SIGN IN
  HOME ABOUT | CALENDAR | TAMBULI | MEMBERSHIP | PHOTOS | DATABASE | LINKS | CONTACT  
  Philippines Oldest Artwork in Danger of Disappearing!
by Ping Bayani
April 2014


First documented by acclaimed Philippine artist Carlos "Botong" Francisco in 1965 as he led a Boy Scout hike, the Angono Petroglyphs, the mysterious carvings on a hillside rock wall in Binangonan, are in danger of disappearing, their full meaning/significance still unsolved.

Comprised of 127 engravings of people, animals and geometric shapes, the artworks have been declared a national treasure, regarded as proof that relatively sophisticated societies existed in the Philippines in the Stone Age.

Based on carving tools and pottery shards discovered at the site, scientists believe the carvings date back to 3000 BC, pre-dating a series of geometric shapes in the mountainous northern Philippines. The World Monuments Fund, a New York-based private group that funds the preservation of historical sites, placed the Angono Petroglyphs on its list of endangered monuments in 1996. UNESCO has also placed the petroglyphs on its "tentative list" of world heritage sites. Still, the threats of urbanization, nearby mining, ravages of nature, vandalism and plain neglect continue.