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Introduction: Pre - History

The cultural achievements of pre-colonial Philippines include those covered by prehistory and early
history of the Philippines archipelago and its inhabitants, which are the indigenous forebears of today's
Filipino people. These early Filipinos possessed a culture and technology that were quite advanced
considering the timeline of history of science when it flourished. Waves of migrants who came to settle
in the islands contributed to the development of ancient Philippine civilization. Prehistoric aborigines, a
cross of Afro-Asiatic and Austro- Aborigines, now called Negritos (Aeta, Agta, Ayta) reached the islands
by way of land bridges around 15,000 to 30,000 BC, and they were excellent hunters and food gatherers.
In its midst, other ancient civilizations were also thriving and evolving. The Proto-Malays, a Mongol-
Asiatic race, arrived around 2500 BC using oceanic vessels called balangays, and they brought with them
their knowledge in seafaring, farming, building of houses from trees and creation of fire for cooking. The
next to arrive were the Duetero-Malays, of India-Asiatic race (Indian, Chinese, Siamese, Arabic), that
prevailed with a more superior and advanced culture. They possessed their own systems of writing,
knowledge and skills in agriculture, metallurgy, jewelry-making as well as boat-building. When the
Spaniards came to the islands in the 15th century, industries such as mining, agriculture, fishing and
pottery were already in place and contacts with other Asian nations had been long established.
Peopling of the Pre-Colonnial Philippines

THE DIM CENTURIES prior to Magellan's arrival in 1521 were formerly unknown to historians. It is only in
recent years that history's frontiers have been explored by both historians and archaeologists. By means
of intensive researchers in ancient Asian records and by new archaeological discoveries at various sites
in the Philippine prehistory.

First Man in the Philippines. According to recent archaeological findings, man is ancient in the
Philippines. He first came about 2500,000 B.C. during the Ice Age or Middle Pleistocene Period, by way
of the land bridges which linked the archipelago with Asia. He was a cousin of the "Java Man," "Peking
Man," and other earliest men in Asia. Professor H. Otley Beyer, eminent American authority on
Philippine archaeology and anthropology, called him the "Dawn Man", for he appeared in the
Philippines at the dawn of time.. Brawny and thickly-haired, the "Dawn Man", had no knowledge of
agriculture. He lived by means of gathering wild edible plants, by fishing, and hunting. It is probable that
he reached the Philippines while hunting. At that time the boars, deer, giant and pygmy elephants,
rhinoceros, and other Pleistocene animals roamed in the country. Fossil relics of these ancient animals
have been found in Pangasinan and Cagayan Valley.

In the course of unrecorded time the "Dawn Man" vanished, without leaving a trace. Until the present
time his skeletal remains or artifacts have not yet been discovered by archaeologists. So far the oldest
human fossil found in the Philippines is the skull cap of a "Stone-Age Filipino", about 22,000 years old.
This human skull cap was discovered by Dr. Robert B. Fox, American anthropologist of the National
Museum, inside Tabon Cave Palawan, on May 28, 1962. This human relic was called the "Tabon Man".

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Reference: https://www.slideshare.net/alvinaguinaldo1/pre-colonialperiod-24134000
http://www.oocities.org/collegepark/pool/1644/precolonial.html
The Coming of the Negritos. Ages after the disappearance of the "Dawn Man", the Negritos from the
Asian mainland peopled the Philippines. They came about 25,000 years ago walking dry-shod through
Malay Peninsula. Borneo, and the land bridges. Centuries after their arrival, the huge glaciers of ice
melted and the increased volume of water raised the level of the seas and submerged the land bridges.
The Philippines was thus cut off from the Asian mainland. The Negritos lived permanently in the
archipelago and became the first inhabitants.

The Negritos are among the smallest peoples on earth. They are below five feet in height, with black
skin, dark kinky hair round black eyes, and flat noses. Because of their black color and short stature, they
were called Negritos (little black people) by the Spanish colonizers. In the Philippines they are known as
Aeta, Ati, or Ita.

(The Negritos were early settlers but their appearance in the Philippines has not been reliably dated ;
and they were followed by speakers of the Malayo-Polynesian languages, a branch of the Austronesian
languages, who began to arrive in successive waves beginning about 4000 B.C.E, displacing the earlier
arrivals. By 1000 B.C. the inhabitants of the Philippine archipelago had developed into four distinct kinds
of peoples: tribal groups, such as the Aetas, Hanunoo, Ilongots and the Mangyan who depended on
hunter-gathering and were concentrated in forests; warrior societies, such as the Isneg and Kalingas
who practiced social ranking and ritualized warfare and roamed the plains; the petty plutocracy of the
Ifugao Cordillera Highlanders, who occupied the mountain ranges of Luzon; and the harbor principalities
of the estuarine civilizations that grew along rivers and seashores while participating in trans-island
maritime trade.)

