IPPA 2013
Siem Reap, Cambodia
SESSION:
"First voyage(r)s beyond the Wallace Line: Current research on the human expansion to oceanic islands of Southeast Asia and Sahul in the Pleistocene"Paper: “Microvertebrates
of Ilin Island, Mindoro, Philippines during the Terminal Pleistocene to Early Holocene” (Marian C. Reyes, Thomas Ingicco, Alfred F. Pawlik, Noel Amano)
Abstract
Microvertebrates, despite their size, are viable sources of relevant information to a site and its periphery. These small fauna are greatly beneficial to the archaeological discipline as they provide knowledge on taphonomic processes, paleoecology, and human settlement and subsistence among others. There have not been many discussions on the fossil microvertebrates in the country, more so in a site similar to Mindoro.
Mindoro is an island between mainland Luzon and Palawan Island of the Philippine archipelago in Southeast Asia. Being the first island east of the Wallace line (after Huxley 1868), Mindoro is a crucial area of transitional patterns, especially migrations, between Sunda and Wallacea. Moreover, Greater Mindoro, dubbed as a faunal region for being a center of endemism in the country, has an island geography supporting species‐rich fauna that include small terrestrial mammals, amphibians and reptiles. Aside from the biogeographic value of Mindoro, its position leads some archaeologists into thinking that it can be an ideal passageway of populations coming from the Sundaland northward to the Luzon main island. Therefore, Mindoro Island presents an appropriate site for archaeological investigations on microvertebrates and human population movements.
An initial look at the Ilin Island, Mindoro 2011 excavation faunal assemblage showed Rattus sp., Hipposideros sp., and a variety of yet to be identified rats, mice, bats, amphibians and reptiles. The paper will present preliminary results of a study on these materials, generating first‐hand information on research in the area regarding migrations, commensalism and human subsistence during the crucial period of human expansion.
