Revisiting Pre- Colonial Ivatan Culture

Armand Salvador B. Mijares

In 1995, Eusebio Dizon initiated the Batanes Archaeological Project to document the pre-colonial archaeological sites in northernmost Islands of the Philippines. In the span of 5 field season (1995, 1996, 1998, 2001 and 2002), the team was able to identify a number of different archaeological sites across the Islands of Batan, Sabtang, Ivuhos and Itbayat. These sites included boat shape burials, Jar burials, settlement sites called kavajayan and safe-haven fortresses known as Ijiangs. This paper will discuss these different site-types and their implications in the reconstruction Pre-Colonial Ivatan culture and social complexity.