The Dinagat Corridor: Preliminary explorations on the archaeology of Samar and Siargao Islands

Abstract

Sea level changes during the Quaternary period had drastic effects on the land/sea distribution of Island Southeast Asia. Such was the case for the eastern part of the Philippine archipelago where reconstructions show that the islands of Mindanao, Dinagat, Siargao, Leyte and Samar were previously connected since prior to the Last Glacial Maximum up to around 10,000 years ago. This swath of exposed land is named the "Dinagat Corridor" here, and models have shown the possibility that the peopling of the Philippines occurred via this land corridor. Review of previous works as well as new archaeological explorations in the islands of Samar and Siargao described in this article show that numerous archaeological sites belonging to different time periods, including the Palaeolithic, are present in the Dinagat Corridor. A total of 90 sites was recorded for this project, which demonstrates the potential of both islands for future archaeological research, particularly, in the study of the early peopling of the Philippine archipelago.

Keywords: island archaeology, palaeolithic Philippines, Dinagat Corridor