Jessa Patricia Anne B.

Mendoza
11436638

KASPIL2-A52
AB-PHM

1. Robert Fox is the proponent of the land bridges theory. In his theory, the Philippines is
thought of as a part of Mainland Asia through land bridges. The land bridges were said to be
found between Borneo and Palawan; Borneo, Sulu, and Mindanao; New Guinea and Mindanao;
and Taiwan and Batanes. However, the land bridges were washed out due to an increase of the
water level because the Earth was then getting warmer resulting to melting of ice caps. Fox also
believed that the early men in the Philippines are not only recipients but also mediators in
spreading their culture. Foxs theory has a strong point because of the similarities of the animals
and plants to our countrys neighbors in Asia.
Meanwhile, Wilhelm Solheims theory deals about the Nusantao Maritime Trading
Communication Network (NMTCN). In Solheims theory, the NMTCN was the reason on the
spread on the cultural aspect of the peoples in Southeast Asia, East Asia and Oceania or basically
the Asia-Pacific region. Solheim suggested that there were four lobes divide regions in the AsiaPacific and the lobes point of origin is the central lobe.
Foxs and Solheims theories are different and also have similarities. One difference is
that in Foxs land bridges theory, the peoples travel through the land bridges that connect regions
in Asia while in Solheims theory, the peoples use the waters in travelling in coherence to his
theory NMTCN. The similarity between their theories is that they both consider that the early
men give and take cultures but Fox and Solheim theorized it in different ways. Fox believed that
the early men used land bridges, while Solheim believed that the early men have been
networking through maritime.

2. Our working definition of Philippine prehistory states that it was the unwritten history
of the Philippine Archipelago that shows pre-colonial lifestyles or cultures of early Filipinos and
their international relations through the study of artifacts. Studying the Philippine prehistory is
significant because it would reveal to us today how our ancestors lived long ago. Studying the
Philippine prehistory will let us gain knowledge on what technologies have been used by the
early Filipinos and we would be able to compare and contrast their lifestyles then and now. Also,
studying the Philippine prehistory is important for us to know the origin of how we became who
we are today. It is important to know the roots of our country and know how our country came to
be like this. Knowing that it has been a very long time before the Philippine prehistory, studying
it would be very interesting because personally, I would like to know how they were able to live
without the technological advancements this generation have.
Studying the Philippine prehistory can be used in learning the evolution of the physical
structures of the Philippine man. It is important because before in the Pre-hispanic period, the
Philippines was not yet conquered by foreign nations like Spain and America but because of the
conquering of some foreign nations, the Filipinos had mixed features from different races except
for the Aetas, etc. Philippine prehistory will also help in maintaining our culture because the
early Filipino men worked on these but now the Filipino culture is being replaced by foreign
culture because of course due to modernization. Placing what was found during excavations in
museums will aid in the preservation of the Philippine history and the future generations will be
guided with the artifacts found.

3. The video has shown that different regions in the Pacific share the same Austronesian
heritage. As a result, similarities in the languages of the different regions are present. The
Austronesian languages are derived from a single ancestral language. Austronesian languages are
all related to each other and are all indigenous languages of the Pacific. Foreign influences were
not a hindrance not to retain common cultural, philosophical and scientific concepts as well as
many of the same grammatical rules.
The video showed different Austronesian language counting systems. It was the first time
for me to know how similar the counting system of the different regions in the Philippines to
some countries in the Pacific region. I was surprised to know that the counting systems were now
that different at all and it came to me that the Austronesian language was really shared between
countries in the Pacific region. I also thought that when I come to the countries mentioned in the
video, it would not be hard for me to understand them because the language is quite similar to
my language.
It was clear to me now, that there was/were a way/s how the prehistoric men shared
cultures and shared the same heritage. Now, it is really believable that the regions in the Pacific
share the same heritage and the regions were also able to retain their culture. The video helped a
lot because I gained knowledge about the Austronesian heritage, and the Philippines is part of it
too.