Pre-colonial Stage

Tools for sawing and drilling, as well as weapon implements, were excavated and taken as evidence for settlement during the Stone Age and primitive technology.³ Long before the arrival of the Spaniards, Philippine natives already had close commercial contact with neighboring communities in Southeast Asia, China and even as far as Japan.

Natives used constellations for timekeeping⁶ such as tracking seasons for agricultural purposes³ and social functions⁷. Indigenous people since time immemorial have used knowledge of the movement of heavenly bodies for essential facets of civilization, and so the field of study dedicated to this native astronomy was born, ethnoastronomy⁵.

The Laguna Copper Plate is the earliest document that reveals the earliest use of mathematics. It is dated to be written in the late 9th century. And It is written in an ancient Malay Language, using the Old Kawi Script, detailing the absolution of a nobleman and his family of debts.⁹

Sources:

1. Patricia Lazo Vega. “Charted territories: the Philippines as depicted in old maps,” GMA News, July 4, 2012, https://www.gmanetwork.com/news/lifestyle/artandculture/264136/charted-territories-the-philippines-as-depicted-in-old-maps/story/.
2. “Flake Tools,” National Museum of the Philippines, las modified February 10, 2014, https://www.nationalmuseum.gov.ph/nationalmuseumbeta/Collections/Archaeo/Flake.html.
3. Crisanto M. Lopez. Science and Technology in the Philippines (Ateneo de Manila University, 2018).
4. Molly Porter. “More Than Meets the Eye: Delta Orionis in Orion’s Belt,” National Aeronautics and Space Administration, last modified August 7, 2017, https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/chandra/more-than-meets-the-eye-delta-orionis-in-orions-belt.html.
5. Dante L. Ambrosio. “BALATIK: Katutubong Bitiun ng mga Pilipino,” Philippine Social Sciences Review 57, nos. 1-4 (2005). https://bangkanixiao.files.wordpress.com/2012/09/ambrosio-balatik-katutubong-bituin-ng-mga-pilipino.pdf
6. William Henry Scott. “Natural Science,” in Barangay: 16th Century Philippine Culture and Society, (Ateneo de Manila University Press, 1994) 121-124.
7. Chang Casal. “5 unique things Filipinos believed about the sun, moon, and stars,” CNN Philippines, January 23, 2019, https://cnnphilippines.com/life/culture/2019/01/22/Filipinos-astronomy-beliefs.html?fbcid.
8. “The Laguna Copperplate Inscription,” Wikipedia, December 2, 2017, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Inskripsyon_sa_Binatbat_na_Tanso_ng_Laguna.jpg.