Palaeozoology of Palawan Island, Philippines

ARTICLE R ecent excavations in northern Palawan, Philippines provide zooarchaeological and macrobotanical evidence documenting human occupation and changes in faunal composition and subsistence strategies. Here we present the archaeobiological record of Pasimbahan-Magsanib site dating from c. 10,500 yr. BP to the subrecent. The terrestrial vertebrate record provides for a more robust Palawan biostratigraphy and chronicles Late Quaternary changes in mammalian composition and human responses to the changing abundance of large mammal communities. Well-stratified shell layers and middens contain a wide variety of taxa derived from freshwater, estuarine and marine environments that also provide insights on varying subsistence strategies and the local ecology. Macrobotanical evidence provides further evidence for both foraging and possible plant management strategies in the Holocene.

Philippine Science Letters 7(1), 22-36, 2014

Recent excavations in northern Palawan, Philippines provide zooarchaeological and macrobotanical evidence documenting human occupation and changes in faunal composition and subsistence strategies. Here we present the archaeobiological record of Pasimbahan-Magsanib site dating from c. 10,500 yr. BP to the subrecent. The terrestrial vertebrate record provides for a more robust Palawan biostratigraphy and chronicles Late Quaternary changes in mammalian composition and human responses to the changing abundance of large mammal communities. Well-stratified shell layers and middens contain a wide variety of taxa derived from freshwater, estuarine and marine environments that also provide insights on varying subsistence strategies and the local ecology. Macrobotanical evidence provides further evidence for both foraging and possible plant management strategies in the Holocene.

Asian Perspectives the Journal of Archaeology For Asia and the Pacific, 1997

THE PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO IS A SERIES OF TROPICAL OCEANIC ISLANDS located off the eastern edge of the Sunda Shelf While dramatically lower sea levels of 145-160 m during the middle and late Pleistocene uncovered the shelf and joined the Malay Peninsula and islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo into one land mass (Heaney 1985), this had little effect on accessibility to the oceanic Philippine Islands. Although relatively narrow water gaps, 12-25 km in width, existed between the archipelago and the Sunda Shelf at several times during the middle and late Pleistocene, the only major island that was connected to the mainland was Palawan,l which formed part of Sundaland during the middle Pleistocene. Therefore nonarboreal mammalian fauna entering the archipelago either swam or were rafted to the oceanic islands. This isolation, combined with the relatively small size of the islands, has had a significant effect on the mammalian fauna, affecting both species diversity and morphology. The water barrier acted as a filter, allowing migration of small mammals, particularly murid rodents, and discouraging migration of other taxa. Small insectivores, for example, have high metabolic requirements, which make it unlikely that they would survive a lengthy rafting event. Other research on island biogeography (Heaney 1984) has shown that small isolated islands, in general, support a fauna depauperate in carnivores and large herbivores. In contrast to the 11 species of ungulates and 29 species of carnivores on Sumatra, the Philippines supports only three species of ungulates and two species of carnivores (Heaney 1984). Island size may have a direct impact on body size, especially of herbivores. Isolated herbivore populations surviving on islands may respond to environmental pressures specific to the island's ecology or, alternatively, respond to removal of pressures encountered in mainland environments by changing size (Foster 1964). Small herbivores tend to increase in size, while large herbivores often respond to range restrictions by decreasing in size. In the Philippines, conditions of isolation

Asian Perspectives, 1997

THE PHILIPPINE ARCHIPELAGO IS A SERIES OF TROPICAL OCEANIC ISLANDS located off the eastern edge of the Sunda Shelf While dramatically lower sea levels of 145-160 m during the middle and late Pleistocene uncovered the shelf and joined the Malay Peninsula and islands of Sumatra, Java, and Borneo into one land mass (Heaney 1985), this had little effect on accessibility to the oceanic Philippine Islands. Although relatively narrow water gaps, 12-25 km in width, existed between the archipelago and the Sunda Shelf at several times during the middle and late Pleistocene, the only major island that was connected to the mainland was Palawan,l which formed part of Sundaland during the middle Pleistocene. Therefore nonarboreal mammalian fauna entering the archipelago either swam or were rafted to the oceanic islands. This isolation, combined with the relatively small size of the islands, has had a significant effect on the mammalian fauna, affecting both species diversity and morphology. The water barrier acted as a filter, allowing migration of small mammals, particularly murid rodents, and discouraging migration of other taxa. Small insectivores, for example, have high metabolic requirements, which make it unlikely that they would survive a lengthy rafting event. Other research on island biogeography (Heaney 1984) has shown that small isolated islands, in general, support a fauna depauperate in carnivores and large herbivores. In contrast to the 11 species of ungulates and 29 species of carnivores on Sumatra, the Philippines supports only three species of ungulates and two species of carnivores (Heaney 1984). Island size may have a direct impact on body size, especially of herbivores. Isolated herbivore populations surviving on islands may respond to environmental pressures specific to the island's ecology or, alternatively, respond to removal of pressures encountered in mainland environments by changing size (Foster 1964). Small herbivores tend to increase in size, while large herbivores often respond to range restrictions by decreasing in size. In the Philippines, conditions of isolation

