IAP 2015 Blog Post
Megan Moran
Wednesday July 1, 2015

            Could anything feel better in between toes than soft soil and squishy mud? Perhaps only  the cool river water revealing there are indeed still feet at the ends of one’s legs at the end of a day out in the field. Or, maybe the feeling of a freshly sharpened trowel in one’s gardening-gloved hand, as one meditates upon precisely leveling one’s unit. I’ve picked up a peculiar sense of pride in the dirt scrapes off my trowel, clothes, hands, face, and feet after everyday of fieldwork with the Ifugao Archaeological Project excavating Old Kiyyangan Village.

            A typical day here seems much longer and incredibly more rewarding than a lazy day relaxing at home. After breakfast. we load into and on top of the Jeepney with all of our gear and head out. The views of the landscape and people going about their morning routines on the ride to the field are always inspiring and refreshing. I’m impressed by how many creative poses archaeologists wiggle into to find the optimal pose to reach into a unit. Screening for artifacts I find myself reminiscing about searching vaguely through a bucket of LEGO bricks as a child to find the right pieces. While I excavate, screen, map, or take notes, I have been wondering what this community looked like leading up to its present state; what do this large rock pile and all these pottery and faunal remains around it have to tell us about life in Old Kiyyangan? The hikes back to the Jeepney at the end of a field day are just as perilous and as zen as the morning’s. At home, everyone processes the day and the data in many ways, often working late into the night.

            In these first two weeks since arriving in Manila and joining this year’s crew for our orientation and The Symposium in the National Museum last Tuesday, I have come to know and admire each and every one of my crewmates and “The Hierarchy” (an absolutely necessary evil). We all live and work together in a new community and environment all of us have asked to journey and in which we were granted permission to operate. Always navigating new ethics and dictates of consciousness, we all find ourselves facing the same challenges. How does one go about rural towns in Northern Philippines as one of a group of young privileged Americans and foreign visitors widely suspicioned to be gold-diggers? Through many self-reflexive negotiations with well-intentioned action and a directed project, we continue to learn about this each day.

            When turning into bed at night, thoroughly tired by the day’s efforts, I might find myself trying not to worry about the dirt lining my toenails and hoping that I remember to bring everything I need to the field the next morning. I look forward to many more productive and fortifying days! 

6/24/2015

Alexis Francois

Welcome to the first field day of the 2015 Season for the IAP! We loaded the entire crew and equipment into a jeepney and headed down toward the Old Kiangan village. The thirty-minute hike to the actual site should definitely be considered fieldwork. Trekking through muddy narrow paths, walking along loose rock walls, crossing rivers via stones and walking the cliché old rickety bridge were all-apart of the journey. Throughout all of this we all found ourselves stopping either to decide which rock to hop to next or to simply take in the beautiful scenery. We saw several women working the dried fields, endless stretches of greenery, flowing rivers (which we carefully crossed,) and even a white water buffalo. Upon reaching the site we discovered that today’s original plans of survey had to be delayed due to the rice fields being flooded and the dried areas not being dry enough. This was a great lesson that all archaeologists should experience; things rarely go as planned. However, our trek was not in vain, our field day turned into a very much needed practice day with the mapping equipment. We were divided in to groups and were able to work with four different mapping techniques and technologies.  My first station was the pocket transit, which is a more accurate way to determine distance and direction of points or structures wishing to be mapped, relative to the tape-and-compass method. We took turns to collectively map a structure on the property in which we were working on. In the next area we were able to work with the Total Station, this is an even more technologically advanced method to determine spatial distance and direction. One person is sent out in to the field with a meter stick with an attached prism, the person utilizing the Total Station pod aims the cross hairs at the prism. The device can then determine how far away the marked prism is and the cardinal directions in which it is located. The third station we were taught how GPS systems work and how to properly utilize them in the field. All of us took turns plotting points in an open area, which will then be downloaded on to a computer so we can apply a visual to the plots we made in the field. The fourth station we were shown (but of course not allowed to touch) how the drone works. In this field season a drone will be utilized to properly acquire aerial maps of the entire site in order to better understand spatial proximity of structures and determine the total span of the entire settlement. Before heading back to the jeepney we were surprised with an in-field treat of fresh coconut water and coconut meat procured by the always-helpful SitMo boys. We returned to the field house in the early afternoon and this is when I realized days in the Philippines last a lot longer than the ones back home, so it seems. After lunch, those researching ceramics or faunal remains were allowed to have a lab session, while those like myself, doing human remains and spatial distribution were allowed to go in to town for much needed snacks and supplies. The rest of the day I dedicated to mentally preparing for an actual full field day tomorrow seeing as today was only a half-day and we were all personally victimized by the equatorial sun.  

