SEMINAR: Archaeology Seminar Series

This talk will discuss some results of an ongoing collaborative research project between the Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines, the Australian National University and UWA on the Pleistocene-Early Holocene settlement of the Philippines. The Philippines have recently produced some significant evidence related to early human colonization episodes, including the currently oldest securely dated evidence for modern humans in Island Southeast Asia altogether. The project is aimed at contextualizing these finds through systematic identification, excavation, dating and multi-disciplinary analyses of new sites on a number of islands.

This talk will concentrate on new results from recent archaeological investigations at the Bubog rock shelter sites on the small island of Ilin (Mindoro Occidental). The archaeological and stratigraphic sequences at the two sites provide evidence on how variability in landscape formation, sea levels and landmass during the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene influenced past human behaviour, demonstrating a correlation between human foraging strategies and environmental changes. The current results of this project contribute substantially to our understanding of the processes of human colonization and adaptation in the Archipelago. They complement ongoing research into Island Southeast Asia's palaeogeography and enhance current knowledge of human occupation and subsistence strategies across the region.