Earthenware ceramics in the Philippines are mainly differentiated from tradeware and stoneware by the materials used during the process and the temperature at which they are fired.
[3][4] Other functions were in the reinforcing of alliances amongst groups, as it was the example between the lowlanders and highlanders in the Philippines when trading, whether political or economic.
[6] Earthenware vessels in the Philippines were formed by two main techniques: paddle and anvil, and coiling and scraping.
Finally the fifth method is applique treatment or the application of additional clay which raises the surface of the earthenware and produces a design.
A direct consequence of this destruction of villages and prestige goods-based economies would be the decrease in production of earthenware as well as the fragmentation of lowlanders from the highlanders.
Pintu Rockshelter and Dimolit were excavated in 1969 by Warren Peterson who believed hunter and gatherers seasonally occupied the sites at approximately 5,120BP, 3,900BP, and 3280BP.
Mainly shallow dishes with low pedestal feet were excavated at Pintu and many contained impressed circles on their surfaces.
[10] Small and large post-holes were found at Dimolit, which aided its classification as an open habitation site.
Earthenware pottery interior and exterior exhibited plain or red-slipped surface treatment.
Archeologist Eusebio Z. Dizon describes the Calatagan Pot as atypical and engraved with syllabic writing around the vessel's shoulder around.
A few of the sites containing earthenware in the Palawan Island are El Nido, specifically Ille cave and Lipuun Point, more specifically the Tabon Caves, where the Mannungul Jar was found by Dr. Robert Fox and date to the late Neolithic.
In the island of Negros, in the region of Tanjay, there have been earthenware pottery uncovered and of low-fired production.
[15][16][17] The Pandanan Shipwreck was discovered by accident in 1993 by Mr. Gordirilla, a pearl-farm diver working at Ecofarm Resource Inc., when he was looking for a missing pearl basket from the seabed.
Probable causes of the wreckage can be attributed to abrupt changes in weather between amihan, the prevailing wind from the northeast (December to April), and habagat, the prevailing southwest wind (May to November), strong typhoons, or other hazardous navigational factors like coral reefs.
These findings would highlight the presence of an active network of trade and interaction between mainland and island Southeast Asia in Pre-Spanish Philippines.
Partial survey of the site revealed evidence of an earthenware stove and jar fragments.
Initial survey of the site by the National Museum of the Philippines later in 1991 pinpointed a Miocene limestone cave about 1,000 meters inland and 6 meters above sea level in Pinol, Municipality of Maitum, Province of Sarangani, South Cotabato, Soccsksargen(6.1303° 00′ 00″ N, 124.3816° 00′ 00″ E).
The site showed indications of looting, most likely by treasure hunters, as the entrance of the cave has been damaged, various deposits disturbed, and artifacts being carelessly left on the floor after being dug up.
The archaeological team headed by Dr. Eusebio Dizon would be able to recover 200 artifacts: 29 of which were complete with minor damage, 20 of which were restorable, and the remaining of which were fragments.
The Maitum anthropomorphic burial jars of Mindanao are uniquely characterized by designs featuring human figures (arms, hands, breasts), facial features (heads, eyes, ears, nose, mouth), and facial expressions.
The people depicted on these pottery are believed to be of the initial inhabitants of Mindanao and the "specific dead persons whose remains they guard".
General consensus among scholars have estimated the date of these ceramics to be from the Metal Age in the Philippines, which ranges from 500 BC to 500 AD.
It wouldn't be until the re-excavation of the site in 1992 where it yielded earthenware shards of thick bodied wares and small vessels.
Layer II suggests a hunting and gathering culture based on the lithic tools and debitage, refuse heaps of shells, bones of land and sea animals, and sparse amount of pottery.
Layer III suggests a different culture based on the advanced tools like adzes, gouges, and axes, debitage, an opaque glass bead, and the abundance of pottery.
Type C earthenware are generally constructed from a pre-form of coils added to a flat base up to the upper rim where it is shaped.