Next Stop: Tabon Cave

Tabon cave is also known as the cradle of Philippine Civilization. One thing that Palawan could be proud of also is that here in Quezon municipality the first Filipinos lived.

The Tabon Caves Complex is situated at Lipuun Point in the municipality of Quezon, Palawan. It is located in the western coast of the province. The complex is primarily a limestone promontory which is visible from any direction for many kilometers and honeycombed with at least 200 caves and rock shelters primarily used as either shelter or burial place for its inhabitants. Lipuun Point covers an area of around 104 hectares formed by a number of rounded limestone domes separated by cliffs and deep chasms.

In the Tabon Caves, presence of humans dating back to the Pleistocene period was first established. Anthropologists and archeologists found in the different cave sites records of occupation dating to around 50,000 years ago.

Found in the Tabon Caves were fossils from human remains (tibia fragment, right mandible, frontal bone and mandibular fragment) aging around 47,000, 31,000 and 16,500 years old determined with the use of carbon dating. The dates are based on isotopic 230 Th/U 234 ratio.

Aside from human fossils, flake tools and burial jars such as the Manunggul Jar, porcelains and other stoneware were also found in some of the caves which were used by man during the late Neolithic to early metal age.

Doctor Robert Fox led excavations of the Tabon Caves in 1962 and 1965 which brought out such discoveries of the importance and significance of the Tabon Caves Complex.
Citing such importance, the National Commission for Culture and the Arts submitted a paper before the UNESCO for the Tabon Caves Complex to be enshrined into the World Heritage List last May 16, 2006.