History of Cagayan de Oro

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Miss Cagayan de Oro 2008, Jennifer Precious Gaston, wears a slightly modified traditional Higaonon dress. The Higaonon are early settlers of Cagayan de Oro.

This page shows mainly brief notes about Cagayan de Oro history. Click here to see the full article by Dr. Antonio J. Montalvan II.

A persistent romantic tale points to the word "kagayhaan" as the origin of "cagayan", but this narrative is not historical.

Some websites claim that the earliest discovered human bone in Cagayan de Oro is dated 1,600 BC. The correct figure is 350 AD.

An ancient settlement of Cagayan de Oro is the open site in Huluga. Several newspaper reporters incorrectly use the phrase "Huluga Caves" to refer to this place. An example is a recent article in Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro, which states that " ... Huluga Caves is a permanent settlement." TheWikipedia entry on Huluga Caves is also inaccurate.

This misconception seems to be the result of the popular depiction of early humans as cave dwellers. Although there is truth to this portrayal in many findings worldwide, in Huluga there is evidence that the caves were used for burial. The aforementioned human bone dated 350 AD was found in a Huluga cave.

Indications of prolonged human habitation were found in the Huluga open site on a hill, now referred to by the Heritage Conservation Advocates (HCA) as Obsidian Hill, which was partially destroyed by the city government. Huluga, therefore, is an archaeological area composed of two parts -- the caves and the hill. To refer to Huluga as a settlement site, writers should use any of these phrases: Huluga open site or Huluga settlement site. See primer on Huluga.

There are other sites in Cagayan de Oro where artifacts and fossils have been found. More studies are needed for these areas and Huluga.

In 2004, a team from the University of the Philippines-Archaeological Studies Program (UP-ASP) made a misleading report about Huluga, calling it a "camp-like" area. The team, which ignored a midden in Huluga and several artifacts and fossils found by the HCA, was paid P450,000 by former mayor Vicente Y. Emano, the same person who had destroyed a huge portion of this heritage site.

The authority on Cagayan de Oro history is Dr. Antonio J. Montalvan II, curator of the Museum of Three Cultures of Capitol University. His article on the Cagayan de Oro history is in the website about Cagayan de Oro heritage. Excerpt:

Settlement

CAGAYAN DE ORO AND ITS SURROUNDING were occupied by humans around 350 AD. Signs of ancient habitation were discovered in 1970 by field researchers of the National Museum. The researchers were exploring Huluga, a place eight kilometers south of the present Cagayan de Oro City.

Huluga settlement as interpreted by Nonoy Estarte of Museo de Oro, Xavier University.

Huluga is a promontory with two main sections: a set of caves and an Open Site . The Open Site appears to be the village of the original people of Cagayan de Oro.

Inside the cave were skeletons, pots, potsherds, tools, possibly Indian glass beads, Chinese pot fragments, and vestiges of possibly Annamese and Thai wares -- indications of overseas trading. The Open Site yielded potsherds, Chinese celadon sherds, and obsidian flakes.

Archaeologist Dr. Erlinda M. Burton sent a skull fragment to Dr. Jeffrey Bada of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, where it was subjected to amino acid racemization, a dating technique. Bada then wrote a letter to Burton, stating that the sample came from 1,600 BP (before present) or 350 AD, during the Late Neolithic Period. More.

Updated October 11, 2008. Longer explanation about Huluga caves and open site revived February 3, 2009. Revised March 8, 2009.

DISCLAIMER: A large amount of information is this website was compiled in 2003. Updates are supplied in some sections. User assumes all risk of use.