I NEED HELP! PLEASE! Are there any ancient ruins or treasures from any Pre

[Hello! ^^.]

hispanic Philippines civilization? Do we have any ancient ruins or treasures from any of our prehispanic civilizations?

Because I was reading up the histories of the Kingdom of Champa & the Khmer and they have lots of ruins and treasures even though they are now a bunch of lost civilizations. How come we can't find any ruins from our lost civilizations?

But we indeed had them...
We had:

Sultanates: Maguindanao and Sulu.
Rajahnates: Butuan and Cebu
Dynasties: Tondo & Seludong
Confederations: The Confederation of the Datus of Panay.
Kingdoms: Sanfotsi & Zabag

But how come we don't have any ruins and scant little treasures or evidences of them?

Except for merchant records from the Chinese & Muslims or early Spanish chroniclers we didn't even know what our ancestors did.

It doesn't make sense. It seems as if thousands of years of development and progress has been erased from our collective memories.

Surely, civilizations would leave a great deal of documentation. What happened to all the ancient structures, treasures, scholarship and etc. of our pre-hipanic civilizations? What happened to the legends, epics, tales?

What happened to all the stories of past Kings, Sultans, Princesses, Rajahs, Scholars, Prophets, Soldiers and etc?

How come most people don't even remember, know or refuse to acknowledge that we had any prehispanic states?

And the scant info about them has to be culled from foreign sources, like Chinese merchant accounts, Kartillas from the Brunei Sultanate or early diaries from Hispanic missionaries...

It really irks me how we unexplicably know nothing about the perhispanic past.

I mean hell. What happened to the physical evidence of their existence? The Mexicans have Aztec ruins, the Cambodians have the Khmer ruins & the Indonesians have the ruins of Borubudor and they actually remember the previous states which used to exist in their land

How come it seems as if we don't have any ruins or whatsoever?
How come lots Filipinos forget that we even had a past before Spain?

It's as if thousands of years have been wiped off the memory of Philippine history forever.

Please if you know, we somehow have any ancient ruins or treasures or anything at all.

Please share your knowledge with us.

If only to plug the gaping black hole of the Philippine identity crisis due in part to a huge lack of a sense of pride for culture or history brought about by mass amnesia of the past.

Since it seems as if we had zero or nill cutlure before the Spaniards came which I know is false because I have nagging feeling that we were NOT spear chucking naked savages into cannibalism and we really did have civilizations.

Please fill my empty heart.

I really really yearn for ancestral heritage or any shred of ancient tradition.

 

[JIMMackdaddy]

PART I. ANALYSIS OF THE NOMENCLATURE.
The cultural relationships of the several Philippine peoples are considerÂ*ably illuminated by the religious words used by them. Religion has the advantage, in an inquiry directed to such relationships, of being comparaÂ*tively independent of the physical soil. Whether rice is grown in an open field or under irrigation is likely to be in some degree a function of climate. At least a people may know both of these methods but be compelled to practice only one of them. A specific religious element held in common by two nations, however, is obviously the result of their having at some time come under a common cultural influence. Among such elements, names are the best indices. Rites or beliefs become modified, or may be only partially similar, so that information must be detailed before they can be adjudged as belonging to one or to more classes. Names, after their dialectic alteration is allowed for, are either the same or wholly different. Distinctly proper names, such as the designations of deities and ceremonies, are particuÂ*larly valuable, since their original identity remains beyond suspicion even when their meaning changes radically.

RACE.

As regards race, the first Spaniards concluded that the Negritos repreÂ*sented the earliest stratum of population in the Philippines; and this opinÂ*ion seems never to have been challenged. There is certainly no known piece of evidence that would support the contrary view.

Toward the end of the nineteenth century it began to be held that two strata of the brown or Malayan race could be distinguished in the PhilipÂ*pines and East Indies generally, the later standing in the same relation of invasion, conquest, and cultural dominance toward the earlier, as the earlier had exercised toward the Negrito. The earlier swarm was spoken of as Indonesian, Proto-Malayan, Primitive Malay; and was variously connected with Polynesian, Caucasian, and other racial stocks.

Unfortunately, this Indonesian theory not only originated as a theory but remained speculative for many years. The sources and connections of the Indonesian and Malayan types were sought before the two types had been established, and evidence was adduced to support opinion without being reviewed completely or coherently. The hypothesis therefore met with some deserved opposition, in spite of its plausibility.

So far as the Philippines are concerned, the question has been settled affirmatively by the recent monograph of Mr. L. R. Sullivan.1 Using all the available evidence instead of selecting from it the parts favorable to a preconceived opinion, and confining himself to data uncolorable by subÂ*jective impressions -- that is, measurements -- he has shown that the Philippines contain native groups belonging to at least three racial types: the Negrito and two brown skinned, straight haired stocks. Of these two brown stocks, the one prevailing among the interior and less advanced peoples is shorter, longer headed, and broader nosed than the type dominant on the coasts and lowlands among the more advanced peoples. The interior type cannot possibly be the result of Negrito and Malayan mixture, as its

 

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Call it a series of unfortunate events. From what I know and what I have gathers the Archepelogeo of the Phillipines prior to Spanish and mislim invasion never had a centeralized government system it was based on small family/village/bands called barangays, each under the leadership of a datu, or chieftain. The barangay .... Its been invaded many times but think on this the Phill as a people didnt have much time to form a centralized government /empire before they were invaded... the indonesian empires of Srivijaya hit the phill around the 7th century and lasted to the 13th century and Majapahit 13th–16th century .... that is prime empire time right there taken away by conquring outsiders..... you say what about before that period? How many empires were there know before this period? pre 800 ad Not many really and for the most part they were in clumps of areas where the population was very high and the resources were plentyful enough to let people have idle time....

And there in lies the main reason Empires are built but first having a excess of food and labor to let people start delving into other areas to go from a village into a city to start forming haves and have nots..... T

Then again Archeology is not perfect Maybe there were ancient empires on the main island and maybe they just never speard to the mainland... why are there no ruins of them you ask... well maybe like native americans and many African empires of old they used Wood as there main building material.... that is a harsh enviroment on wood and it decays far faster than rocks so it all just decayed away.... and why no stories? Well the phill has been invaded SO many times and bend to the will of the conqurer that stories like that would be mostly oral like the Native Americans and well they were beaten out of the native peoples.... Maybe there are pre stories still there and people bjust dont know there pre stories because the native peoples changed the stories to save them from being whiped out like the Irish did...turning prechrisitian tales into christian tales to save them......

As proof Archeologist still cannot date exactly when the terraces were build in the phill... and if they were build pre invasion as is thought doesnt that scream excess of food and a work force large enough to construct something that large.... Village dont just come together and decide to build giant rice terraces for no reason..... Who did they feed? Who built them and why? Why is there no proof beyond that? Like I siaid wood doesnt hold up well maybe it was an altruistic empire in which the leader realized why force the people to build him a palace when what they really need is more food? why waste the labor on giant statues when they can use that labor to build water systems... practical empire = good king.