ABOUT THE WORK

Butuan in Agusan del Norte holds a preeminent distinction in Philippine pre-colonial history and archaeology. At the time of the Spanish contact, Butuan was not only a bustling trade entrepot but home to an advanced civilization with a sophisticated goldsmithing industry that is among the earliest in the Philippines. UNESCO notes that “over a hundred clay crucibles and tools for the processing of gold items were discovered in the area, leading to the conclusion that an extensive gold ornaments industry was located in these areas as far back as a thousand years ago.” Antonio Pigafetta writes in his account of the first circumnavigation of the world: “In the island of that king who came to the ship are mines of gold, which is found by digging from the earth large pieces as large as walnuts and eggs...His island is called Butuan.” The eminent historian William Henry Scott writes in his seminal work, Barangay: “Butuan stands at the mouth of the great Agusan River: behind it lies a well-watered valley, abundant wild game and forest products, and rich deposits of gold. Its reputation was still popular enough to attract the Spaniards on their arrival in 1565.” Scott adds: “The Spaniards reported three Mindanao chiefdoms strong enough to dominate their neighbors in the middle of the sixteenth century—Maguindanao, Butuan, and Bisaya. Butuan was considered the wealthiest because of its gold.” It is not unsurprising that the sophisticated goldsmithing techniques in ancient Butuan even translated to the pre-Hispanic natives' burial practices. Scott notes that in Caraga, where Butuan is located, “the dead were buried in coffins placed in caves with thin plates of gold over their mouth and eyes.” Fray Luis de Jesús writes in his 1681 continuation of Fray Andres de San Nicolás' Historia general de los religiosos descalzos del orden de los Ermitaños (1664), which are the earliest accounts of life in northeastern Mindanao, that the people of Butuan were “similar to the Caragans in their customs and rituals.” According to art historian Florina Capistrano-Baker, the most ornate orifice covers are excavated in Butuan, “with fringed or notched perforations and curled appendages.” Rituals and traditions of the ancient Butuanons regarding the burial of the dead are also intertwined with their belief in the supernatural. The face and orifices of the deceased were covered in gold to prevent evil spirits from entering and possessing the body. (A.M.)