Mga Tul-an sa Tagubtaguban: Preliminary Results of Mortuary Patterns of Human Skeletal Remains at Tagubtaguban, Borongan, Eastern Samar

Krisandra A. Mariano1,2, Jewel Christopher Politico1,3, Sarah Agatha T. Villaluz1, Juan Rofes1,5, Emil Robles1, Mark Lucio Cortado4, and Kimberly A. Plomp1

Eastern Samar is an underrepresented region in Philippine Archaeology. While several excavations and surveys were conducted in Samar Island during the 1960s and 1970s, local and academic interest has resurged in the area since 2018, with regular archaeological engagements since 2023. This paper aims to add to this discourse by presenting the site report of a mortuary site that may add to the archaeological literature of the region. Tagubtaguban is a rockshelter burial site relatively dated to the Metal Age located in Barangay Sabang, Borongan City, Eastern Samar. The site was recorded in survey reports in 2022 and was reportedly anthropogenically disturbed. In line with local attitudes to the dead and in light of the site's disturbed deposition, in-situ inventory and analysis were conducted on the human remains to regionally contextualize the site. Some specimens that required further laboratory analysis were recovered with permission from the local community. Initial results and taphonomic patterns suggest possible primary jar burials, with large earthenware sherds associated with the remains. Further, several specimens in the assemblage indicated possible anthropogenic modifications that may have larger implications for the region's mortuary practices. This case study includes Samar in the discourse of Indo-Pacific mortuary archaeology.