Fossils discovered in Kalinga excavation

TUGUEGARAO CITY – Archaeologists from the National Museum and the University of the Philippines-Diliman Archaeological Studies Program bared finds of prehistoric fossils and the remains of ancient creatures in the excavation of the only known archaeological reserve in northern Luzon in Sitio Greenhills, San Pedro in the municipality of Rizal, Kalinga province.?

Rizal Mayor Marcelo dela Cruz Jr. said archeologists have so far retrieved the skeletal remains of a rhinoceros and a tusk believed to be that of a mammoth since they started digging last month. ?Although the public was not restricted from viewing the diggings, archaeologists prohibited the taking of pictures of the discovery.?

According to palaeontologist Thomas Ingicco of the UP archaeological studies, the remains were of the horned rhinoceros estimated to be 800,000 years old.?

Another find was a tusk of an ancient mammoth, the second since 2001.?

Dela Cruz said the archaeological team’s findings will be sent to the National Museum in Manila to be scientifically validated.?

Gigi Gacuya of the Philippine Information Agency in the capital of Tabuk city said the National Museum conducted its first excavation in Rizal, Kalinga in 1971, where 68 sites where identified by archaeologists to contain fossils and artifacts.

In 1977, then President Ferdinand Marcos ?personally visited the excavations and declared the site an archaeological reserve.?

Gacuya said geological studies continued in the area until 1981. In 2001, a second expedition conducted by the National Museum led to the discovery of the first tusk believed to be from an ancient mammoth. The site where the tusk was discovered was renamed Elephant Hill, Gacuya told The STAR.?

The archaeological team concluded their expedition on yesterday.