Unearthing an ancient mystery

It was an opportunity too precious to pass up! Being a frustrated archeologist who sat it out most nights avidly watching either National Geographic or Discovery Channel specials about this field, this writer didn’t even think twice about joining a trip to a real archeological site located just a couple of hours outside the metropolis.

So, at about 7 a.m., our motley group – composed of a geologist, an archeologist, a priest doing research in Spanish colonial architecture, and a photographer – drove to the site called "Lumang Simbahan ng Bombon" somewhere along the shores of Taal Lake. Yep, it’s that near, folks and sorry, we were under strict instructions not to reveal the exact place. This, we were told, is to protect the site and prevent plain kibitzers, treasure hunters and what-have-you from trooping to the site in search of souvenirs.

Fortunately, the site is not easily accessible to just about anyone. After transferring to a 4x4 vehicle, we were taken through very rough roads and a couple of hairpin turns before reaching a spot where dried-up bamboo groves abound. The bamboo provides a natural cover and keeps the excavation site away from prying eyes.

After a short yet steep trek downhill, the excavation site came into full view. Scattered around the less than a hectare territory were pits not much different from trenches dug by soldiers in old Vietnam war movies. Only in this case, instead of rifles and dynamites, these people were armed with trowels and paint brushes – the former to dig dirt with, the latter to brush away dust in the hope of exposing an artifact.

Ruins are visible alright with stone blocks and remnants of what looked like walls and pillars jutting out of the rocks and playing peek-a-boo with tree roots and branches.

The excavation team composed of UP Diliman Archeological Studies Program (UP ASP) faculty and students headed by program director Dr. Victor Paz, National Museum representatives, the Katipunang Arkeologist ng Pilipinas Inc. led by Joy Belmonte and the Philippine Maritime Archeology Foundation are looking into several explanations about the site which they have dated as having existed as early as 1670s. "Definitely it’s a church that has other structures connected to it. It’s a complex so it might be a church with some fortifications. Maybe it has a seminary or something else. We’re still trying to find out if there are settlements on the site but we haven’t found these yet," explains Dr. Paz.

Fr. Rene Javellana, S.J. of the Ateneo de Manila University, who has been documenting the country’s Spanish colonial architecture including churches and fortifications for the last 18 years, has an idea of what the complex must have been like. "We know that it was built by the Augustinians. I think that it’s a church complex enclosing an open space similar to the one you see at San Agustin Church. This is what we call an atrial design. I think the space parallel to the chapel wall used to be a courtyard," he says.

On the side nearest the lake is the remainder of a chapel-like structure where an altar wall, a side wall, a hole that could either be a window or a doorway, cornerstones and pillars could still be discerned. Near the altar area is a lookout tower equipped with spiral stone steps now mostly covered with rubble. A couple of steps away is another pit exposing a corner of another structure where manmade holes on the ground and the walls could be seen. The excavation team refers to such holes as post holes and beam holes respectively. They believe that whoever built the complex used wooden posts and beams to support the structures.

A pit dug inside the chapel area revealed two skeletons but after further study, the archeologists concluded that these were fairly recent, considering they found plastic buttons along with the finds.

On the other side of the site, overlooking a creek, were several pits that make up what researchers refer to as the "Gunpowder Complex" owing to an enclosed structure with a circular pathway leading down a lower level that nobody has dared explore yet for fear of snakes mostly. (So much for Indiana Jones-type adventures.) At the moment, however, there are still no evidence to prove that it was indeed a "gunpowder room". Fr. Javellana is not fully convinced that the room was used for gunpowder.

It could have been a part of a lookout tower since its elevation is much higher than the church’s structure itself. Vessels approaching the site from lake would clearly be viewed from this area," says Fr. Javellana.

What excites Fr. Javellana no end is the area in the supposedly Gunpowder Complex where a drainage-like system was unearthed. Fr. Javellana thinks it’s a cistern where rainwater is stored and purified. Simply put, he believes the well-like structure on the site served as a settling tank for drinking water where it is purified and stored.

Two pits dug nearby this water system revealed a set of skeleton and a skull cap. After documenting the finds, the archeologists will cover these bones again, untouched and undisturbed.

A pit abuzz with activities is the one called Chapel Labas B (the same place Fr. Javellana believes to be a courtyard) manned by Jules Hernando, an MA Theology student volunteer, and Magella Pua, a history student. In a span of two days since they began digging, they’ve unearthed a fetus’ skull cap and two bones wrapped in baby clothes and placed in a plastic bag, several pieces of coal, and a bottle containing some dark liquid which some suspected to be dried blood.

According to Dr. Paz, the place is known among village folks as a burial place for their dead, including unborn and still-born babies, and dead animals. "The place is highly ritually charged and there are a lot of talks about [restless] spirits here. We have to show our respect and be very careful. Everytime we hit a burial site, we have to make sure we re-bury the remains if they’re not that old," says Dr. Paz adding that they put small wooden crosses on a pile of stones to mark the burial site. When they last counted, the team had documented more than 30 fetus remains.

