Name: Mariah Toni Nyva S.

Labasan
Date: October 28, 2015
Course/ section: Arkiyoloji 1 WFY-2

“THE LETA-LETA CAVE”

There are many archaeological sites here in the Philippines. There is the famous

Callao cave and also the Tabon cave, where the so called Callao Man and Tabon Man was

discovered. There are many more archaeological sites here in the country, but what I will

focus on is the Leta-Leta cave of Palawan, Philippines.

The Leta-Leta Cave burial site is a unique and mysterious site of the Philippine

Neolithic specifically the late Neolithic which was approximately 1000 to 1500 BC. This site

was excavated by Dr. Robert Fox in 1970. It is characterized by a steep crack in the side of

an east-facing karstic sea-cliff located on Langen Island in the Bacuit Archipelago off El

Nido, northern Palawan. It can only be accessed from the sea. The floor slopes sharply

from the back of the fissure down to the opening. Due to its dangerous features, it was

even referred to as ‘difficult and dangerous’ by Fox himself. Unfortunately due to an

earthquake that occurred in the early 1980s, anything that remained in the site was

destroyed.
Name: Mariah Toni Nyva S. Labasan
Date: October 28, 2015
Course/ section: Arkiyoloji 1 WFY-2

Leta-Leta cave contained a number of burials. One of the distinct finds here is an

earthenware pottery whose rim resembled a shouting or yawning person hence the name

“Yawning Mouth Jarlet”, this was said to be the earliest pottery recovered here in the

Philippines. Other finds included a stone adze which was a cutting tool that resembled an

axe. The Leta-Leta Stem Cups which were one of the intact pieces of pottery recovered in

the site. They are unique and are the only known earthenware drinking vessels found in

the Philippines. The Leta-Leta Footed Jarlet which is a rare piece and is the only one of its

kind. And we also have the Leta-Leta Presentation Dish which is the earliest type of

presentation dish with lattice work of pedestal and lace design. These finds including the

yawning mouth vessel were declared as natural cultural treasures of our country. Aside

from the human remains and the earthenware found in the site, Fox was also able to

discover a large collection of shell artifacts. Recent analysis of the Leta-Leta worked shell

has revealed the deposition of unfinished as well as finished shell artifacts in mortuary

contexts. Through the analysis of this shells, there were clear signs of human modification

of shells with the intent of producing an artifact. This are the presence of grinding,
Name: Mariah Toni Nyva S. Labasan
Date: October 28, 2015
Course/ section: Arkiyoloji 1 WFY-2

cutting/sawing, freehand abrasion, etching or scoring with a point and drilling. Straight

edges and flat surfaces are typically not enough to directly infer human modification, as,

say, splitting along natural growth lines can produce a very straight break and agents such

as resident hermit crabs can produce isolated patches of wear on shells.

Leta-Leta Cave is an exceptional and still rather mysterious within the cache of

Philippine archaeological sites. Both the lack of a stable chronology and details about its

excavation have, and continue to, hamper our understanding of it. But despite this,

valuable evidence can still be extracted and a number of important conclusions can still be

drawn. One of the most interesting of these is the clear strands of continuity from the

Palawan Neolithic into the Metal Age.

Name: Mariah Toni Nyva S. Labasan
Date: October 28, 2015
Course/ section: Arkiyoloji 1 WFY-2

Figure 1. The jagged area of Leta-Leta Figure 2. View of the Leta-Leta cave from the sea
Cave

Figure 3. Yawning Mouth Jarlet Figure 4. Yawning Mouth Jarlet (top view)

Figure 5. The worked shells recovered in

Leta-Leta cave
Name: Mariah Toni Nyva S. Labasan
Date: October 28, 2015
Course/ section: Arkiyoloji 1 WFY-2

References:

Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines (2008). Dewil Valley, New
Ibajay Archaeological Investigations. Retrieved from http://asp.upd.edu.ph/

Fox, R. (2007).Robert B. Fox, Sr. Papers. Retrieved from http://www.upb.edu.ph/

National Museum of the Philippines (2014). National Cultural Treasures of Philippine

Archaeology. Retrieved from http://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/

Szabó, K. and Ramirez, H. (2009). Worked Shell from Leta-Leta Cave, Palawan, Philippines.
Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/