Porac through Time: Excavating Culture, Economy, and Burial Traditions in Pampanga, Philippines

Rhayan Gatbonton Melendres

The Province of Pampanga encompasses a historically significant landscape long inhabited by Kapampangans, the Aytas of Mount Pinatubo, and the Zambals. Among Pampanga’s distinguished sons was Dr. Eusebio “Bong” Z. Dizon, a leading figure in Philippine archaeology. In recognition of his substantial contributions to archaeological research and scientific scholarship - particularly through his work with the National Museum of the Philippines - he received the Most Outstanding Kapampangan Award in 2005 in the field of Science and Technology. Within Pampanga, the Municipality of Porac emerges as an area of considerable archaeological importance where Dr. Dizon excavated before. This paper examines the historical trajectory, current condition, and future directions of archaeological research in Porac, emphasizing its value for reconstructing the region’s precolonial past. It reviews the earliest investigations conducted in the 1930s by Otley H. Beyer and associates, followed by Robert Fox’s National Museum work in 1959–1960, the excavations undertaken from 1999 to 2002 under the leadership of Dr. Dizon, and the 2002 excavation at Babo Balukbuk directed by Dr. Victor Paz and Dr. Armand Salvador Mijares of the University of the Philippines. The findings of all these archaeological endeavors will illuminate Porac’s material culture, chronology, political economy, mortuary behavior, and subsistence strategies prior to Spanish colonization while also assessing the impact of Mount Pinatubo’s eruptions on the archaeological record. I dedicate this paper to Doc Bong Dizon.