Also found scattered around the site are pieces of shells both whole and crushed and broken pottery most of which may not be so old. Perhaps the most curious – and out-of-place – item on the site is a 2-foot piece of coral embedded in one wall. Says Fr. Javellana: "How did it get there? It was probably taken all the way from Balayan Bay and was a gift from the people."

In what seemed like a crash course in construction for us, geologist Jun Obille explained that the mortar (the cement-like substance put in between stone blocks) used by the early settlers were composed of rock debris and broken or crushed shells which when mixed with water make for hardy cement. "Shells and even corals are made of calcium carbonate which is also the main ingredient of cement," he says.

While the pits inside the church complex are concerned with finding artifacts, the group of archeology students Oscar Sebastian, Grace Barretto and Noel El Farol manning the 2.06-meter-deep pit called Trench Area B located several meters on the eastern part of the site is in search of the "Big S" – or scoria. According to Obille, who introduced the word to the team, scoria are small pieces of rocks spewed out of an erupting volcano. Like pumice stones, these dark gray or black glassy rocks have tiny pockets from where gases escaped during eruption.

Finding a scoria layer will help the group determine if a settlement existed there during Taal Volcano’s most cataclysmic eruptions, notably in the 16th and 17th centuries. While they didn’t find any bones, they did unearth four earthenware pots which they theorize as having been used as a "pang-alay" or offering. "These were probably filled with food and offered to the gods to appease them," muses Sebastian adding that they still have to do chemical tests to see if the earthenware vessels were indeed pre-colonial in origin.

First discovered and documented by Phivolcs deputy director Dr. Emmanuel Ramos in 1986 while measuring the depth of Taal Lake during a routine Phivolcs activity, the excavation site has long been referred to by local folks among surrounding villages as either "Lumang Simbahan" or "Lumang Bayan".

With the help of a fellow volcanologist who has relatives in the area, Dr. Ramos was able take a closer look at the site. "The whole place was covered with madre de cacao trees but stone structures and parts of walls as well as columns were exposed," says Ramos in a telephone interview. He tells us, too, that the name "Bombon" was the lake’s old name and could have referred to the thunderous sound created by an erupting volcano.

Ramos explains that two of Taal Volcano’s most powerful explosions occurred in 1749 and 1754. According to Dr. Ramos, a layer of scoria discovered inside the Chapel area dates back to Taal’s 1754 eruption. "This could indicate that the ruins existed before 1754 and was probably abandoned five years back during an earlier eruption," says Dr. Ramos.

Actual excavation began about three weeks ago with a team numbering to about 20, a large group according to Dr. Paz. It wasn’t easy at first as most of the residents in the area eyed them cautiously, thinking they were pot hunters or treasure hunters. Apparently, these unscrupulous characters have combed the area years before, looting the site of items including pottery, wooden beams and even religious items.

"We’ve been here for a few weeks and they have seen our methodology. I think they believe us when we tell them we’re not treasure hunters. Still, maybe at the back of their minds they’re still wondering if we’re looking for gold. So it’s important to have a constant communication with the residents," says Dr. Paz. The site also sits on private property and is owned by engineer Oscar Bathan who has supported the team and its excavation efforts.

Since funding is limited (this particular expedition is being sponsored by Johnny Walker), the team has to make do with available resources. It doesn’t really help that having specimens tested abroad cost as much as $1,000 for a sliver of a sample.

But according to Dr. Eusebio Dizon of the National Museum, the purchase of a "total station" by the UP ASP has made analysis easier. "This will be the first time we’re using the instrument in the country for an archeological site. It records everything three-dimensionally and allows us to configure and reconstruct specimens," says Dizon who is looking into the possibility that the Bombon site had an early settlement before the construction of the church complex due to the ceramic shards, earthenware pottery, stoneware and porcelain collected in and around the site.

"There is evidence of early habitation dating back to the metal age which is from 500 BC to 500 AD," he says. Again, they still have to conduct further tests to be sure.

The excavation will end May 3 with the team making sure everything is returned to its original state. According to Dr. Paz, they have no plans of excavating the whole place at the moment. "It’s possible if the objective is reconstruction. A lot of things have to be considered such as heritage questions. It’s quite a long process. It will all depend on future negotiations. Our position is always to help the owner whatever his decision is regarding this site. We want to see the site protected, studied and developed but, of course, the owner has to be in the center of that," says Dr. Paz.

As for the volunteers who have sweated it out from morning to afternoon every day for weeks, they will go back to the present armed with more than just the ubiquitous trowels, brushes and measuring equipment. Definitely, each of them will bring home a piece of our long-forgotten history. Yep, including yours truly, even for a very brief moment.