Tagged “philippines”
Idjang Fortresses of Batanes
How did a small island people, working stone and volcanic rock with no metal-rich toolkit and no written record, cut and terrace whole rocky hills into fortress-citadels reached only by ladders that could be pulled up behind them — and were these first and foremost places to live, or refuges to survive being raided?
pre-Hispanic Ivatan hillforts, c. 10th-16th century CE · Sabtang and Batan Islands, Batanes, PhilippinesAdded July 2026
HIGH WONDERRice Terraces of the Philippine Cordilleras
How did the Ifugao sculpt tens of thousands of hectares of self-watering terraces into near-vertical mountainsides using only wood and stone hand tools, and are these rice fields two thousand years old, or barely four hundred?
Traditionally dated to c. 1st century CE; recent radiocarbon work argues for c. 1600 CE (disputed) · Ifugao Province, Cordillera, Luzon, PhilippinesAdded July 2026