page_title: Old Tanauan Church Ruins
section_title: Archaeological investigation of the ruins
hierarchical_section_title: Old Tanauan Church Ruins / Archaeological investigation of the ruins
caption_attribution_description: English: Burials exposed from the archaeological excavations within the Old Tanauan ruins
context_page_description: The ruins of Old Tanauan located at the lake shore of Talisay in Batangas Province are remains of a church structure dating to the Spanish Colonial Period of the Philippines. It is the site of the first stone church of Tanauan, before the whole town relocated to its present location in 1754. Currently the ruins are within the property of Club Balai Isabel Resort.
context_section_description: In 2010, human remains were accidentally unearthed during the landscaping activities of the Club Balai Isabel Resort, which was brought to the attention of the National Museum of the Philippines. The initial assessment of the archaeologists from the National Museum on the site prompted them to conduct an archaeological investigation. In 2011 systematic excavations were conducted within the ruins around the area where the human bones have been found and beside one of the walls. The excavations revealed evidences of major wall collapses on the upper stratigraphic levels of archaeological trenches, which occurred around 19th to early 20th century. On the lower layers of the trenches, articulated human burials and scatters of fragmented human bones have been recovered, suggesting the reuse of the church ruins as a cemetery, sometime after the 1754 eruption. Adobe structures and the stony foundation of the walls were also exposed during the excavation, revealing more of the masonry of the church ruins.
caption: Burials exposed from the archaeological excavations within the Old Tanauan ruins
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