page_title: Manunggul Jar
section_title: Design of the Jar
hierarchical_section_title: Manunggul Jar / Design of the Jar
caption_attribution_description: Prehistoric Pottery Gallery, Museum of the Filipino People, Rizal Park, Manila, Philippines. Complete indexed photo collection at WorldHistoryPics.com.
context_page_description: The Manunggul Jar is a secondary burial jar excavated from a Neolithic burial site in the Manunggul cave of the Tabon Caves at Lipuun Point in Palawan, Philippines. It dates from 890–710 B.C. and the two prominent figures at the top handle of its cover represent the journey of the soul to the afterlife.
  The Manunggul Jar is widely acknowledged to be one of the finest Philippine pre-colonial artworks ever produced and is considered a masterpiece of Philippine ceramics. It is listed as a national treasure and designated as item 64-MO-74 by the National Museum of the Philippines. It is now housed at the National Museum of Anthropology and is one of the most popular exhibits there. It is made from clay with some sand soil.
context_section_description: The Manunggul Jar shows that the Filipinos' maritime culture is paramount that it reflected its ancestors' religious beliefs. Many epics around the Philippines would tell how souls go to the next life, aboard boats, pass through the rivers and seas. This belief is connected with the Austronesian belief of the anito. The fine lines and intricate designs of the Manunggul Jar reflect the artistry of early Filipinos. These designs are proof of the Filipinos' common heritage from the Austronesian-speaking ancestors despite the diversity of the cultures of the Filipinos. The upper part of the Manunggul jar, as well as the cover, is carved with curvilinear scroll designs (reminiscent of waves on the sea) which are painted with hematite.
  Early Filipinos believed that a man is composed of a body, a life force called ginhawa, and a kaluluwa. This explains why the design of the cover of the Manunggul Jar features three faces - the soul, the boatman, and the boat itself. On the faces of the figures and on the prow of the boat are eyes and mouth rendered in the same style as other artifacts of Southeast Asia of that period. The two human figures in a boat represent a voyage to the afterlife. The boatman is holding a steering paddle while the one on his front shows hands crossed on his chest. The steersman's oar is missing its paddle, as is the mast in the center of the boat, against which the steersman would have braced his feet. The manner in which the hands of the front figure are folded across the chest is a widespread practice in the Philippines when arranging the corpse.
  The lid of the Manunggul Jar provides a clear example of a cultural link between the archeological past and the ethnographic present. It also signifies the belief of ancient Filipinos in life after death.
caption: Close-up of the two figures in a boat at the lid of the jar
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