A news story at gulfnews.com covers an archaeological find on an inlet off the Umm Al Quwain coast in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The Akab site is Neolithic and associated with shell mounds, and pottery fragments from the Ubaid culture, often...

A new study (see below) examines mtDNA in the Philippines, Sulawesi and Taiwan. The researchers study all the haplotypes tested but focus on the frequent mtDNA haplotypes B4a1a, E1a1a and M7c3c, which they claim support the "Out of Taiwan" model of...

Earlier in this blog I mentioned that word tumbaga is used both in the Philippines and across the Pacific in the Americas to refer to a gold-copper alloy. At one time it was thought that both the word and technology had crossed the seas from the...

Here in California it is officially Filipino American History Month. The celebration is also observed by Filipino organizations throughout the United States. One important contribution of Filipino Americans to American culture is in the area of...

Rituals and Practices The peoples in the regions around Arayat and Pinatubo considered these mountains sacred and they had various ritual and practices concerning the mountains that are known to an extent. Animism -- certain trees, stones, caves,...