Its my first time to see an ancient writings of our early men and a good site to experience and see them live is the Angono Petroglyphs located in the boundary of Angono and Binangonan. We went there via a tour organized by the Thunderbird Resorts management and I was with 6 bloggers that day to check out one of Philippines' national treasure.
more photos below
The petroglyphs is dated around 3,000 BC and the images are carved or engraved in the stone wall of the mountain, below it are caves which I think serves as homes of the early men. According to the National Museum curator who is present at the site, the petroglyphs was discovered by our national artist Carlos "Botong" Francisco in 1965, then he later reported it to the National Museum office to protect and save the site. I'm glad that the petroglyph images were saved and they create a perimeter area and not allowed us to take photos using our DSLRs.
The most sad part is that modern vandals are present and almost damaged the other parts of the rocky mountain, but good thing that our National Museum acted fast and are now very strict and guard it 24 hours a day. The petroglyph is composed of 127 images of humans and animals, I also heard that this is our oldest writings of man in the Philippines.
The signage going to the Petroglyph, a min ride away from Thunderbird Resorts Rizal
we entered and passed inside this man made cave, they opened this as an access going to the Angono Petroglyph site
Bloggers getting ready
inside the man made tunnel is so dark, I used my flash of my camera to light up my way, if ever I know that it is dark, I should have brought my flashlight with me, the surface is rocky and dry.
walking on the other side of the tunnel is a grassy and rocky ground, this sign welcomed us as we arrived, we walk for about 5 min going to the site.
The National Museum's newly built admin office, they will conduct lectures and exhibits here for touring groups of people and students. We got our first briefing here before we went up to the site.
short info about the Petroglyphs
National Museum van at the parking side, and our way up going to the site, its slippery and you should be very careful in walking.
my foot wearing a Vibram five fingers foot wear, and the stairs that leads to the drawings on the wall.
here's the perimeter fence towards the stone wall.
the Angono Petroglyphs, you can see people walking or dancing and some figures of a turtle or maybe a lizard.
other side of the stone wall, and you'll see some vandalism
more images, looks like a group of people partying.
big human figure with a child
infront of a big tree, you can also see a mini cave under it, the guide said that the tunnel is so narrow in the entrance, but theres a big space from the inside. Looks like the early men lives here.
another group of human figures.
More figures, Petroglyphs was considered as our first and oldest artwork, for me they are writings that records that the old men who lives here exists, and these drawings just a tribute to remind us that they got here first.
