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  • 4000 Years of Migration and Cultural Exchange: The Archaeology of the Batanes Islands, Northern Philippines ed. by Peter Bellwood, Eusebio Dizon
  • Glenn Summerhayes
4000 Years of Migration and Cultural Exchange: The Archaeology of the Batanes Islands, Northern Philippines. Peter Bellwood and Eusebio Dizon, eds. Terra Australis Volume 40. Canberra: Australian National University E Press, 2013. 254 pp. 141 figures, 32 tables. Color frontispiece in print copy. Paper, AU$58.00, ISBN 978-1925021271. Free ebook ISBN 978-1925021288, http://press.anu.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/whole9.pdf

The monograph is an important one, filling a large gap in our knowledge of this area by providing valuable and detailed data on the archaeology of the Batanes Islands. The monograph presents data from excavations carried out between 2002 and 2007 from sites located on four islands and covering 4000 years.

The Batanes are strategically located between Taiwan and the Philippines. The data presented here can allow one to assess the nature of colonization and subsequent interactions [End Page 335] occurring between these islands and farther afield over the last 4000 years. What better place to gauge the nature of interactions of China and Taiwan with areas to the south, along with the role Austronesians played in those interactions? Yet, as the editors note at the beginning and end of this tome, this book was published as a source of data, not to “place or repeat” statements on Austronesian origins.

Notwithstanding, the Batanes form a bridge of intervisible islands (on clear days) linking the Philippines and Taiwan. And we know that contact was made between these two landmasses in the past, despite detractors arguing that the strong Kuroshino current would have precluded sailing from north to south. This monograph demonstrates that purposeful interaction did occur, along with interactions resulting from drift voyages from Japan.

Divided into thirteen chapters and an appendix, this volume provides a wealth of data. Having such a detailed presentation of data and the use of leading experts to cover specialist topics is a strong point. Szabo, Yang, Vitales, and Koppel worked on shell middens (chapter 12); Cameron on spinning tools (chapter 7); Stevenson on palaeo-botanical remains (appendix 1); Hung and Iizuka on greenstone (chapter 9); Piper, Amano Jr, Yang, and O’Connor on zoological remains (chapter 9); and Campos on fish (chapter 11). Bellwood, Dizon, and de Leon worked on pottery (chapter 6) and Bellwood and Dizon (the editors) again on portable artifacts (chapter 8).

Another strength of this volume is the wonderful presentation of previous archaeological work, excavations under review now, and the radiocarbon chronology that goes with them. A thorough presentation of more than a dozen sites is covered in chapters 2 through 4 (by Bellwood, Dizon, and Mijares), with radiocarbon chronology making up the fourth substantive chapter (that is, chapter 5).

Chapter 5 establishes chronological phases for each island before setting up an island-wide Batanes sequence primarily defined by pottery and chronology. The first phase, Batanes Islands Phase 1, encapsulates 2500 to 1000 b.c., and covers red-slipped pottery from the sites of Torongan and Reranum, both on Itbayat Island; Reranum also has fine cord-marked pottery. Phase 2, from 1300 b.c. to a.d. 1, covers circle-stamped and red-slipped pottery. Two subphases were defined based on the patterns formed by stamped circles, the older having rectangular meander designs, the younger having lozenge designs. Nephrite is found in both subphases, with circular ear ornaments associated with the earlier subphase (at the Anaro 3 site on Itbayat), and a nephrite workshop found for the latter subphase (at the Savidug Dune site on Sabtang). The third phase, 500 b.c./a.d. 1 to a.d. 1200, is found at numerous sites and is made up of red-slipped pottery with no decoration. Phase 4 is similar to Phase 3, but includes imported glazed ceramics from Asia.

With so much riding on ceramic data, it is important to look at the pottery chapter. Chapter 6 details the Batanes pottery sequence, at least for most of the sites, going into detail on decoration, and pottery subdivisions based on circle-impressed decoration (briefly mentioned in chapter 5). Although the...

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