The history of ancestors
posted October 15, 2015 at 12:01 am byJenny Ortuoste
“Gold—everywhere, the glint of gold.”
These were the words that came to mind the first time I saw the exhibit “Gold of Ancestors” at Ayala Museum. They were spoken by archaeologist Howard Carter in 1922 when he broke the seals of the tomb of Tutankhamen, and set the light of his guttering candle on the magnificent treasures of the late pharaoh.
“Gold of Ancestors” showcases a thousand artifacts from the Surigao Treasure, a trove of gold objects that date back to the 10th to 13th century, dug up by accident during the construction of an irrigation project.
The art style, similar to that of other Southeast Asian cultures influenced by Hindu-Buddhist culture, informs jewelry and ritual objects used by the elite, such as rings, earrings, sashes, braces, anklets, funerary masks, chastity covers, and figures of deities and supernatural creatures.
Some 120 pieces from the exhibit are at the Asia Society and Museum in New York from Sept. 11 until Jan. 3, 2016, under the title “Philippine Gold: Treasures of Forgotten Kingdoms.”
Ken Johnson, reviewing the exhibit for the New York Times, calls the creators of these objects “outstandingly skillful goldsmiths” and laments “How was it that knowledge of a culture—or collection of cultures —capable of such exquisite and sophisticated metalworking was forgotten and left without a name?”
It is this story that local historians and archaeologists are trying to piece together, says Department of Tourism-accredited tour guide Leah Almarines-Medado of Butuan City, during a tour of the Butuan branch of the National Museum.Medado calls herself an “oral storyteller” who recounts the history of the peoples of the Caraga region—Agusan, Surigao, and Dinagat Islands.
Before the advent of the Spanish colonizers, she said, Butuan was a thriving kingdom that flourished from 9th century, around the time of the Sri Vijayan empire (700 to 1377) to the Madjapahit empire (1292 to 1479).
Butuan traded with China, Vietnam, and other nearby countries, as evidenced by the export ceramics recovered in the area.
Some 70 percent of the gold in the Ayala Museum display, Medado says, came from Butuan, where the metal was found in the form of alluvial gold that tumbled in the waters of the river, in nuggets as large as eggs and so common that they were kicked about like stones.
It was also near Butuan that the Golden Tara (Sanskrit, “star” and the root of Filipino “tala”) was found in 1917, a four-pound figure of 21-carat gold depicting the Buddhist goddess of compassion. Her beauty and fame is such that she draws foreign worshippers to Butuan, says Medado. But the figure is not there; it is in the Chicago Field Museum, which acquired the Tara in 1922.
Butuan is also where balangays were found. The balangay is a wooden boat that is said to have carried our ancestors from their homeland to this archipelago. The oldest balangay recovered dates back to 320 CE. The boats, made from dungon hardwood, were also used in travels to the other Asian kingdoms in the area.
The Butuan museum has specimens of the balangay and the baroto, another type of watercraft used by the Agusan Manobo for transportation and fishing. Medado points out their technological features and those of the paddles, which differed in shape for saltwater (ocean) or freshwater (river) use—the former with a rounded end to glide through waves, and the latter pointed to stab and push away crocodiles.
Several skulls were also displayed, some of them oddly-shaped with receding foreheads and high, almost vertical, posteriors. This was evidence, Medado explains, of cranial vault modification correlated with socioeconomic status and seen in remains from burial sites over an extensive area covering Albay, Marinduque, Masbate, Samar, Cebu, Bohol, Surigao, Davao, and Romblon.
One of the most interesting objects in the museum was a distiller for laksoy—nipa wine —the powerful drink that Butuanons plied Ferdinand Magellan and his men with, causing them to be two days late for their encounter with Lapu Lapu. Was it the after-effects of a laksoy hangover that caused the explorer to lose his fight with the Filipino chieftain?
Perhaps the only gold artifact left on display is a death mask made of several pieces—eye, nose, and lip covers, and a forehead piece—of thin hammered gold decorated with slits and cuts. Its wearer makes their presence felt in the museum at night, says Medado with a wink.
Medado says her mission as a guide is to make her listeners feel Filipino pride by taking them “back in time” to when Butuan was a kingdom and its people were respected as skilled craftsmen and as trading partners.
Though no written records remain from then, the artifacts found will have to tell the story. Contemplating them, we can echo Carter’s words when asked if he saw anything in the tomb he’d opened: “Yes, wonderful things.”
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