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The Archaeology of Central Philippines, A Study Chiefly of the Iron Age and Its Relationships, rev. ed. Wilhelm G. Solheim II. Diliman, Quezon City: University of the Philippines, 2002. 259 pp., 42 tables, 50 plates.
This book is a revised version of the book originally published in 1964, but written in 1959. The author has written the new edition because the first edition has been out of print for many years, and because he wants to bring up to date concepts of the pottery traditions proposed in the first edition. He emphasizes that this is not a new book presenting or summarizing the archaeology of the central Philippines.
The first edition had six chapters. The revised edition has eight chapters plus a postscript. The first four chapters are the same as the first edition. Chapter 5 presents new data from 1959 to 1983. Chapter 6, "Relationships Through Space and Time," is patterned after Chapter 5, "Internal and External Relationships," in the first edition, but is different. Chapter 7, "The Philippine Iron Age," is like Chapter 6, "The Philippine Iron Age," in the first edition, but is updated. Chapter 8, "Cultural Reconstruction," is a brief chapter that presents a framework of Philippine prehistory and a discussion of his concept of the Nusantao boat/trading people. Chapters 5 through 8 were written in 1982. The 1999 postscript is an update that summarizes changes and additions from 1983 to 1999.
Chapter 1 is an introduction that presents the purpose of the original study, which was to examine H. Otley Beyer's 1947 hypothesis for the introduction of Iron Age culture to the Philippines: that it was brought from the south with the Malays. This hypothesis was to be examined based on new data, primarily pottery. At that time there were no recognized pottery types for that area, so it was necessary to set up a system of ceramic analysis. As a beginning, several pottery complexes were to be set up for the Philippines using published descriptive information. Examination of the new data would show whether the pottery complexes were valid (p. 2). To examine the hypothesis, five research questions were proposed. The new data came from two sources: material from Solheim's excavations in the Philippines in 1951 and 1953 and...