The Negritos were a primitive people with a culture belonging to the Old Stone Age (Paleolithic). They
wandered in the forests and lived by hunting, fishing, and gathering wild fruits and roots. Their homes
were temporary sheds made of jungle leaves and branches of trees. They wore little clothing. They had
no community in life, hence they developed no government, writing, literature, arts, and sciences. They
possessed the crudest kind of religion which was a belief in fetishes. They made fire by rubbing two dry
sticks together to give them warmth. They had no pottery and never cooked their food. However, they
were among they were among the world's best archers, being skilled in the use of the bow and arrow.
Pre – Colonial Culture During the early period thousand years ago
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the early Filipinos were composed of different groups that came from different part of Asia. With
different groups they form their own community, system of education and religious belief. They group
into different communities composed of 50 to 2,000 individuals and they construct their shelters in
different areas according to their lifestyle and source of living. Usually they were situated along the
seashores, streams, rivers, forests, fertile land areas and even in caves. In water areas they look for fish,
shells and pearls as their source of living. They also used boat and craft as there means of transportation
for an easier travel and carrying their goods for trade from one place to another. For those people
located in land areas they cultivate the land and plant rice, bananas and crops. After the harvest they no
longer use the area indeed they just move to another place with less grass and fine soil and abundant of
trees where they can start farming again. Perhaps this gives an idea that the Philippines is very rich of
resources for a bountiful living.

Pre-colonial art.
The Manunggul Jar

The Manunggul Jar is an extraordinary work of art fueled by indigenous spiritual beliefs of life after
death. This second burial jar was discovered on March 1964 in Manunngul Cave in Lipuun Point, Quezon,
Palawan by Victor Decalan, Hans Kasten and several volunteer workers from the United States Peace
Corps and archaeologists from the National Museum. It has been dated to the Neolithic Period around
890-710 B.C. and depicts two human figures on a boat on the jar cover. The figure on the back is the
boatman paddling the ship with the figure in front being the dead soul as depicted by their hands folded
across their chest, a position still widely practiced in the arrangement of the dead. The jar also shows
curved lines representing waves of water, a motif of importance in indigenous beliefs and cosmology.

Reference: 2 https://www.slideshare.net/alvinaguinaldo1/pre-colonialperiod-24134000
http://pinoy-culture.com/5-remarkable-works-of-ancient-art-from-the-philippines/
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Pre – Colonial Culture

During the pre-colonial time there was already an indigenous spiritual traditions practiced by the people
in the Philippines. Generally, for lack of better terminology prehistoric people are described to be
animistic. Their practice was a collection of beliefs and cultural mores anchored in the idea that the
world is inhabited by spirits and supernatural entities, both good and bad, and that respect be accorded
to them through nature worship thus; they believed that their daily lives has a connection of such
beliefs.

These spirits are said to be the anito or diwata that they believed to be good and bad. The good spirits
were considered as there relatives and the bad were believed to be their enemies. Some worship
specific deities like Bathala a supreme god for the Tagalog, Laon or Abba for the Visayan, Ikasi of Zambal,
Gugurang for the people of Bicol and Kabunian of Ilocano and Ifugao. Aside from those supreme deities
they also worship other gods like Idialao as god of farming, Lalaon of harvest, Balangay god of rainbow
and Sidapa god of death.

Others also worship the moon, stars, caves, mountains, rivers, plants and trees. Some creatures are
being worship too like the bird, crow, tortoise, crocodile and other things they believed has value and
connected to their lives. The variation of animistic practices occurs in different ethnic groups. Magic,
chants and prayers are often key features. Its practitioners were highly respected (and some feared) in
the community, as they were healers, midwife (hilot), shamans, witches and warlocks (mangkukulam),
babaylans, tribal historians and wizened elders that provided the spiritual and traditional life of the
community. In the Visayas region there is a belief of witchcraft (kulam) and mythical creatures like
aswang, Nuno sa Punso and other mythical creature.

Pre – Colonial Clothing

During this pre-colonial era historians have found out that the “Barong Tagalog” (dress of the Tagalog)
already existed. The earliest Baro or Baro ng Tagalog was worn by the natives of Ma-I (the Philippines
name before) just before they were colonized by the Spaniards. The men wore a sleeve-doublet made of
Canga (rough cotton) that reached slightly below the waist. It is collarless with a front opening. Their
loins were covered with a pane that hung between the legs and mid- thigh. The women also wore a
sleeve dress but shorter than the men. They also wear a pane attached to the waist and reaching to the
feet accented by a colourful belt. The materials used for their dress is of fine line or Indian Muslin.

