OVERVIEWIt is common knowledge to anyone viewing this page that the internet is a useful tool in information dissemination. The internet, vis-a-vis other forms of media, has an edge because of easy and quick access to information. Thus, when three Communications seniors of the Ateneo de Manila University grouped themselves together for their thesis, they unanimously decided on "using the internet as an educational tool" as the thesis statement of the project.
Coming up with the thesis statement, however, was only the first step. We had to decide on a topic from which to make our site. After much arguing and brainstorming, we came up with Philippine Prehistory. After all, the world at large knowslittle about the contribution of Philippine Prehistory in the prehistoric development of Asia and other neighboring countires.
Why Philippine Prehistory? the answer, for us creators of this site, was at first simple: at the time we were trying to come up with something to do a web site on, there was none on Philippine Prehistory. Here was a chance for us to do something for our country and at the same time fulfill a course requirement. It was, for us, a perfect combination between academic effort and national pride.
But as we went along doing our research and data gathering, we stumbled on numerous treasures that prodded us on. Finding out more about our heritage made us appreciate our national identity even more.
Why study Philippine Prehistory?
Foremost, Dr. Wilhelm Solheim says, it is to establish our own national identity. "Filipinos have a heritage that existed long before colonial powers came to the country," he says. We may never be able to find out exactly what kind of people we were, as we are the sum of all influences, but we see shadows of the past in every artifact that is excavated and identified.
Secondly, continuous study of Philippine Prehistory puts to question some of the things we learned in school. With every artifact found and analyzed, theories are being revised, formulated, or even debunked. Dr. Eusebio Dizon of the National Museum says that because Archeology is not the government's priority, we have elementary school textbooks that teach students things that were proven to be false twenty years ago.
Certainly, there are other reasons for studying archeology and Prehistory. The richness of the past cannot be ignored by the apathy of the present and the call of progress of the future. There are now more than twenty web pages on the internet since our thesis proposal. While Filipinos have always been fascinated with the past, it is just now that we are given the chance to have a formal study of it. The University of the Philippines opened about three years ago an Archeological School Program, which aims to produce more archeologists in the country.
In learning about the art, the culture, and the lives of our ancestors, our pride in being Filipinos is affirmed.
One year's worth of data gathering, research, implementation, and using our connections resulted to this: a web site that tackles Philippine Prehistory extensively, from the point of view of students. But, here's the catch: this site does have limitations. Foremost is the limitation of scope. We relied on second and third hand informationfor the data of this page. That is, what we have here were taken from interviews and research on existing books, web sites,and other materials. Furthermore, the interviews conducted were within the Metro Manila region. Secondly, there is the financial limitation. Being students, we are necessarily on a low budget. Which explainswhy we limited ourselves to interviews within Metro Manila. But you are not here to read about our problems. We may not top archeologist' efforts of digging sites with the use of shell scoops, but we're doing our share. Here's our web site, and we're proud of it.
TM
