“The Cordillera Mountains and the Rice Terraces are like no other sights in the world. They are unique and really heart-stopping. Every Filipino should count them as a blessing. After all, it is our land and it is worth saving.”—Tet Andolong
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Wide-eyed tourists, both foreigners and locals, continue to trek to the Ifugao Rice Terraces called “the Eighth Wonder of the World.”
“In justice, (the rice terraces) should be called the first,” argued an article which appeared in Clarin-Revista, a widely-circulated publication in Buenos Aires, Argentina. “For beside it, the pyramids of Egypt, the gardens of Babylon, or the Roman aqueducts are simple attempts at minor engineering.”
During our high school years, we were always in awe of the Ifugao Rice Terraces. It was prominently featured as one of the tourist destinations in our social studies textbook, alongside other notable sites such as Maria Cristina Falls, Chocolate Hills, Puerto Princesa Underground River, and Mayon Volcano.
Our teacher told us that these terraces are approximately 2,000 years old or even older. However, a recent report – based on research conducted by Stephen Acabado, an anthropological archaeologist and current professor at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) – suggests that the actual age of the terraces is significantly younger.
“There’s a good chance that you are among those who still believe that the Banaue Rice Terraces are more than 2,000 years old,” said The Cordilleran Sun. “But this (claim) has to go because recent evidence shows that the Banaue Rice Terraces are much, much, much younger than originally thought.
“Archaeological digs were done in several sites in Ifugao. Materials from these sites were taken for radiocarbon-dating. Paleoethnobotanical remains were collected for analysis. The datasets gathered and analyzed by the researchers show compelling evidence that the Banaue Rice Terraces are only around 200 to 400 years old, not 2,000 years old.”
Prof. Acabado is also the director of the Ifugao Archaeological Project. “For years, Acabado has done extensive research on Ifugao history and culture,” the Sun said. “In his work, he regularly collaborated with Ifugao researchers like Marlon Martin, the head of the conservation organization Save the Ifugao Terraces Movement. Acabado and Martin were co-authors of the book Indigenous Archaeology in the Philippines: Decolonizing Ifugao History.
The assertion that the Ifugao Rice Terraces date back 2,000 years originated from Henry Otley Beyer and Roy F. Barton, both anthropologists who were among the first historians of the Philippines.
“The 2,000-year dating of Beyer and Barton were not based on any archaeological or scientific evidence. They came up with their estimate by speculating how long it would have taken the Ifugao to construct the terraces. It was also a product of the prevailing model of population and technological movement of their time,” Acabado was quoted as saying by Rappler.
Historians said the rice terraces were ingeniously carved out of the mountains by the Ifugaos for rice farming. Previous archaeologists believe that the Ifugaos, who began constructing the terraces 20 centuries before Christ, migrated from Indo-China to Luzon.
“As an ethnic type, the Ifugaos have disappeared, mingling with the autochthonous tribes that have inhabited the new land,” wrote the Clarin-Revista article.
“Not even his physical resemblance was preserved,” the article deplored. “Actually, only the name of the foreign voyagers remains, carried by the possible descendants, one of the many indigenous communities that occupy the area where they landed 4,000 years ago.”
The rice terraces, described as “the stairway to heaven,” is a living monument to the ingenuity of tribal Filipino farmers who have tilled the steep slopes. It is among the top 50 Wonders of the World and has been listed on the roster of the World Heritage Sites of the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization since 1995.
The UN Food and Agriculture Organization has designated it as one of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems.
Aside from the Banaue, there are four more other terraces; these can be found in Batad, Mayoyao, Hungduan, and Kiangan. In agriculture, a terrace refers to a leveled section of a hilly cultivated area, designed as a method of soil conservation to slow or prevent the rapid surface runoff of irrigation water. Often such land forms into multiple terraces, giving a stepped appearance.
Terraced agricultural fields are common in Asia: on Himalayan foothills, Central and South China, Java, Sumatra and Sulawesi, Northern Indochina, the highlands of Pacific islands, including Hawaii, as well as on the Andes mountains of South America.
“But the Ifugao rice terraces are the most extensive,” wrote science journalist Paul Icamina, when he was still with the International Rice Research Institute. “If stretched end to end in a line, the Ifugao rice terraces measure 48,280.4 kilometers – about 10 times longer than the Great Wall of China or about half the earth’s circumference.”
Banaue Rice Terraces is 350 kilometers north of Manila. It continues to be a major tourist spot in the country, contributing significantly to the growth and development of the tourism industry.