Third day in Kiangan

By: Cambria Craig

Today we focused on developing our research questions for the papers we will be writing while in the field and laid out mock units in order to acclimate ourselves to the way of the perfect square. I am so thrilled that I can be a part of a research project of this scope that is so holistic in nature and inclusive in demographic. Not a moment passes where I do not feel incredibly grateful to be here. I am enjoying interactions with all the people I am meeting and surrounded by and each new experience is more than noteworthy and memorable.

As we were discussing the research projects that we want to undertake while in the field, I was pleased by the diversity and intensity of questions that my peers have. People are interested in topics that include but are not limited to: archaeological methodologies, disease, burial contexts, mapping, paleoethnobotany, and faunal analysis. This just goes to show how many different topics will be covered by the research. I am anticipating the results that we will find and how they will contribute to the project.

During this discussion, it really resonated with me how diverse our group really is. Not only does everyone have different interests in regards to research but we all come from vastly diverse backgrounds. Within our group are people from all over the globe, different universities, different ages and stages of life, and different exposures to archaeological experience. The fact that we are all here together, collaborating on a project, is incredible to me.

Diversity in any situation, but especially in a research project and field school, is beneficial. By bringing different experiences and backgrounds to the table it is ensured that many different points of view will be considered and brought to view. I noticed this in action as we were setting up our mock units. Some of the people in my group have had lots of experience setting up units and some have had none. It was beneficial to have these different experiences because if someone was having trouble, someone else could jump in and give an un-authoritative voice of guidance and a different point of view. Learning in this collaborative manner from other students is certainly not the only way to go about things but it is definitely beneficial and positive. I was ridiculously rusty with the methods myself and this collaborative experience was good for me. Only with such a diverse group is this type of collaborative learning possible. It was so fun to witness students collaborating with each other to master the basic building block of an archaeological excavation: the unit set-up.  

As I pull some unknown bug out of my hair for the 20th time, I am also reminded of the diversity that exists on the island. My research project will focus on the human modifications on faunal remains at Old Kiyyangan Village, our site for the summer, a settlement inhabited by the Ikiangan people that was abandoned as people moved to the present day Kiangan. Coming from a familiarity of California fauna and their typical associated modifications, I am anticipating discovering the ways in which our site resembles and differs from other sites that I have experienced while doing work in California.

I am so excited to continue learning, experiencing, and interacting with our group. I am so thankful for this opportunity to be here and this experience is truly something that I will always value and recall upon in my future endeavors. I can not wait for what more is to come. 

Monday, 22 June 2015

Entry Writer: Edward Cleofe

Kiangan, Ifugao Province, Philippines

"Welcome to Kiangan!" we heard walking from our bunk house toward Kiangan village proper yesterday. The speaker, an elder woman in a flowing red cloth wrap, smiled a toothless grin at us as we meandered by her home. Twelve of us in all, the group kept together in a loose single file along the side of the ride to avoid getting hit by speeding motorcycles, tricycles, and jeepneys.

To the uninitiated, tricycles (motorcycles with sidecars welded on with reinforced rebar) and jeepneys (converted and highly decorated former military jeeps) are the most common forms of transportation in the provincial areas of the Philippines.

We made our way down a winding sometimes-cobbled-sometimes-paved-sometimes-dirt road, eventually reaching a group of tricycles. Four at a time, we boarded and asked, "Bayan, Kuya!" (roughly, 'To town, sir!"). The art of being a tricycle passenger is a balancing act of squishing in as many people and things as possible, holding on for dear life, and enjoying the ride.

