Name: Mariah Toni Nyva S.
Labasan
Date: October 28, 2015
Course/ section: Arkiyoloji 1 WFY-2
“THE LETA-LETA CAVE”
There are many archaeological sites here in the Philippines. There is the famous
Callao cave and also the Tabon cave, where the so called Callao Man and Tabon Man was
discovered. There are many more archaeological sites here in the country, but what I will
focus on is the Leta-Leta cave of Palawan, Philippines.
The Leta-Leta Cave burial site is a unique and mysterious site of the Philippine
Neolithic specifically the late Neolithic which was approximately 1000 to 1500 BC. This site
was excavated by Dr. Robert Fox in 1970. It is characterized by a steep crack in the side of
an east-facing karstic sea-cliff located on Langen Island in the Bacuit Archipelago off El
Nido, northern Palawan. It can only be accessed from the sea. The floor slopes sharply
from the back of the fissure down to the opening. Due to its dangerous features, it was
even referred to as ‘difficult and dangerous’ by Fox himself. Unfortunately due to an
earthquake that occurred in the early 1980s, anything that remained in the site was
destroyed.
Name: Mariah Toni Nyva S. Labasan
Date: October 28, 2015
Course/ section: Arkiyoloji 1 WFY-2
Leta-Leta cave contained a number of burials. One of the distinct finds here is an
earthenware pottery whose rim resembled a shouting or yawning person hence the name
“Yawning Mouth Jarlet”, this was said to be the earliest pottery recovered here in the
Philippines. Other finds included a stone adze which was a cutting tool that resembled an
axe. The Leta-Leta Stem Cups which were one of the intact pieces of pottery recovered in
the site. They are unique and are the only known earthenware drinking vessels found in
the Philippines. The Leta-Leta Footed Jarlet which is a rare piece and is the only one of its
kind. And we also have the Leta-Leta Presentation Dish which is the earliest type of
presentation dish with lattice work of pedestal and lace design. These finds including the
yawning mouth vessel were declared as natural cultural treasures of our country. Aside
from the human remains and the earthenware found in the site, Fox was also able to
discover a large collection of shell artifacts. Recent analysis of the Leta-Leta worked shell
has revealed the deposition of unfinished as well as finished shell artifacts in mortuary
contexts. Through the analysis of this shells, there were clear signs of human modification
of shells with the intent of producing an artifact. This are the presence of grinding,
Name: Mariah Toni Nyva S. Labasan
Date: October 28, 2015
Course/ section: Arkiyoloji 1 WFY-2
cutting/sawing, freehand abrasion, etching or scoring with a point and drilling. Straight
edges and flat surfaces are typically not enough to directly infer human modification, as,
say, splitting along natural growth lines can produce a very straight break and agents such
as resident hermit crabs can produce isolated patches of wear on shells.
Leta-Leta Cave is an exceptional and still rather mysterious within the cache of
Philippine archaeological sites. Both the lack of a stable chronology and details about its
excavation have, and continue to, hamper our understanding of it. But despite this,
valuable evidence can still be extracted and a number of important conclusions can still be
drawn. One of the most interesting of these is the clear strands of continuity from the
Palawan Neolithic into the Metal Age.
Name: Mariah Toni Nyva S. Labasan
Date: October 28, 2015
Course/ section: Arkiyoloji 1 WFY-2
Figure 1. The jagged area of Leta-Leta Figure 2. View of the Leta-Leta cave from the sea
Cave
Figure 3. Yawning Mouth Jarlet Figure 4. Yawning Mouth Jarlet (top view)
Figure 5. The worked shells recovered in
Leta-Leta cave
Name: Mariah Toni Nyva S. Labasan
Date: October 28, 2015
Course/ section: Arkiyoloji 1 WFY-2
References:
Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines (2008). Dewil Valley, New
Ibajay Archaeological Investigations. Retrieved from http://asp.upd.edu.ph/
Fox, R. (2007).Robert B. Fox, Sr. Papers. Retrieved from http://www.upb.edu.ph/
National Museum of the Philippines (2014). National Cultural Treasures of Philippine
Archaeology. Retrieved from http://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/
Szabó, K. and Ramirez, H. (2009). Worked Shell from Leta-Leta Cave, Palawan, Philippines.
Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/
