabon Caves are known to be a site of jar burials with artifacts dating in a range from 2300 to 50 B.C. (4250-2000 BP). Chamber A dates as a

Late Neolithic In the Near Eastern archaeology, archaeology of Southwest Asia, the Late Neolithic, also known as the Ceramic Neolithic or Pottery Neolithic, is the final part of the Neolithic period, following on from the Pre-Pottery Neolithic and preceding th ...

burial site (890-710 BC).National Museum of the Philippines. (2014). Manunggul Jar. Retrieved November 20, 2015 fro
National Museum, Manunggul jar
Seventy-eight jars and earthenwares, including the Manunggul Jar, were discovered on the subsurface and surface of Chamber A. Each artifact varied in design and form but was evidently a type of funerary

pottery Pottery is the process and the products of forming vessels and other objects with clay and other raw materials, which are fired at high temperatures to give them a hard and durable form. The place where such wares are made by a ''potter'' is al ...

First excavation and response to discovery

The first ever excavation that discovered this burial jar was in the year 1964 by Robert Fox. During that time, he and his team were excavating the Tabon Cave Complex, specifically in the Lipuun Point. Fox's excavation was most unusual in many ways.Chua, M. (1995, April 27). The Arts of the Philippines. Retrieved November 22, 2015, fro
The manunggul jar as a vessel of history
/ref> In addition to the jar, human bones which were covered in red paint were also found. Like Egyptian burial practices, the jar also had numerous bracelets. "... is perhaps unrivaled in Southeast Asia, the work of an artist and a master potter." — Robert Fox, describing the jar's origin, based from its appearance.

Design of the Jar

The Manunggul Jar shows that the

Filipinos Filipinos () are citizens or people identified with the country of the Philippines. Filipinos come from various Austronesian peoples, all typically speaking Filipino language, Filipino, Philippine English, English, or other Philippine language ...

' maritime culture is paramount that it reflected its ancestors' religious beliefs. Many epics around the Philippines would tell how souls go to the next life, aboard boats, pass through the rivers and seas. This belief is connected with the Austronesian belief of the

anito ''Anito'', also spelled ''anitu'', refers to ancestor spirits, nature spirits, and deities in the Indigenous Philippine folk religions from the precolonial age to the present, although the term itself may have other meanings and associ ...

. The fine lines and intricate designs of the Manunggul Jar reflect the artistry of early Filipinos. These designs are proof of the Filipinos' common heritage from the Austronesian-speaking ancestors despite the diversity of the cultures of the Filipinos. The upper part of the Manunggul jar, as well as the cover, is carved with curvilinear scroll designs (reminiscent of waves on the sea) which are painted with

hematite Hematite (), also spelled as haematite, is a common iron oxide compound with the formula, Fe2O3 and is widely found in rocks and soils. Hematite crystals belong to the rhombohedral lattice system which is designated the alpha polymorph of . ...

. Early Filipinos believed that a man is composed of a body, a life force called ginhawa, and a kaluluwa. This explains why the design of the cover of the Manunggul Jar features three faces - the soul, the boatman, and the boat itself. On the faces of the figures and on the prow of the boat are eyes and mouth rendered in the same style as other artifacts of

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

of that period. The two human figures in a boat represent a voyage to the afterlife. The boatman is holding a steering paddle while the one on his front shows hands crossed on his chest. The steersman's oar is missing its paddle, as is the mast in the center of the boat, against which the steersman would have braced his feet. The manner in which the hands of the front figure are folded across the chest is a widespread practice in the Philippines when arranging the corpse. The lid of the Manunggul Jar provides a clear example of a cultural link between the archeological past and the ethnographic present. It also signifies the belief of ancient Filipinos in life after death.

Jar burial

The practice of jar burial is an instance of secondary burial, in which only the bones of the deceased are reburied. The jar itself was not interred.

References

External links