2000

The mammal fauna of Palawan Island, Philippines is here doc- umented to include 58 native species plus four non-native species, with native species in the families Soricidae (2 species), Tupaiidae (1), Pteropodidae (6), Emballonuridae (2), Megadermatidae (1), Rhinolophidae (8), Vespertilionidae (15), Molossidae (2), Cercopithecidae (1), Manidae (1), Sciuridae (4), Muridae (6), Hystricidae (1), Felidae (1), Mustelidae (2), Herpestidae (1), Viverridae

The Journal of Island and Coastal Archaeology, 2014

Palaeogeographic reconstructions of Palawan Island using Geographic Information Systems based on present-day bathymetry show extensive changes in land area with respect to sea-level fluctuations during the Late Quaternary. Our analysis shows that a lowering of at least 135 meters from present-day levels is needed in order to expose a narrow land connection between Palawan and Sundaland. This most likely last occurred during OIS 12 (ca. 440 Ka) and probably OIS 16 (ca. 630 Ka), facilitating overland colonization between the two islands. The reconstructions further illustrate the extent of land exposed, which was likely covered by open savannah vegetation during the LGP and inhabited by several large mammal species now extinct on the island. Sea-level rise at the end of the Pleistocene caused the inundation of shallow shelves of Palawan, and this, accompanied by a conversion to closed rainforest environments, was probably responsible for the disappearance of most of the large mammal fauna of Palawan. Coastline reconstructions demonstrate that the appearance of mid-Holocene shell middens in the Philippine archaeological record is due to the formation and proximity of mangrove forests during sea-level high-stand, rather than a consequence of changes in human subsistence strategies.

ANTIQUITY-OXFORD …, 2008

Aim The environments that existed in south-east Asian islands during the last glacial are poorly known, limiting our understanding of mammalian biogeography in the region. The objective of this research is to investigate the ecological characteristics of mammal faunas on small islands, and to see whether the habitat requirements of the species in those faunas can be used to deduct the vegetation types that existed on islands before becoming isolated by rising sea levels.

The recently discovered human remains from Callao Cave, northern Luzon, Philippines securely date the migration of hominins into the Philippines to ca. 70 kya (thousands of years ago). The direct route to reach Luzon from the Asian mainland is via Borneo, Palawan, through Mindoro and into Luzon. Our research focuses on Mindoro Island as a potential stepping stone to the main Philippine Archipelago. While Palawan and Luzon have produced evidence for early human occupation, no systematic research on the prehistory of Mindoro has been conducted until now. We report on recent archaeological investigations at the Bubog rockshelter sites on the small island of Ilin just off the coast of Mindoro. The excavations produced evidence of stratified sequences of human habitation at the two rockshelter sites in the form of dense shell middens that date to ca. 11 kya onwards. They provide direct evidence on how variability in landscape formation, sea levels, and landmass during the terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene influenced the behavior of early human populations. Numerous species of molluscs were recorded and provisional results indicate variations in the invertebrate faunas throughout the stratigraphic sequences, resulting from sea level rise and the establishment of coral reefs between Ilin and Mindoro at the end of the Pleistocene. Our results contribute substantially to our understanding of the processes of human island adaptation, complement ongoing research into Island Southeast Asia's paleogeography, and enhance current knowledge of prehistoric subsistence strategies across the region.

Proceedings of the Biological Society of Washington 124(3)

Excavations in Callao Cave, in the lowland (ca. 85 m elevation) Cagayan River Valley of northeastern Luzon, Philippines, have produced the first fossils of any endemic genera of Philippine murid rodents. Three dentaries dated to the Late Pleistocene, between ca. 50,000 and 68,000 BP, are referred to the genera Batomys and Apomys; the former is a member of the endemic ‘‘Phloeomys Division’’ of Philippine murids, and the latter of the ‘‘Chrotomys Division,’’ also endemic to the Philippines. Batomys is currently known from five extant species from Luzon, Mindanao, and Dinagat islands; the two species known from Luzon differ in size and dental and mandibular morphology from the two fossil mandibles, and both occur only at elevations above 1350 m. Apomys is currently known from two subgenera on Luzon; the fossil is a member of the nominate subgenus, which contains two species on Luzon, one of which, Apomys microdon, is conspecific with one fossil. We hypothesize that the Batomys fossils represent a different species from the living taxa, but we do not name it due to the fragmentary nature of the specimens. These Apomys and Batomys represent the first fossil small mammals from the main body of the Philippine archipelago (east of Huxley’s Line), and the Batomys are the first suspected extinct Pleistocene small mammal from the Philippines. The fossils indicate greater species richness and broader distributions than at present within this distinctive and diverse endemic radiation of mammals.