The Burial Jars Triangle

I wanted to create a map of some kind of where secondary burial in limestone jars were practiced. To my surprise, the map turned out to be more interesting than I had expected. When I identified the villages where there had been confirmed sightings of burial jars, I found out that the three villages could be connected by lines to form an almost perfect triangle. The area inside the triangle, being sparsely populated and largely forested, may have a number of burial caves still waiting to be discovered!

At the right-hand edge of the triangle is Barangay Kuden, Municipality of Senator Ninoy Aquino. That’s where an anthropologist from the University of San Carlos (Cebu) dug up burial jars in 1963–64. At the top of the triangle is Barangay Salangsang, Municipality of Lebak. That’s where anthropologists connected with Silliman Univeristy (Negros) dug up burial jars in 1965–66 and 1967–68. At the left-hand edge of the triangle is Barangay Nalilidan, Municipality of Kalamansig. That’s where burial jars have been found or can be found based on the socio-economic profile of Sultan Kudarat that the provincial government released in 2010.

I must admit that the information about Barangay Nalilidan is not very reliable. Even if the source is an official document, it contains quite a number of errors, both factual and typographical. I found the information on the “list of tourist spots by municipality/city.” Indicated beside “Nalilidan” is “Burial Urns,” along with “Sulfuric Hot Spring” and “Nalilidan Hot Spring.” To help you gauge the reliability of the list, here’s more information from the downloadable report: Indicated beside “Kuden” is “Burial Urns.” This is accurate, though Kuden has no burial jar collection to speak of, as I narrated in a previous post. Indicated beside “Salangsang” is “Salangsang Cave,” no “Burial Urns.” The cave is probably not the same cave where burial jars were found, for according to some published research papers, the cave is named “Seminoho.”

I’m also not a hundred percent sure of the exact location of Nalilidan in the map. The provincial map has no labels for barangays and sitios, so I had to compare it with Kalamansig’s municipal map, which has labels, all right, but barely legible in some parts. Though the two maps seem to coincide on the location of Nalilidan, they don’t on the locations of some other barangays, especially the poblacion—the seat of government, the most important barangay. How could you trust such maps?

All the same, I’m glad to have discovered that there might be burial jars in Kalamansig, and the location is near the coast, not very far from the paved national highway. It will be easier for me to research about them in case I find myself in Kalamansig one of these days.