The prehistoric Bilat Cave shell assemblages in Mindoro Island, Central Philippines: A coastal environment and lifeways study

IF 1.1 2区历史学 0 ARCHAEOLOGY

Archaeological Research in Asia Pub Date : 2025-07-09 DOI:10.1016/j.ara.2025.100641

Marie Grace Pamela G. Faylona , Alfred F. Pawlik

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Abstract

Prehistoric coastal shell assemblages are an important resource for reconstructing subsistence strategies and human responses to sea-level and environmental changes. This study presents a report of Bilat Cave, an archaeological site in the southernmost part of Mindoro Island in the Philippines. The cave is located on the coast of Occidental Mindoro and close to Ilin Island, where the sites of Bubog 1 and 2 have yielded stratified shell middens with a chronological sequence of at least 35,000 years.

A 100 × 50 cm shell column from Bilat Cave was collected for archaeomalacology analysis to examine the paleocoastal sequence. All layers have gastropod and bivalve mollusc shells indicative of marine, estuarine, and freshwater environments. The results show distinct variations in the diversity and frequency of species. Bivalve Geloina coaxans and rocky shore gastropod shellfish are most common in the well-preserved shell deposit. The appearance of freshwater shells, specifically Thiaridae, at the bottom of the column shows a transitional environment with both marine and riverine influences. The transformation in shell use highlights significant adjustments in human subsistence strategies to environmental and ecological stimuli at the site between the Late Pleistocene and the Holocene.

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菲律宾中部民都洛岛史前比拉特洞穴贝壳组合：沿海环境和生活方式研究

史前海岸贝壳组合是重建生存策略和人类对海平面和环境变化的反应的重要资源。本研究报告了菲律宾民都洛岛最南端的考古遗址Bilat Cave。该洞穴位于西民都洛岛海岸，靠近伊林岛，在那里，Bubog 1和2的遗址已经产生了分层的贝壳丘，其时间顺序至少为35,000年。在比拉特洞采集了一根100 × 50 cm的贝壳柱，对古海岸层序进行了考古分析。所有层都有腹足类和双壳类软体动物的壳，表明海洋、河口和淡水环境。结果表明，物种的多样性和频率存在明显差异。双壳贝类和岩岸腹足类贝类在保存完好的贝壳沉积物中最为常见。柱底部的淡水贝壳，特别是Thiaridae的外观显示了一个受海洋和河流影响的过渡环境。贝壳利用的转变凸显了晚更新世到全新世之间人类生存策略对环境和生态刺激的重大调整。

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来源期刊

Archaeological Research in Asia ARCHAEOLOGY-

CiteScore

2.50

自引率

13.30%

发文量

期刊介绍： Archaeological Research in Asia presents high quality scholarly research conducted in between the Bosporus and the Pacific on a broad range of archaeological subjects of importance to audiences across Asia and around the world. The journal covers the traditional components of archaeology: placing events and patterns in time and space; analysis of past lifeways; and explanations for cultural processes and change. To this end, the publication will highlight theoretical and methodological advances in studying the past, present new data, and detail patterns that reshape our understanding of it. Archaeological Research in Asia publishes work on the full temporal range of archaeological inquiry from the earliest human presence in Asia with a special emphasis on time periods under-represented in other venues. Journal contributions are of three kinds: articles, case reports and short communications. Full length articles should present synthetic treatments, novel analyses, or theoretical approaches to unresolved issues. Case reports present basic data on subjects that are of broad interest because they represent key sites, sequences, and subjects that figure prominently, or should figure prominently, in how scholars both inside and outside Asia understand the archaeology of cultural and biological change through time. Short communications present new findings (e.g., radiocarbon dates) that are important to the extent that they reaffirm or change the way scholars in Asia and around the world think about Asian cultural or biological history.