Marian Omar Gómez travelled to the Philippines again in continuation of her PhD project. This time, she was joined for shorter periods by Armin Rassooli Tilehnovi (another PhD student at Human Evolution Program, Uppsala University), Max Larena, and Mattias Jakobsson. The three primary objectives were academic outreach, establishing a formal collaboration with the National Museum of the Philippines, and documenting the archaeological collections from the Tabon Cave Complex.
The trip involved travel across multiple regions of the Philippines, beginning in the northern island of Luzon, in the province of Benguet. There, we visited Baguio City and the community of Nabalicong, Buguias, where I presented preliminary results from an ongoing study of two regional mummies, Apo Anno and Apo Aguindang. This research is conducted within the OCSEAN consortium and is a collaborative effort among Uppsala University, the University of Kentucky, and the local community of Nabalicong.
The second phase of the fieldwork took place in Palawan, in the municipality of Quezon, where a regional branch of the National Museum of the Philippines is located. This stage was dedicated to the systematic documentation of archaeological human remains and artefacts housed at the museum, originating from multiple excavations conducted at the Tabon Cave Complex since the 1960s. A comprehensive assessment of the collections was conducted, and the visit culminated in the presentation of a project proposal to the National Museum of the Philippines in Manila, aimed at fostering long-term research collaboration and advancing the study of Tabon Cave materials.
Photo 1: Courtesy call to Mayor Julius Amos in Buguias Town Hall. The objective was to present the preliminary results from an ongoing study of two regional mummies, Apo Anno and Apo Aguindang.
