Skip to main content

The Butuan Boats (also known as balanghai/balangay) refer to the incomplete remains of planked boats excavated from about 2 m of waterlogged alluvial sediments in Barangay Libertad, Butuan City, Philippines (Fig. 1). Reports say that the remains of between 9 and 11 boats have been discovered by looters along what are believed to be the shores of a former river, all within a 1 km radius (Cembrano, 1998; Clark et al., 1993; Ronquillo, 1997; Salcedo, 1998). However, archaeological researchers have only confirmed six sites to date.

Boats of the Precolonial Philippines: Butuan Boats, Fig. 1
figure 2169figure 2169

Map of the Philippines showing the location of Butuan City (Map: d-maps.com)

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Subscribe and save

Springer+ Basic
$34.99 /Month
  • Get 10 units per month
  • Download Article/Chapter or eBook
  • 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
  • Cancel anytime
Subscribe now

Buy Now

Chapter
USD 29.95
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
eBook
USD 3,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Available as EPUB and PDF
  • Read on any device
  • Instant download
  • Own it forever
Hardcover Book
USD 3,499.99
Price excludes VAT (USA)
  • Durable hardcover edition
  • Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
  • Free shipping worldwide - see info

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Purchases are for personal use only

') var buybox = document.querySelector("[data-id=id_"+ timestamp +"]").parentNode var buyingOptions = buybox.querySelectorAll(".buying-option") ;[].slice.call(buyingOptions).forEach(initCollapsibles) var buyboxMaxSingleColumnWidth = 480 function initCollapsibles(subscription, index) { var toggle = subscription.querySelector(".buying-option-price") subscription.classList.remove("expanded") var form = subscription.querySelector(".buying-option-form") var priceInfo = subscription.querySelector(".price-info") var buyingOption = toggle.parentElement if (toggle && form && priceInfo) { toggle.setAttribute("role", "button") toggle.setAttribute("tabindex", "0") toggle.addEventListener("click", function (event) { var expandedBuyingOptions = buybox.querySelectorAll(".buying-option.expanded") var buyboxWidth = buybox.offsetWidth ;[].slice.call(expandedBuyingOptions).forEach(function(option) { if (buyboxWidth buyboxMaxSingleColumnWidth) { toggle.click() } else { if (index === 0) { toggle.click() } else { toggle.setAttribute("aria-expanded", "false") form.hidden = "hidden" priceInfo.hidden = "hidden" } } }) } initialStateOpen() if (window.buyboxInitialised) return window.buyboxInitialised = true initKeyControls() })()

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Abinion, O. V. (1989). The recovery of the 12th century wooden boats in the Philippines. Bulletin of the Australian Institute for Maritime Archaeology, 13(2), 1–2.

    Google Scholar 

  • ASEAN. (1986). Report on the third Intra-ASEAN archaeological excavation and conservation Butuan City, Philippines 16 November-10 December 1986. Kuala Lumpur: ASEAN.

    Google Scholar 

  • Barnes, R. H. (1985). Whaling vessels of Indonesia. Sewn Plank Poats, Greenwich, National Maritime Museum Archaeological Series. In: McGrail, S. & Kentley, E. (eds). Sewn plank boats: Archaeological and ethnographic papers based on those presented to a conference at Greenwich in November, 1984 (BAR international series; 276). Oxford, England: B.A.R.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cembrano, M. R. (1998). Patterns of the past. Butuan City: National Museum of the Philippines.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, P., Green, J., Vosmer, T. & Santiago, R. (1993). The Butuan two boat known as a balangay in the National Museum, Manila, Philippines. The International Journal of Nautical Archaeology, 22(2), 143–159.

    Google Scholar 

  • Fallon, S. (2013). C-14 dating of a Philippine boat in the 1980s. In L. Lacsina.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lacsina, L., & Van Duivenvoorde, W. (2014). Report in C-14 AMS analysis of Butuan Boats. Manila: National Museum of the Philippines.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lacsina, L. (2013). Activity report: 2013 research and fieldwork on Philippine pre-colonial plank boats in Manila and Butuan, Philippines. Manila: National Museum of the Philippines.

    Google Scholar 

  • Manguin, P.-Y. (1993). Trading ships of the South China Sea. Shipbuilding techniques and their role in the history of the development of asian trade networks. Journal of the Economic and Social History of the Orient, 36(3), 253–280.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peralta, J. T. (1980a). Ancient mariners of the Philippines. Archaeology, 1980, 41–48.

    Google Scholar 

  • Peralta, J. T. (1980b). Butuan “balanghai” project. Manila: National Museum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ronquillo, W. P. (1997). Butuan boats. In J. P. Delgado (Ed.), Encyclopedia of underwater and maritime archaeology (p. 79). London: British Museum Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Salcedo, C. G. (1998). The ingenious Filipino boat. In Kasaysayan. The story of the Filipino People (The Earliest Filipinos, Vol. 2, pp. 207–219). Hong Kong: Asia Publishing Company Limited.

    Google Scholar 

  • Scott, W. H. (1981). Boat building and seamanship in classic Philippine society. Anthropological Papers, 9, 335–376.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank AINSE Ltd for providing financial assistance (Award No. 13504) to enable the AMS C-14 analysis of Butuan Boat samples. Thanks also to ANSTO, FPRDI, Flinders University, and the National Museum of the Philippines for supporting the author’s research.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Ligaya Lacsina .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this entry

Cite this entry

Lacsina, L. (2016). Boats of the Precolonial Philippines: Butuan Boats. In: Selin, H. (eds) Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-7747-7_10279

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics