Callao Cave
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Callao Cave () is one of 300
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
cave Caves or caverns are natural voids under the Earth's Planetary surface, surface. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. Exogene caves are smaller openings that extend a relatively short distance undergrou ...
s located in the
Barangay The barangay (; abbreviated as Brgy. or Bgy.), historically referred to as ''barrio'', is the smallest Administrative divisions of the Philippines, administrative division in the Philippines. Named after the Precolonial barangay, precolonial po ...
s of Magdalo and Quibal in the municipality of Peñablanca, about northeast of Tuguegarao City, the capital of
Cagayan Cagayan ( ), officially the Province of Cagayan (; ; ; isnag language, Isnag: ''Provinsia nga Cagayan''; ivatan language, Ivatan: ''Provinsiya nu Cagayan''; ; ), is a Provinces of the Philippines, province in the Philippines located in the Cag ...
province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire's territorial possessions ou ...
within the Peñablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape in the western foothills of the Northern Sierra Madre Mountains on
Luzon Luzon ( , ) is the largest and most populous List of islands in the Philippines, island in the Philippines. Located in the northern portion of the List of islands of the Philippines, Philippine archipelago, it is the economic and political ce ...
island in the
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 ...
. The town Peñablanca's () name refers to the predominance of white limestone rock formations in the area. First excavated in 1980 by Maharlika Cuevas, the seven-chamber show cave is the best known natural tourist attraction of the Cagayan province and in February 2020 has officially been recognized as an ''important cultural property'' of the Philippines. These Fossils of archaic humans, that lived during the Late
Pleistocene The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''ice age, Ice Age'') is the geological epoch (geology), epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was fin ...
were first discovered in the cave and documented in 2007 by a team led by Armand Salvador Mijares from the
University of the Philippines The University of the Philippines (UP; ) is a Higher education in the Philippines#State universities and colleges, state university system in the Philippines. It is the country's national university, as mandated by List of Philippine laws, Re ...
and eventually confirmed in 2019 to belong to a previously unknown and now extinct human sub-species - ''Callao Man'' or '' Homo luzonensis''.


Protection status

Callao Cave was visited by American
Governor-General Governor-general (plural governors-general), or governor general (plural governors general), is the title of an official, most prominently associated with the British Empire. In the context of the governors-general and former British colonies, ...
Theodore Roosevelt Jr. in 1932 who, during his term, created the National Park system of the country with the passing of Act No. 3195 in 1932. Callao Cave was one of the earliest national parks of the country when it was established on July 16, 1935, by Proclamation no. 827. The ''Callao Cave National Park'' encompassed an area of of land. With the passing of the NIPAS Act of 1992 that revamped the protected areas of the country, the Callao National Park was reclassified but enlarged by Proclamation no. 416 on June 29, 1994. The protected area was reestablished as the ''Peñablanca Protected Landscape''. In 2003 upon the recommendation of the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR; ) is the Executive Departments of the Philippines, executive department of the Philippine government responsible for the conservation, management, development, and proper use of the cou ...
(DENR), the protected area was further enlarged to include certain parcels of land in the public domain. Proclamation 416 no. was amended by Proclamation no. 484, signed by President Arroyo on October 6, 2003. The law enlarged the park to and renamed as the Peñablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape (PPLS). The protected area is particularly described as bounded on the North and East of Public Forest under FR-1011 per Proclamation No. 584 dated July 8, 1940; on the South by Callao Reforestation Project and on the West by Block I, Alienable and Disposable of Cagayan Project No. 13-C, Certified on February 27, 1923.


Features

More than 300 caves dot the protected area, 75 of which have been documented by the National Museum since 1977. The Callao Cave and the nearby, but more challenging, Sierra Cave are easily accessible by automobile.Bloom, Greg; Grosberg, Michael; etc. (2011)
"Lonely Planet"
pg. 209. Lonely Planet Publications. Retrieved on October 4, 2013.
The Callao Cave is the premier attraction in the Peñablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape. It is the most accessible of all the caves, its entrance is reached by climbing 184 concrete steps. The Callao Cave system is composed of seven chambers, each with natural crevices above that let streams of light to get into the cave, serving as illumination for the otherwise dark areas of the place. Previously, there were reported nine caves in the system, but an earthquake in the 1980s cut off the last two chambers.Dalton, David (October 3, 2011)
"The Rough Guide to the Philippines, 3rd edition"
pg. 158. Rough Guides (publisher).
The first chamber of the show cave is the largest room with a width of about and a height of ."Peñablanca"
. Cagayan Province Official Website. Retrieved on October 4, 2013.
The cathedral-like room has been turned into a chapel by the local people. A rock formation serves as the altar of the chapel lit by a stream of light coming from a rooftop opening. The conditions inside the caves have caused the formation of
stalactite A stalactite (, ; , ) is a mineral formation that hangs from the ceiling of caves, hot springs, or man-made structures such as bridges and mines. Any material that is soluble and that can be deposited as a colloid, or is in suspension (chemistry ...
s and
stalagmite A stalagmite (, ; ; ) is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically composed of calcium carbonate, but may consist ...
s, more so in the deeper chambers. Several spectacular speleothems or formations are found inside the cave like flowstones, glittering dripstones, cave curtains, crystal
helictite A helictite is a speleothem (cave-formed mineral) found in a Solution cave, limestone cave that changes its axis from the vertical at one or more stages during its growth. Helictites have a curving or angular form that looks as if they were gro ...
s, columns, etc."Cagayan - Caving Capital of the Philippines"
Travel to the Philippines.info. Retrieved on October 4, 2013.


