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Tools have been used for development and identity throughout the world and that includes the Philippines. The variety of their uses signal the varied lifestyles, cultural practices, and beliefs of various groups. It is hard to believe that people in the archipelago once highly utilized stone tools in the time of the Philippine paleolithic, around 600,000 years ago to at least 9,000 years ago. These stone tools, while quite rare in the archaeological record, are still considered rare materials. However, while the utilization of stone tools is considered a sophisticated practice, their forms in the Philippines hardly changed over the thousands of years that this was used. One of the prevailing theories rationalizes that this may be due to the abundant presence of stone that can be picked up and used anytime, leading to people not needing a complex form of stone tool as they may rely on other materials such as wood—specifically the bamboo (Bar-Yosef et al. 2012)—which is present throughout the tropical archipelago but unfortunately hardly lasts in the humid tropical environment. Nevertheless, Philippine history and ethnography have shown that wood is an important material in the cultural practice of the people, even down to the tools being used. Hunting certainly largely relied on wood, and this is evidenced in the neolithic Philippines when smooth stones with sharp edges called adzes were hafted on wood and were likely used as a crude version of an axe (Ronquillo, 1998). Aside from their use as tools, adzes may also have special meaning, since shell versions were found in archaeological excavations in Mindoro (Pawlik et al. 2015), Tawi-Tawi (Ronquillo et al. 1993) and also in Palawan (Fox, 1970). The shell adze found in Duyong Cave, Quezon, Palawan was associated to a neolithic burial. Aside from their utilitarian use as tools, the use for these tools may also be associated to a belief system currently unknown to us. Fig. 1. Casal, Fr. Gabriel, Eusebio Z. Dizon, Wilfredo P. Ronquillo, Cecilio G. Salcedo. "Reconstructed shell adz, hafted with a rattan to a wooden handle, made with a piece of Tridacna gigas." In Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People. Volume II: The Earliest Filipinos. Hong Kong: Asia Publishing Company Limited, 1998, page 63
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The utilization and the production techniques for metal eventually made their way into the Philippines, thus paving the way to making new types of hunting materials and weaponry. At around 500 BC, metal implements can be found associated with burials in what archaeologists may signal as the beginning of the Metal Age (Jocano, 1998). However, as many have criticized, the Metal Age in the Philippines is not necessarily associated with the presence of metals, but with highly crafted pottery and burial jars, indicating mastery of heat, fire, and sculpting. All these may be associated with the concept of producing metals, where a disciplined and artistic craftsmanship is demanded to produce these materials. Metals exponentially grew in their use application, essentially expanding its cultural meaning depending on the worldview of the people. The skills developed by the blacksmith or the panday not only includes the mastery of fire and heat, but also the rough metal pounded and forged into submission to become a smooth equivalent of its original form. The panday must also understand geology, to ensure that the stones used as anvils will not break with the force. What may look like a simple blade needs the panday's expertise to make sure that the blade thickness will withstand its constant use over time. Although the early history of metalworking is currently lost to us, Spanish historians who initially observed the Bisaya method of forging metals noted the similarity of the technique with the neighboring Malay and Island Southeast Asian groups (Scott, 1994). Eventually, ethnographers in the turn of the 1900s observed that this method continued on, and observed in the Fig. 2. Cole, Fay-Cooper. 1913. The Wild Tribes of Davao Bontoc among the Ifugaos (Jenks, 1905), the District, Mindanao. Anthropological Series 12 (2):49-203. Subanens of Zamboanga (Christie, 1909), and also among the Bagobo group in Mindanao (Cole, 1913). True to the intertwining of use and beliefs, these forges not only produce weapons, but also metal pipes for the Bontoc, and metal bells for the Bagobo.
