History Untold

Excavation of the Bolinao Skull

The Bolinao skull was discovered in a burial site from the 13th to the 15th century in Balingasay, Bolinao, Pangasinan, and is a cultural treasure of the National Museum. To gather demographic data, statistics on the number of persons buried there, and information on the age range of the skeletal remains at the time of death, it has been a key goal to pinpoint the burial ground's exact boundaries. However, there were some problems that the archaeologists encountered along the way:

a) Sociological: The area for excavation was limited as neighboring lot owners prohibited excavation. It took some time and a lot of explanations to make the locals agree with the excavation of their properties.

b) Geological: The area is prone to constant flooding and constant erosion because it is near the Balingasay river.

The excavations happened in two phases: the first was in 1944, while the succeeding phase followed in 1946. When the archaeological excavations started in Bolinao, excavated materials were reported to Dr. Henry Otley Beyer, a renowned American anthropologist who also taught at the University of the Philippines Diliman. Bolinao's general vicinity contains a variety of sites, including “Pleistocene fossil and tektite sites” with trade potteries. Except for accounts of stray or accidental finds, no formal or controlled excavation was conducted at the site and the adjacent areas prior to the start of World War II.

The dental ornamentation used in Bolinao was different from the other teeth modification methods that are practiced in several regions in the Philippines. The Bolinao skull is comprised of peggings with a gold fish scale design or pattern and is fastened with gold wire rivets. Although this shape has been the most common motif, the teeth excavated from one grave have shown a distinct pattern with six upper teeth pinned with gold plates, a scale design with riveted gold wire, and a thin gold strip placed over them.

The Practice of Dental Ornamentation

The art of dental ornamentation is deemed to be one of the earliest types of aesthetic dentistry. The exquisite and intricate technique of gold tooth decoration is one of the most unexpected discoveries during the excavations in Balingasay. There is a ton of historical, anthropological, and archaeological data supporting this practice in the Philippines. Its practice has been attributed to factors like creating a sense of uniqueness from white-toothed animals, peer pressure, and beautification. Predominantly, holes were cut into the front teeth and fastened with gold wires, as was the case in Calatagan, Batangas, and Sta. Ana, Manila

Even before the arrival of the Spaniards, it was claimed that metallurgy existed had already existed in the Philippines and that gold was used to create dental inlays according to the book "In the Vocabulario de Lengua Tagala," by Fray San Buenaventura.

More digging

Most pegged teeth from Museum digs date from the "Age of Contact and Trade with the East," or after roughly 1200 CE, and the practice of gold pegging was more prevalent in the central and southern part of the Philippines. Moreber, there have been comparable discoveries of filed, chipped, discolored, and gold-decorated teeth in Sta. Ana, Manila, Bulan, Sorsogon, Pila, Laguna, Marinduque, Samar, and Butuan based on the other excavations coonducted by the National Museum.