Stratification

The analysis of the sediments and depositions in the cave confirm human occupation of the cave as early as 67,000 years B.P. However, the next human habitation strata, that contains cultural depositions (charcoal, hearths and chert flake tools) and dates to ca. 25,000 years B.P. only lies on top of a thick almost completely sterile layer. The most recent occupation horizon, on top of a layer of volcanic depositions dates to the
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 ...
(around 3,600 years B.P.) and contained ceramic shards, stone tool fragments, faunal remains and human burials. The results demonstrate, that the Callao cave was only intermittently occupied during the last 70,000 years.


Classification

Callao Cave is classified by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources as a Class II cave. This describes caves with areas that have hazardous conditions and contain sensitive geological, archaeological, cultural, historical, and biological values or high quality ecosystems. Such caves are open to experienced spelunkers or caving enthusiasts and guided visits, although some portions may be closed seasonally or permanently for conservation purposes. The Bat Cave near Callao Cave is a Class III cave meaning they are 'generally safe' for inexperienced visitors. They have no known threatened species within, nor any archaeological, geological, historical, or cultural values. Economic activities, such as collection of
guano Guano (Spanish from ) is the accumulated excrement of seabirds or bats. Guano is a highly effective fertiliser due to the high content of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium, all key nutrients essential for plant growth. Guano was also, to a le ...
and edible bird's nest, are allowed in such caves."DENR classifies 158 more caves"
. Philippine Information Agency. Retrieved on October 4, 2013.


''Homo luzonensis''

''Homo luzonensis'' refers to human fossils first discovered inside Callao Cave in 2007 by a team made up of Filipino, French and Australian archeologists led by Armand Salvador Mijares. Although tentatively considered by the scientific community as remains of ''Homo sapiens'', the find, that consisted of a single metatarsal (foot bone) was dubbed as ''Callao Man''. When dated using uranium series ablation, it was found to be at least 67,000 years old. This significantly antedates the 47,000-year-old remains of the
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 ...
Tabon Man and represents the earliest human fossil yet found in the Philippines and it also ranks among the oldest traces of human presence in
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 ...
and the entire Asia-Pacific region. In 2010, more fossils were unearthed and after Armand Salvador Mijares and his team discovered further material in 2015 (seven teeth and six small bones) a thorough anthropological and genetic study was undertaken. On April 10, 2019, the team of paleoanthropologists Florent Détroit and Armand Salvador Mijares published the conclusions in the journal ''Nature'', announcing the taxon of this newly identified human species to be ''Homo luzonensis'', which definitely lived on Luzon island between 50,000 and 67,000 years ago. As the discovery adds a new chapter to the complex history of human evolution, Armand Mijares remarked, that it ''puts the Philippines...which always had been peripheral in this debate...in the spotlight of human evolution''. Anthropological studies suggested, that Callao Man, like
Homo floresiensis ''Homo floresiensis'' , also known as "Flores Man" or "Hobbit" (after Hobbit, the fictional species), is an Extinction, extinct species of small archaic humans that inhabited the island of Flores, Indonesia, until the arrival of Homo sapiens, ...
from
Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...
was less than four feet tall. Researchers have also noted, that the indigenous Aeta people, who live in the mountains of Luzon Island, might be descendants of Callao Man.


Other caves

A rock art of a human-like figure is found in Hermoso Tuliao Cave. The rock art, about 3,500 years old, shows a human-like figure with arms up and legs spread open. It is believed to have been created by either early Austronesians or the Agta Negritos who migrated during the Ice Age. Other pristine and undisturbed caves with living rock formations in the Peñablanca Protected Landscape and Seascape include Jackpot, Laurente, Odessa-Tumbali, Quibal, Roc, San Carlos, and Sierra Caves, among others. These caves may be explored with guides from Sierra Madre Outdoor Club, Adventures and Expedition Philippines Inc., and North Adventurer. Daily circadian flight of bats from the Bat Cave occur at dusk."Callao Caves"
Department of Tourism. Retrieved on October 1, 2013.


References


External links

*
Photo of the Callao Cave's 1st Chamber from Panoramio

Photo of the Callao Cave's 3rd Chamber from Panoramio

Photo of the Callao Cave's 4th Chamber from Panoramio

Photo of the Callao Cave's 5th Chamber from Panoramio

2019 article on Homo luzonensis in ''Nature''
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