via Vera Files, 27 October 2022: A summary of a recent lecture by Dr Florina H. Capistrano-Baker on the gold ornaments found in Butuan and the traces of Philippines’ Hindu-Buddhist past.
The National Museum Eastern-Northern Mindanao hosted a webinar on early gold in Butuan and Surigao, with Florina H. Capistrano-Baker, PhD who discussed the Hindu-Buddhist presence in ancient Butuan. A former museum director of the Ayala Museum, Capistrano-Baker is one of the editors of Philippine Ancestral Gold, 2011.
Amidst the dearth of historical records, gold artifacts, and other archaeological finds point to Butuan in northeast Mindanao as a major trading port in the 10th century and “as a thriving polity with a hierarchical social structure.” It was trading with the Srivijayan empire (Indonesia),which had extensive ties with India and China. Butuan traded with the Indianized states of Southeast Asia such as Java, Borneo, Champa (Vietnam), and Cambodia and sent tribute missions to China, as recorded in the annals of the Song Dynasty.
Source: Bulawan: Early Philippine Gold and Imprints of Hindu-Buddhism – VERA Files