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Reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fashion_and_clothing_in_the_Philippines,
https://www.slideshare.net/alvinaguinaldo1/pre-colonialperiod-24134000
4 Pre – Colonial Writing Systems During the early period

almost everyone in the society-male or female knows how to read and write. They have their own
method of writing which they use sharp- pointed tools, leaves, bamboo and trunk’s skin. They write
from top to bottom and read it from left to right. Accordingly they have their Alibata which script is
different from China, Japan and India. This account was told by one of the first Spanish missionaries who
came in the Philippines, Fr. Pedro Chirino.

Another account proved after the discovery of a jar in Calatagan, Batangas. This system of writing came
from the alphabet of Sumatra. The first Visayan, Tagalog, Ilocano and some ethic groups have their own
dialect and form of writing too. They have an alphabet composed of 17 letters; 3 of which are vowels
and 14 are consonants. The Muslims have also their own system basing on there dialect. This is called
kirim of Maranao and jiwi of the Tausug, which they are still using until this day.
Abugida: Pre – Colonial method of Handwriting (Baybayin)

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Reference:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baybayin
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Pre – Colonial Form of Government Before the Spaniards came into the Philippines
there were existing culture of the Filipinos which were not distinguished by most of the filipinos
especially for the new born filipino citizens. The Filipinos lived in settlements called barangays before
the colonization of the Philippines by the Spaniards. As the unit of government, a barangay consisted
from 30 to 100 families. It was headed by a datu and was independent from the other group.
Pre – Colonial Form of Government Usually, several barangays settled near each other to help one
another in case of war or any emergency. The position of datu was passed on by the holder of the
position to the eldest son or, if none, the eldest daughter. However, later, any member of the barangay
could be chieftain, based on his talent and ability. He had the usual responsibilities of leading and
protecting the members of his barangay. In turn, they had to pay tribute to the datu, help him till the
land, and help him fight for the barangay in case of war. In the old days, a datu had a council of elders to
advise him, especially whenever he wanted a law to be enacted. The law was written and announced to
the whole barangay by a town crier, called the umalohokan.

Pre – Colonial Houses:

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Reference: https://www.google.com/search?biw=1366&bih=657&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=c2w-
XaHOAunVmAXJwJnIAw&q=pre+colonial+houses+in+the+philippines&oq=pre+colonial+house&gs_l=img.1.1.0l2j0i
8i30.450690.453132..454957...1.0..0.436.1627.0j1j3j1j1......0....1..gws-wiz-
img.......0i24._UzAi3r5e4E#imgrc=61HNbOxaBaTOwM:
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Social Classes
Before the coming of Spanish colonizers, the people of the Philippine archipelago had already attained a
semicommunal and semislave social system in many parts and also a feudal system in certain parts,
especially in Mindanao and Sulu, where such a feudal faith as Islam had already taken roots. The Aetas
had the lowest form of social organization, which was primitive communal.
Social Classes The barangay was the typical community in the whole archipelago. It was the basic
political and economic unit independent of similar others. Each embraced a few hundreds of people and
a small territory. Each was headed by a chieftain called the rajah or datu.
The social structure comprised a petty nobility, the ruling class which had started to accumulate land
that it owned privately or administered in the name of the clan or community; an intermediate class of
freemen called the maharlikas who had enough land for their livelihood or who rendered special service
to the rulers and who did not have to work in the fields; and the ruled classes that included the timawas,
the serfs who shared the crops with the petty nobility, and also the slaves and semislaves who worked
without having any definite share in the harvest. There were two kinds of slaves then: those who had
their own quarters, the aliping namamahay, and those who lived in their master's house, the aliping
sagigilid. One acquired the status of a serf or a slave by inheritance, failure to pay debts and tribute,
commission of crimes and captivity in wars between barangays.

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Reference: https://www.google.com/search?biw=1366&bih=657&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=q3Q-
XbyeEcqXr7wPweK_iA4&q=aliping+sagigilid&oq=aliping+sagigilid&gs_l=img.3..35i39j0l2j0i24l2.18310.18458..2002
7...0.0..0.205.409.2-2......0....1..gws-wiz-img.qqKHw_Ml83I&ved=0ahUKEwj8n-r9o9njAhXKy4sBHUHxD-
EQ4dUDCAY&uact=5#imgrc=-5Iwv5P6HgZH0M: