Pag-usbong ng ideya ng Kalanay Pottery Complex
Ano kaya ang tawag sa mga sinaunang banga at mga palayok na
natagpuan sa mga kuweba ng Gaspar Island sa Marinduque? Gaano katanda na kaya ang
mga ito?
Kalanay pottery complex ang ideya na ipinangalan ni Wilhelm G. Solheim II* matapos niyang suriin ang mga pottery at earthenware sa Guthe
Collection sa University of Michigan noong 1957. Nakolekta naman ang mga ito ni
Dr. Carl Guthe sa Pilipinas sa pagitan ng 1922 at 1925.
Iminungkahi noon ni Beyer na ang mga koleksiyon mula sa
Marinduque na nahukay ni Alfred Marche noong 1881 ay makikitang taglay ang mga
katangian ng Kalanay complex pottery na natagpuan sa iba pang bahagi ng
Pilipinas.
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| (Image) Kalanay pottery complex vessels from Gaspar, Tres Reyes, Marinduque |
Naisulat din ni Beyer tungkol sa mga natagpuan sa Marinduque
noong 1957, na ‘some specimens from which still remain in the Trocadero Museum
in Paris, or in other French or Spanish museums’.
Discoveries mula noong 1956
Marami pang Kalanay complex pottery ang natagpuan sa tatlo
pang lugar mula 1956: sa timog-silangan baybayin ng Luzon, sa Marinduque, at
malapit sa Taal, Batangas sa timog-kanluran na nakaharap sa baybayin ng Luzon.
Ang mga paunang ulat tungkol dito sa mga unang lugar ay
naisulat naman nina Fox at Evangelista, 1958.
Noong 1959 naman, si Arsenio Manuel, Pinuno ng Kagawaran ng
Anthropology, University of the Philippines, ay naghukay sa maraming mga site
sa Marinduque, na ang pinakamahalaga ayon sa panulat ni Solheim ay ang mga
natagpuan sa Tres Reyes (Gaspar Island).
Aniya, “from partial stratigraphy and typology the contents
of the Tres Reyes site have been divided into three groups. The middle strata
(not well defined), nearly one and a half meters thick, contains a great
variety of Kalanay complex pottery (Solheim 1959b: 103). Unfortunately, no
report on this material has yet appeared. Part of the material is with Manuel,
part with Beyer, and some pieces on display at the National Museum…”
Siyempre, sa kasalukuyan may kaunti pang maliliit na pirasong natitirang matatagpuan sa
mga kuweba mismo.
“Decoration and form of the Tres Reyes pottery fits the
Kalanay complex style very neatly. Several of the diagnostic designs are
present plus several variations on these designs, and one previously
unencountered element”. (Solheim)
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| (Image) Earthenware and rooster head from Tres Reyes, Marinduque |
Naisulat din ni Solheim. At dito ay may nadagdag na isang interesanteng bagay – may ukit na ulo ng tandang na makikita sa larawan:
“Two less common uses of earthenware in the Kalanay pottery complex are also present at Tres Reyes. Found at only two or three other Kalanay complex sites, including the Kalanay Cave site (Solheim 1957: fig 3), are shallow bowls with cutouts in the ring foot. The pictured bowl from Tres Reyes (PI. IV e) is part of a twin vessel joined by the bridge, to the left in the picture.
“The other rare form is a rooster head (PI. V a) which was broken off some larger earthenware object. The idea is similar to that of the head from Kalanay Cave (Solheim 1957: pl. I A). Both heads have the beginning of an incised pattern at the base of the neck which extended onto the missing portion of the object.”
Gaano katanda ang mga ito? Late Neolithic period daw. Bago pa
raw mag 500 B.C.!
Nanatiling ganito raw, ayon sa mga siyentipiko, ang mga banga at palayok sa mga lugar na
kinakitaan hanggang nagsimulang dumating ang mga Chinese porcelain sa panahon
ng T’ang o early Sung dynasty.
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| Part of the material is with Manuel, part with Beyer, some pieces on display at the National Museum. Some still lay scattered in the caves. |
Ang buod ng panulat ni Solheim sa “Further Notes on the
Kalanay Pottery Complex in the P.I.” kung saan hinango ang istoryang ito ay ganito ang nakasaad:
Summary:
Archaeological sites containing Kalanay complex pottery are found scattered throughout the Visayan Islands (Solheim n.d. b), in southern Luzon, and the southwest-facing coast of Luzon.
The pottery of this complex has great variety in form and several distinctive patterns of decoration. Incised designs are curvilinear scrolls, rectangular meandera, and many varieties of triangles. A scallop design on angles, flanges and rims, is made by cutting or modelling. Fine, wavy, impressed designs are made with the edge of an Arca shell. In rare cases, painting in red or black emphasizes an incised pattern.
The pottery is well made, probably on a slow wheel. Red slip is common. The vessels are well smoothed and sometimes polished.
Three C-14 dates are associated with Kalanay complex pottery. In all three of these sites the pottery is associated with stone tools of Late Neolithic type and no metal is present.
These dates are 754 + 100 B.C. for Cave Number 2 at Batungan Mountain and 91 B.C. and A.D. 179 for two of the Bato Cave sites. The great majority of the sites have associated iron and/or bronze, and some contain Chinese porcelain. The sites with porcelain do not contain the distinctive Kalanay pottery varieties of form and decoration whereas the sites with metal but no porcelain do (Solheim n.d. b).
Therefore it can be said that the Kalanay pottery complex entered the Philippines during Late Neolithic times, probably previous to 500 B.C. and remained as a distinctive pottery complex until Chinese porcelain of late T’ang or early Sung started coming in.
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| Recent visit, this blogger crawling in one of the Gaspar caves with a small opening. |
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