Stephen B. Acabado, Jared M. Koller, Chin-hsin Liu, Adam J. Lauer, Alan Farahani, Grace Barretto-Tesoro, Marian C. Reyes, Jonathan Albert Martin, John A. Peterson
Establishing the construction sequence of agricultural terraces is extremely complicated due to the nature of their technological foundation and use. A number of methodological approaches have been developed to address this difficulty, such as bulk soil 14 C dating, Optically-Stimulated Luminescence (OSL), sediment grain size, or a combination of these, but a fundamental problem of stratigraphic disturbance still exists. In this article, we utilize multiple datasets, including radiocarbon determinations, faunal isotopic signatures, human osteological remains, archaeobotanical data sets, energetics assessments, and spatial data to establish the origins of Philippine Cordillera rice terraces. Dominant historical narratives in the region suggest a 2000–3000 b.p. inception of the terrace systems, but previous Bayesian modeling and current archaeobotanical, ethnohistorical, and ethnographic data indicate that the shift to wet-rice cultivation is a recent phenomenon and a response to the intrusion of the Spanish Empire in the northern highland Philippines. © 2019, © Trustees of Boston University 2019.
University of California, Los Angeles, CA, United States; Boston University, Boston, MA, United States; California State University–Northridge, Northridge, CA, United States; International Archaeological Research Institute, Inc., Honolulu, HI, United States; University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV, United States; University of the Philippines, Diliman, Philippines; National Museum of the Philippines, Manila, Philippines; Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement, Kiangan, Ifugao, Philippines; University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Philippines
