Jar Covers that Indicate Age

Marcelino Maceda, the first anthropologist to formally study the limestone burial jars of Kulaman Plateau, says in a paper that the lines in some of the jar covers may not be merely decorative. He believes that they might be an indication of the age of the person buried in the jar. Such markings are found in six of the thirty-five jar covers that Maceda discusses in the paper. They are listed below. The first number in each item reflects the number of the artifact as it appears in the paper. The second number is the field or museum number. KN stands for Kan-Nitong Cave, and FE stands for Fenefe Cave. I also added Maceda’s descriptions of the features that possibly indicate age.

8. KN-17-A—small and has six flutings on one side of the gable, possibly for a female child
14. KN-11-A—has a line drawing of a human with a vulva on one side of the gable and has angular cuts at the corner of the gable
15. KN-12-0142—shaped like the head of a man and has twenty-five parallel flutings covering the base
20. KN-45-0330—has fifteen large serrations and twenty-one small ones at the top of the gable
26. KN-49-0134—has ten to eleven angular cuts on the corners of the gable, possibly for two young females
33. KN-34-0221 20—has twenty flutings at the base of the pagoda

KN-12-0142 (no. 15 in Maceda’s paper) has twenty-five parallel flutings at the base, just below the neck (barely visible in the photo). Maceda believes the flutings may represent the age of the man buried in the jar.