The Bolinao Skull is considered to be a one-of-a-kind find due to its gold dental decorations that resemble fish scales.
This human skull find paved the way for further study of ornamental, burial, and trade practices by the people of the Philippines, particularly during the pre-Spanish period.
At the Balingasay Site in Bolinao, Pangasinan, Philippines, archaeologists excavated 67 skulls, all of which had their teeth decorated in gold and were found with tradeware ceramics dating back to the Early Ming Dynasty in China circa 15th century A.D.
[1][3][4] Upon further examination, the teeth were found to have had holes drilled in them, which were filled by gold disks, plugs, pegs, or wire.
This discovery reveals the ornate method of decorating teeth that was part of the native Philippine culture long before the Spanish occupation in 1521.
The work of Zumbroich and Salvador-Amores state that only eight out of the fifty-one burials unearthed from the 14th-15th century cemetery site in Bolinao had dentitions with gold ornamentations featuring varying elaborations.