As the person most familiar/comfortable with Philippine transportation safety standards in my group of four, I (was) volunteered to ride on the back of the sidecar, attached by only a hand, some grit, and even more luck. During visits to my parents' home provinces as a kid, I was expressly forbidden from riding on the back of tricycles. My face was split by an enormous grin, the kind that can only emerges when a child is knowingly doing something naughty.

Once in town, the dozen of us wandered around, checking out various convenience stores, souvenir shops, and restaurants. Locals' reactions were mixed and often hilarious. Young children shyly grinned at us from behind their mothers' legs, shopkeepers polished their wares and beckoned us in as we walked by, and one group of young men catcalled the women in our group. "Hello, Brightness!" directed at a white, blonde, and female member of the crew, was particularly notable (and led to the birth of our group's first field name).

Until I open my mouth and stumble and fumble my way through basic Tagalog phrases, I blend in pretty well in Ifugao. Our crew--a mix of Philippine, white, Black, and multiracial folks--earned its fair share of stares. Walking a few paces behind the others, I was able to watch locals watch us.

The Ifugao Archaeological Project is, at its core, an endeavor in public archaeology. For a few moments at a time, I could see us--simply as a function of being around--making a splash. We did our best to be respectful, not take up too much space, use appropriate honorifics, and tip generously.

As the day went on, the majority of the group went home. Four of us--two Filipinos, a Black woman, and a white woman--stayed behind. In our smaller group, we attracted much less attention. By the time we hopped on the tricycle home, we weren't getting second looks.

Maybe, I thought, we had already outlived our splash. Today, as we walked back down toward town, we were greeted by a familiar, toothless grin: "Again, the white people are here!" We all laughed.

 Date: 6/21/2015

Entry Writer: John McClung

Entry #1: Bus ride from Manila to Kiangan

The density of traffic in metro Manila requires bus travel to occur in the evening. I boarded the multi-passenger coach stepping out of the humid pressure cooker temperature of Manila and into an artificially maintained atmosphere that must have been in the low 70's or 60's degrees Fahrenheit. The sore throat that awoke to that morning had by this point blossomed into a full blown fever. Perhaps  exacerbated by the aches of the fever settling over me, the dimensions of the seating and paneling felt as if every component was designed to stab, poke and prod with efficiency.

The interior of the bus was lined with fringed curtains suspended by curtain railings that denied any attempts to position one's head against the windows for rest. Thankfully I was in possession of enough Benadryl to allow me to sleep through the worst part of my fever during the twelve hour bus ride to Kiangan. Maybe the illness was a blessing because I had the added fortune of an empty seat to stretch across.

With the Benadryl activating in my blood stream, I feel into sleep surrounded by the endless sea of Barangays, road construction projects, and gratuitous advertizing that is Manila. I awoke sometime after five AM by the morning glow of sun rise breaking the darkness of the bus cabin. Drops of rain skidded downwards and sideways across the outside of my window. The bus winded up mountain roads and from my height I could see the sheet metal shingling of roofs peppered with rust and beyond them were the smoky cloud choked mountain valleys rich in the lush green that has filled my imagination of my homeland my entire life. As a first generation Filipino American I have longed to behold this landscape with my own eyes.

Our bus took us as far as it could. As we unloaded our bags and equipment from the bus and onto a jeepney, about five or six town folk came out from where ever they were to stand and watch us. Chickens and dogs roamed about freely and the ground was dotted with puddles. My classmates and I walked up the difference of the mountain road between where our bus had left us and the compound where we would be staying. The road was shouldered by think patched of vegetation that one could only see into a depth of perhaps two meters.

Once we arrived at what would be our home for the next several weeks we unpacked our bags from the jeepney and began to file into our gendered dorm rooms to stake out the beds we each wanted. I made my first blunder by flushing my tissue paper down the toilet after I relieved myself. I hope that I'm the only one within our crew to make that mistake.

Still feeling sick and light-headed, I rested in my mosquito net encased bunk until our 10 AM lecture. Lecture consisted of house rules and how the field school would be organized. Professor then gave a 45 minute lecture briefly outlying the basics of cultural archaeology just to start us all out on the same page. I asked about the possibilities of using applied visual anthropology on this research project for my independent portion of our research. I learned very quickly that because of policies of informed consent put in place to protect indigenous peoples and myself that it would probably not be possible to carry out the research regime that I wanted to do which would have been to photo document how terraces in Ifugao are worked, maintained, repaired and the customs institutionalized at the community level around terrace farming practices. I shall see how I will design a research plan from this starting point into a pragmatic plan that can be carried out over the next few weeks.

Saturday, 6/20/2015

Manila, Philippines

Jenny Xia

On my third day in Manila, I consulted the internet for blog entries about Western perspectives of visiting the Philippines. Nothing came up in my very brief search. So, here is the first impression of Manila and the Philippines by an American college student about to serve as crew for an archaeological field school.

I landed in Manila on Wednesday. On Friday, I wanted to sleep by  5:30 pm, thanks to the 15-hour time change. That day, the crew had hit up SM North, the local mega-mall. We went for last-minute field school supplies, namely sunscreen, bug spray, bandanas, and snacks. For lunch, we went to the food court. The Filipino food there included white rice, broth soups, and various chunks of beef and pork marinating in sauces. Pork seems to be a staple food in Filipino cuisine. One of the well-known dishes it is in is called lumpia. Lumpia is a small wrapper rolled around a chunk of pork and fried, consumed with a sweet sauce. Afterward, the crew went back to shopping. The supermarket cashiers were all young women in identical dress uniforms, full faces of makeup, and brightly-colored lipstick. Compared to the San Francisco Bay Area (where I had recently flown in from,) lipstick is a fashionable trend among women young and old. Some supermarket workers wore sashes saying "customer service," which is a great strategy to avoid faux pas. The mall is the place to be, with fast-moving families and young people flowing like water in all directions. As someone used to USD currency, every price tag seems steep until I remember that I am in fact looking at a reasonable price, not 1000 USD, for a mass-produced, fast-fashion shirt.

The crew rode back to our present lodging in a jeepney, an SUV-sized vehicle with long benches and door-less access to the outside. Including the driver, we managed to cram the 22 of us into this vehicle. The streets of Manila are quite something. On some streets, the lane markers seem to be guidelines - one three-lane street we drove down somehow fit five rows of cars less than a foot apart each. Pedestrians maneuvered across the widest streets during standstill traffic, and motorcycles sometimes lane-split perpendicular to this traffic. Some intersections do not seem to have traffic signs, resulting in vehicles pushing forward into the intersection, squeezing past each other. It's currently June, during the rainy season.  Sometime during the afternoon, the sky suddenly lets loose and drops the largest raindrops I have ever encountered onto the earth. Manila must have areas with inadequate street drains, because the streets flood a good half-foot. Other than the strong diesel smell of the jeepney end terminal, I am enjoying the road experiences.

So concludes my brief first impression, among the many, many other interesting novelties in cultural difference between the Philippines and the United States. As I sit here slowly pushing my eardrums to the limit with the hotel dining room pop music, amped-up volume of the birthday party host over on the hotel patio, and my animatedly socializing crewmates at the table behind me, I look forward to the next few weeks of other-worldly experiences in the Philippines. 

Date: 18/06/2015

Entry Writer: Alasdair Chi

Entry: #1, Symposium at the National Museum of the Philippines

Today was the first day proper of the programme, where we had to get up and finish breakfast by 7 to make it in time for a symposium concerning the Ifugao Rice Terraces held at the National Museum of the Philippines, Manila.

After a long and mostly plodding minivan journey we finally made it to the National Museum, whereupon the symposium began with an explanation of the broader context of rice terraces across the world by Dr. Glenn Stone of Washington University; both rice and terrace farming were proposed as exceptions to Boserup's sliding scale of agricultural intensification at the expense of efficiency (i.e. labour per calorie) being the product of population pressure. Rice was experimentally determined to be efficient despite intensification and terraces were deemed to have such a permanent effect on the landscape that "reversions" to less intense farming would lead to catastrophic terrace failure; hence, rice terraces transformed the sliding scale into an irreversible trajectory.

