Butuan and the Balangay Boats

Plank Built Boats From Around The Fourth Century, Dug Out Of The Mud Here The Oldest Watercraft Found In The Philippines · Butuan, Agusan del Norte

IN THE 1970S FARMERS DIGGING IN THE MUD NEAR BUTUAN FOUND A BOAT. THEN ANOTHER. THE BALANGAY VESSELS - PLANK-BUILT, EDGE-PEGGED, LASHED WITH FIBRE AND BUILT WITHOUT A NAIL - ARE THE OLDEST WATERCRAFT EVER FOUND IN THE PHILIPPINES, the earliest carbon-dated to around the fourth century. THEY MATTER BECAUSE THEY PROVE WHAT THE COLONIAL ACCOUNT OMITS: THAT BUTUAN WAS A TRADING POLITY WITH REAL MARITIME REACH CENTURIES BEFORE ANY SPANIARD ARRIVED, exchanging gold and forest goods with China and the wider archipelago. GOLD WORK OF EXTRAORDINARY QUALITY HAS COME OUT OF THE SAME GROUND. THE SHRINE AT LIBERTAD SHELTERS EXCAVATED HULLS IN SITU and the regional museum holds the rest. BE HONEST: IT IS MODEST, UNDER-FUNDED AND ALMOST EMPTY, and it is one of the most important archaeological sites in the country. More hulls are known to be in the ground and excavation has stopped repeatedly for lack of money, which tells you most of what you need to know about how this is funded.

Balangay Shrine, Libertad, Butuan City, Butuan, Agusan del Norte, Philippines

BUTUAN HAS AN AIRPORT with flights from Manila and Cebu and is the gateway to CARAGA - SIARGAO AND THE ENCHANTED RIVER are both within a few hours. THE BALANGAY SHRINE MUSEUM AT LIBERTAD keeps daytime hours with a modest fee and SHELTERS EXCAVATED HULLS WHERE THEY WERE FOUND; THE BUTUAN NATIONAL MUSEUM holds the gold, ceramics and smaller finds and keeps government museum hours, usually CLOSED ON MONDAYS. BOTH ARE SMALL AND UNDER-RESOURCED and neither takes long. THE BALANGAY FESTIVAL falls in May. THE CITY IS FLAT, HOT AND ORDINARY, and most visitors pass through on the way to Siargao without stopping. Ask at the museum about ongoing excavation; more hulls are known to be in the ground and the work is intermittent for lack of funding.

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