and Musang Caves. Arku Cave, a burial site with six different types of secondary burials, has an earliest date of 3300 b.p. Musang was both a habitation and a burial site, but the dating from this site is problematic.

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Excavation plan of Bhutuan boat 5

In 1978 Richard Shutler conducted limited excavations at Andarayan, Solana, Cagayan Province, where he discovered direct evidence for early rice cultivation in the Philippines. Used as tempering material for the pottery, the rice husks and stem portions were dated through the use of accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS), resulting in a date of 3240±160 years b.p. The context of the discovery suggests that it is a product of dry cultivation. Studies by rice expert T.T. Chang of the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines indicate that the samples are intermediate between cultivated rice (O. sativa) and its immediate wild relatives (O. rufipogon Griff. or O. nivara Sharma and Shastry).

Cagayan Valley is also known to have extensive shell-midden archaeological sites, extending from the mouth of the Cagayan River to a distance of 45 kilometers upriver. The shell-midden sites are found in varied locations, such as along the Cagayan River bank, in limestone hills, in inland areas, and in coastal sand dunes. Led by Japanese archaeologists Y. Aoyagi, H. Ogawa, and K. Tanaka, the Cagayan Shell Midden Proiect was undertaken jointly with archaeologists from the National Museum.

In late 1976 one of the most important finds in Philippine archaeology was made in Butuan City, Agusan del Norte, in northeastern Mindanao. As a result of illegal pothunting activities, prehistoric wooden boats were found and subsequently recovered and conserved. To date, a total of eight such boats are known to exist.

The first two Butuan boats recovered date to a.d. 320 and a.d. 1250, respectively; the third dates to a.d. 990. All the boats recovered thus far average 15 meters in length and 3 meters across the beam. The excavated boats exhibit the characteristic edged-pegged method of construction, which is typical of Southeast Asian boat-making technology. The planks are of one continuous piece, carved to shape and made of hardwood. The planks are pegged to the keel every 12 centimeters by hardwood pins or dowels (see drawing above).

The location of the two wooden boats appears to have been a former shoreline. Initially, two boats were excavated, and a third was retrieved in 1986. The most distinctive feature of the wooden planks is a succession of flat and rectangular protrusions or lugs that were carved from the same wooden plank on the upper side, that is, on the inside of the boats. Placed exactly opposite one another on each plank, these lugs are 78 centimeters apart and have holes along their edges through which cords or lashings can be passed. The use of these lugs was confirmed