INDIVIDUAL PROJECT
Disclaimer: This article, including the the names of the archaeologist and the institute, is fictional.

Washed Out:

The Fictional Bamboo City

     Some of the earliest civilizations known to mankind include those which originated from Mesopotamia, India and China. These civilizations all developed near river system areas. The word ‘Mesopotamia’ itself literally means a land between two rivers. Ancient civilizations in the Fertile Crescent would not flourish without the two river systems namely Euphrates and Tigris. Civilizations, meanwhile, that built the cities of Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa also depended on their two river systems which are the Indus and Ganges. In the same way, the earliest civilizations in China rose from and near the Huang Ho and Yangtze River systems.

     Recent developments in Archaeology in the Philippines reveal that a civilization with its own level of sophistication could have flourished and existed in the archipelago in the 3000 BC, though did not develop near river systems, still, old enough to be compared to the great and ancient civilizations of Mesopotamia, India and China.

     A remote shoreline in Sitio Saysain in the town of Bagac in Bataan is being said to be the cradle of one of the oldest non-surviving civilizations in the world.

     An archaeologist named Matthew Rob, Jr. from the Apostles’ Holistic Christian Institute (AHCI) in the United States accidentally discovered the ancient community as he was having his vacation from work in the said town in June 2012. The first time his interest sparked was when he was diving to see some corals and fishes in a shore at least a kilometer away from his resort. He then wanted some quiet time for himself. However, in the middle of diving, he noticed that a lot of bizarre and odd things are scattered on the ocean floor. He started going down to see what were those. The most abundant material he found were bamboos organized vertically. Only at most one foot of the bamboos can be seen from the ocean floor. At first, he thought those were just fishing fences or some sort of support. But then, he realized that the place was isolated and was not inhabited for so much bamboo to be found there.

     Still boggled by what he saw, he asked the people near the resort of the reason behind by what he saw under the sea. He heard this story of the community called the Old Saysain which was washed out a couple of decades or maybe a century ago due to a tsunami.

     That was the start of his full commitment to excavating the location. He even asked for help from AHCI from support. When funding became sufficient, the excavation progressed and results were very promising.

The community which was thought to be just decades old turned out to be 3500 years old upon the carbon dating of the materials found in the excavation site. Other materials found are bricks and blocks with inscriptions, metallic utensils such as golden plates and bowls and accessories and ornamentals. From the inscriptions, the ancient community was said to be called San-sin with its capital called Nag-Bal-on.      According to Robs, the community is composed of at least a thousand of inhabitants. It is already comparable to the ancient communities flourished in the Fertile Crescent as San-sin also have its own form of writing which could be of Old Javanese origin and own sets of law as evidenced by the inscriptions seen in a 30 by 30 cm stone tablet. The important feature of this community is that bamboos are the main material in constructing buildings and establishments. This is what he hypothesized

     Robs emphasized that San-sin was just starting to flourish when a deadly tsunami engulfed the whole community approximately 2300 years ago. The whole community was submerged in water destroying almost everything. Lastly, Robs said that the people near the site thinking that the community has just been washed out at most a century ago could have been due to oral transmission encompassing the relativity of time.

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Reference:

Mark, Joshua J. Mesopotamia. 2009. Ancient History Encyclopedia. http://www.ancient.eu.com/Mesopotamia. March 09, 2014