Subsequent lectures by Marites Tauro of the National Museum and Dr. Leah Abayo elaborated on the context of anthropological and historical sources concerning the wider Ifugao region, such as the collection of highland material culture and documentation of Hudhud ceremonies prior to planting of crops, along with ethnography concerning containers to elucidate patterns of pottery exchange. Historical sources were placed in their historical context of selective focus based first on colonial interest and increasingly elaborate understandings of the intricacies of the various groups in the "collective" Ifugaos and their habitation and granary practices, also noting the resilience of Ifugao traditions.

Dr. P Bion Griffin of the University of Hawaii-Manoa further discussed the evolving understandings of the Cordillera peoples and their terraces, where the highland peoples were initially dismissed by Spanish colonialists as infidel savages either to be converted or killed, to the study by Jesuit priests and the exotification of the Ifugao people by the seminal American anthropologist Dean C. Worcester, who perceived them as a superior "noble savage" people to the lowlanders. The effects of ethno-linguistic classification in creating divisions was also mentioned, and newer attitudes and theories incorporating archaeological and indigenous views.

Among these views were traditional cultural perceptions of rice, its cropping and harvesting and its consumption among Filipinos, discussed by Prof. Jesus Federico Hernandez III of the University of the Philippines (Diliman). While rice is a staple for most Asian nations, Filipinos imbue certain spiritual and cultural beliefs into it, including religious taboos concerning wastage (along with the "Christianization" of such beliefs through San Isidiro Labrador) and its role as a symbol of the labour of the working classes in protest songs.

A lunch break sadly devoid of rice followed. The Heirloom Rice project, led by Dr. Casiana Veracruz and Dr. Ruben Miranda from the International Rice Research Institute in the Philippines, developed on themes of traditional (as opposed to lowland-imported) strains of rice and drives to encourage their continued cultivation, including scientific characterization and DNA analysis of these strains, geo-tagging and mapping their provenance and economic empowerment of farmers by putting them in direct contact with markets and awareness campaigns around the nation.

Prof. Stephen Acabado of UCLA and Dr. John Peterson from the University of Guam produced the archaeological evidence concerning the longevity of the terraces and the new short chronologies favoured by these strains of evidence. Research aims of these investigations include a new methodological system to date terraces, which have proved notoriously difficult in this respect; studying the effects of European colonialism and climate change on internal migration and terrace development; measurable subsistence shifts and the ethnography of Ifugao archaeological practices. The new short chronology favoured by stratigraphic sequences suggests that while terraces may be as old as claimed, it was probably taro which was first planted on them, with rice being a fairly modern introduction due to the absence of rice cultivars and associated weeds up until the 14th century. Climate shifts such as volcanism and its effects on aridity and the Intertropical Tidal Zone were used to theorize on internal migration. These were not met without challenge from the ethno-linguistic record.

Representatives of the local Ifugao community, Ms. Esther Licnachan from the National Commission of Indigenous Peoples and an Ifugao native, and Mr. Marlon Martin from the Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement, weighed in on these various issues, mentioning that the new dates did not severely affect the cultural and spiritual significance of the terraces, but the importance of their "heirloom" rice cultivars (purportedly gifts from the gods themselves) seemed to be overlooked in the overall picture, with high-yield imports from the lowlands regarded as "soulless" and undeserving of Hudhud. The shorter harvest cycle also had certain impacts on gender and social dynamics, and a call for greater respect and incorporation of indigenous views was made, with a suggestion for the next symposium to be held in Kiangan, to mark the 50th anniversary of the creation of Ifugao as a distinct province.

After closing remarks, we were returned to the hotel through trudging Manila traffic and had a hearty dinner. Thankfully the orientation tomorrow is only scheduled at 9am, giving us plenty of time to rest and recuperate. I look forward to being properly introduced to the team and the aims of this season's research tomorrow!