Philippine Archaeology as Heritage: A Decade of the Catanauan Archaeology and Heritage Project

Andrea Dominique Cosalan1*, Anna Pineda2, Rhowell Flores3, Trishia Gayle Palconit4, Kert Tandog5, Joolia Angelica Demigillo6, and Marc Oxenham7

1School of Archaeology, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines; 2School of Culture, History and Language, Australian National University, Australia; 3Archaeology and Heritage Co., Philippines; 4Sezione di Scienze Preistoriche e Antropologiche, Dipartimento di Studi Umanistici, Università degli Studi di Ferrara, Italy; 5Department of Anthropology College of Social Sciences and Philosophy, University of the Philippines Diliman, Philippines; 6Department of Anthropology, Ateneo de Davao University, Philippines; 7Department of Archaeology, School of Geosciences, Aberdeen University, Scotland; *amcosalan@up.edu.ph

The Catanauan Archaeology and Heritage Project (CAHP) in Quezon Province, Philippines, was a joint annual archaeological field school and research mission between the University of the Philippines (UP Diliman) and Australian National University (ANU), from 2008 to 2020, under the co-directorship of Dr. Victor Paz and Dr. Marc Oxenham. From the get-go, Dr. Paz advocated that while Research on the past should go hand-in-hand with Heritage, Heritage should be a principal component of the project. In his final years, he would later proclaim that Archaeology is in fact Heritage. We explore this framework

based on community initiatives of exhibits, interactive experiences, shoot-off ethnographic and documentary projects, as well as perspectives gained over a decade of CAHP. We also provide insights on the local community’s perceptions of the project.