Bulked gold, riverine trade, hiking trails, and WorldView2 satellite remote sensing in Northwestern Luzon: The Angaqui network

This paper is based on a case study of the Angaqui gold trade network in Northwestern Luzon during the Early Historical to Historical Period (10th to early 20th c). Multiple data sources including GIS predictive modelling and remote sensing through high-resolution and multispectral WorldView2 satellite imagery, written primary historical and secondary historical sources, indigenous peoples oral tradition, and results of systematic archaeological survey and excavation were integrated in the research to come close to a wholistic view. Availability of the satellite imagery facilitates a more regional and multi-scalar approach to archaeology of the region. Remote sensing has revealed segments of old trails within the network. The written and oral tradition both complement each other when correlated with available archaeological data. Availability of historical visual documentation also provides a means to reconstructing the gold evanescent market encounter in Northwestern Luzo

Ethnohistorical Archaeology, GIS Analysis, and Satellite Remote Sensing of Five Gold Networks in Luzon

The dissertation provides a “bottom up” view of culturally- contingent, historically- situated engagement by local Northwestern Luzon island gold miners and traders as a local point of entry into an Indian Ocean - South China Sea (IO-SCS) trade emporium. The dissertation shows how Northwestern Luzon Igorot societies negotiated their peripherality in the expansive porcelain-for-gold exchange system that was creeping into their shores. The research looks at how the Igorot miners practiced their agency through their participation in tabu-tabuans or “evanescent market encounter” at the coastal trading centers. The thesis also explored the role utang na loob or “debt from inside” in the receding agentive positioning of these Igorot gold producers. Five gold trade networks in the Northwestern flank of Luzon Island in the Philippines present varying degrees of commitment to the IO-SCS trade emporium during the Early Historical to Historical period. Some of the networks feature a more evanescent market encounter which allows the miners from the uplands to dictate or strongly negotiate their position in the transaction for gold with the lowland coastal polities. Other networks on the other hand feature the opposite which is a more permanent market in full articulation into the trade network featuring full dependency on the influx of exotic goods from the system specifically prestige goods like export ceramics, trade beads, silks, and others. These findings are based on multiscalar and multidisicplinary analyses using regional GIS data, high-resolution multispectral satellite remote sensed data, ethnographic data, primary and secondary written historical data, archival maps and images, oral tradition data, and archaeological data pertaining to the five networks

Charting the Abra gold trade network of Northwestern Luzon using ethnohistorical archaeology and WorldView-3 satellite imagery

The paper will look at the Abra Network from the Early Historical to Historical Period (10th to Early 20th c) which encompasses areas of Ilocos Sur as well as the whole province of Abra. It is argued that this particular network features the migration by coastal peoples to the interior in order to fully control strategic “choke” points in the gold trade with the Lepanto and Angaqui networks as well as to control jump-off points to the leeward side of the Cordillera Mountains – the Cagayan valley. Analysis was done using data from GIS predictive modelling and WorldView3 satellite remote sensing, in conjunction with archaeological data from 2011 and 2012 field seasons as well as published primary and secondary ethnohistorical data. Several Spanish period maps provided important data on early settlements and trails, after georeferencing through GIS software