Tabon Man

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Tabon Man refers to remains discovered in the

The Tabon Cave complex is named after the "Tabon bird" (Tabon scrubfowl, Megapodius cumingii), which deposited thick hard layers of guano during periods when the cave was uninhabited, so that succeeding groups of tool-makers settled on a cement-like floor of bird dung. About half of the 3,000 recovered specimens examined were discarded cores of a material that had to have been transported from some distance. This indicates that the inhabitants were engaged in tool manufacture. The Tabon fossils are considered to have come from a third group of inhabitants, who worked the cave between 22,000 and 20,000 BCE. An earlier cave level lies so far below the level containing cooking fire assemblages that it must represent Upper Pleistocene dates such as 45,000 or 50,000 years ago.^[4] Anthropologist Robert Fox, who directed the excavations, deduced that the Tabon Cave complex was a habitation of humans for a period of 40,000 years, from 50,000 to 9,000 years ago.^{[citation needed]}

Physical anthropologists who have examined the skullcap are agreed that she belonged to modern humans, Homo sapiens, as distinguished from the mid-Pleistocene Homo erectus species. This indicates that Tabon humans were pre-Mongoloid (Mongoloid being the term anthropologists apply to the populations who entered Southeast Asia during the Holocene and absorbed earlier peoples to produce the modern Malay, Indonesian, Filipino, and "Pacific" peoples). Two experts have given the opinion that the mandible is "Australian" in physical type and that the skullcap measurements are the closest to Ainu people or Tasmanians. Nothing can be concluded about the physical appearance of the individual from the recovered skull fragments except that she was not a Negrito.^[6]

Location

The Tabon Cave Complex is a series of caves situated in a limestone promontory at Lipuun Point in Southwestern Palawan.^[7] It spans 138 hectares and it used to be an island, but now, a mangrove forest connects it to mainland Palawan. There are roughly 218 caves, 38 of which are rich with archaeological and anthropological finds. Lipton Point is made up of 25 million-year-old limestone and is composed of rocky large domes, deep cliffs, and steep hills. In this area, cave occupation of a sporadic or temporary nature by modern humans seems to be indicated in the early Holocene. In the earlier Holocene, several sites show more intensive or frequent occupation; local people appear to have been strongly focused on land-based, riverine, and estuarine resources; and in many cases, the sea is known to have been many kilometers away from the cave sites. In 1972, Presidential Proclamation No. 996 protected the Tabon Caves Complex and Lipuun point from deforestation and destruction. It was declared as a Site Museum Reservation under the administration of the National Museum and is preserved for the present and future generations.^[8]

Paleoenvironment

Although the Tabon Cave complex is just a few minutes walk from the sea, the lack of marine shells from early cultural deposits in this cave supports the concept that there was a substantial land shelf around the time of the

Stone tools, fossils, and earthenware have been found in different caves from the Tabon Caves Complex. In the Liyang Cave, large jars filled with human remains were discovered. That cave was believed to be a burial site of early humans. In the Tabon Cave, chert flakes and chopping tools, evidence of early humans being food gatherers and hunters, were found. Chert was readily available from the riverbanks near the caves. Early humans lived and knapped flake tools inside the Tabon Cave.

See also

• Homo luzonensis
• Timeline of Philippine history

Notes