Archaeology
Archaeology in the Philippines began in Marinduque. Prior to 1900, only one important archaeological investigation had been carried out in the country: Antoine-Alfred Marche ’s exploration of Marinduque from April to July 1881. According to anthropologist Henry Otley Beyer, while many other accidental finds have been recorded from time to time and a few burial caves and sites had been casually explored by European or local scientists, no systematic work had been done anywhere else prior to these explorations. After Marche, the next important archaeological work was undertaken by Dr. Carl Gunthe in the Central Visayan Islands in 1922.
"An abundant yield of Chinese urns, vases, gold ornaments, skulls and other ornaments of pre-Spanish origin,” was what the Marche finds represented. He brought back to France in 40 crates the Marinduque artifacts he uncovered. Part of it now said to be housed at the Musee de l’Homme in France. The finds also included a wooden image of the Marinduque anito called ‘Pastores’ by the natives.
One of these artifacts also found its way into the National Museum of Natural History, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.(Catalogue No. A127996-0, Department of Anthropology, NMNH, Smithsonian Institution.) These fragile jarlets traveled from China to the pre-colonial Philippines. Buried in a cave in Marinduque for centuries, they were excavated in the late 19th century, brought to Paris and eventually one ended up in the Smithsonian Institution museum facility outside Washington, D.C. Part of Marinduque's history lies in the Marinduque Museum (Poblacion, Boac, Marinduque) in museums abroad and it will take sometime to analyze these artifacts to piece together the pre-colonial past.
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