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Finally, when this is done, the metals are paired with other materials such as wood that may serve as hilts, spears, sheaths, or even shields. Carving and manipulating the wood takes the same energy and skill, but this time using a vastly different medium from the one forged in fire. Although the English term differentiates blacksmith and carpenter, many languages in the Philippines use the word panday to refer to people who either choose to form iron or wood. Many may not have the same skill set depending on the medium, yet the unity of the term harkens to the concept of experts producing a craft and may transcend them to art. Like the many craftspeople producing art, these overlapping skills point to the intricacy of use, technique, art, and belief. These overlaps can be found in the combination of metal and wood, as seen by weapons that the panday produce. A metal knife may be used for everyday tasks including the domestic—cutting of wood, preparing the food—but the user can only grasp the wooden hilt of the knife. Once done, they can sheath it into a specially-made container carved to follow the shape of the blade. In Mindanao, the Bagobo kampilan or even the Maguindanaoan kalis, with its blade conjuring images of the slithering snake, may be designed with elaborate hilts and sheaths to capture their ritualistic use. However, the nearby group of the Blaan utilizes their knives for both agricultural work and defense in times of warfare (Cole, 1913). The weapons' transformation of spheres follow the demands of their users, thus showcasing the complexity of the weapons' label and use. In this case, domestic and even agricultural tools can transform into weapons, while weapons may also be soothed to step back into their everyday use. It is no wonder that Salazar (1999) identified the panday as one of the important pillars of society alongside the datu Fig.3. Cole, Fay-Cooper. 1913. The Wild Tribes of (who oversees regulation among the community) and the Davao District, Mindanao. Anthropological Series 12 (2):49-203.“These knives are used by Blaan men.” babaylan (who supervises the religious needs of the people). The panday is seen as the keeper of technological knowledge, of which this craft must be passed down. Achanzar-Labor (2006) expands this thought by showing the various use for the word panday where in Pangasinan the midwife may also be termed thus, indicating that skill and craft is an important association to be called a panday.
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Like the metal-and-wood implements, whose use encompasses warfare, agriculture, the domestic, and ritual, it is no wonder that the panday is flexible in their profession as they navigate through their craft. The Nayong Pilipino Foundation currently houses various ethnographic materials labeled as hunting and warfare materials. Such a label showcases the intrinsic understanding of the Filipino when it comes to explaining material cultures to worldview. The collection of spears from Ifugao and the bladed weapons from Mindanao demonstrates the fluidity of the panday who skillfully traverses through meanings through technology and craft. We hope that while the labels seem to be an either/or solution, like the weapon, it does not have to be. As a blade can be used for cooking and for conflict, the panday indicates that these implements may transcend and transform depending on the flowing and intertwining spheres that is the culture and life of the Filipino.
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References Achanzar-Labor, Honey Libertine R. 2006. The Philippine Panday: From the Historical Past to the Ethnographic Present. The Journal of History 52 (1). Bar-Yosef, Ofer, Metin Eren, Jiarong Yuan, David J. Cohen, and Yiyuan Li. 2012. Were bamboo tools made in prehistoric Southeast Asia? An experimental view from South China. Quaternary International 269:9-21. Christie, Emerson Brewer. 1909. The Subanuns of Sindangan Bay. Manila: Bureau of Printing. Cole, Fay-Cooper. 1913. The Wild Tribes of Davao District, Mindanao. Anthropological Series 12 (2):49-203. Fox, Robert B. 1970. The Tabon Caves: Archaeological Explorations and Excavations on Palawan Island, Philippines. Manila, Philippines: Monograph of the National Museum. Jenks, Albert Ernest. 1905. The Bontoc Igorot. Vol. 1. Manila: Bureau of Public Printing. Jocano, F. Landa. 1998. Filipino Prehistory: Rediscovering Precolonial Heritage, Anthro pology of the Filipino People. Diliman, Quezon City: PUNLAD Research House, Inc. Pawlik, Alfred F., Philip J. Piper, Rachel E. Wood, Kristine Kate A. Lim, Marie Grace Pamela G. Faylona, Armand Salvador B. Mijares, and Martin Porr. 2015. Shell tool technology in Island Southeast Asia: an early Middle Holocene Tridacna adze from Ilin Island, Mindoro, Philippines. Antiquity 89 (344):292-308. Ronquillo, Wilfredo. 1998. Tools from the Sea. In Kasaysayan: The Story of the Filipino People, edited by J. Y. Dalisay, pp. 62-69. Hong Kong, HK: Asia Publishing Compa ny Limited. Ronquillo, Wilfredo P., Rey A. Santiago, Shijun Asato, and Kazuhiko Tanaka. 1993. The 1992 Archaeological Reexcavation of the Balobok Rockshelter, Sanga Sanga, Tawi Tawi Province, Philippines: A Preliminary Report. Okinawa, Japan: Okinawa Prefec tural Library. Salazar, Zeus. 1999. Ang Babaylan sa Kasaysayan ng Pilipinas. Quezon City, PH: Palim bagan ng Lahi. Scott, William Henry. 1994. Barangay: Sixteenth-Century Philippine Culture and Society. Quezon City, Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University Press.
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