Enter the ceramic matrix: a preliminary study to identify the nature of the early Austronesian settlement in the Cagayan Valley, Philippines

Abstract

This paper addresses a major gap in our knowledge: the nature of Austronesian societies associated with the spread of the Neolithic through Island Southeast Asia. It addresses this gap by presenting a pilot study on the changing nature of settlement through pottery production from the Neolithic to the Iron Age. A physico-chemical analysis of pottery from the site of Nagsabaran located in Lal-lo, Cagayan Valley, Northern Luzon, Philippines, was undertaken and the data are used to assess models of mobility and sedentism in order to understand the nature of these early Austronesian communities. The research carried out through the physico-chemical analysis suggests more mobile populations during the Neolithic in the Cagayan Valley changing through time to a more sedentary society in the Iron Age.