Paleolithic Archaeological Sites in Cagayan Valley (2006)Paleolithic Archaeological Sites in Cagayan Valley (2006) is a Tentative List of UNESCO World Heritage Sites located at Solana; Peñablanca, Cagayan, Region II.
Paleolithic sites are located within the Cagayan Valley Basin which is bordered by the Sierra Mountain range on the East; the Caraballo on the South; the Cordillera Central on the west; and the Babuyan Channel on the north.
Found in two municipalities of the province, namely, Solana and Penablanca, Paleolithic sites yielded the earliest stone tools and remains of extinct and extant species of animals.
Archaeological excavations undertaken in Solana and vicinities resulted in the discovery of more than 68 Paleolithic sites in the Awidon Mesa formation. These sites yielded stone tools and fossils of extinct animals that include stegodons, elephants, rhinoceros, and large tortoise. The sites tended to confirm previous reports by prominent paleontologists and archaeologists from Europe that both Pleistocene mega-fauna fossils and chopper-chopping stone tools were present in the valley, suggesting mid-Pleistocene date for tool technology in the area at the earliest and later periods.
The frontiers of prehistory is thus being broadened and pushed back. Tentative results of radio-metric reading in the valley have yielded at tektite date of approximately .92 - 1.7 m.y. The Mid-Pleistocene dating of the presence of man in the Philippines has been established.
On the eastern flank of the valley in the Municipality of Penablanca, archaeological exploration specifically in the Callao Limestone formation revealed the presence of 93 archaeological sites that yielded stone tools of Paleolithic industry and bones and shells of animals still living in the vicinities. Of these sites, 78 are caves and rock shelters. The archaeological study of the caves in the Callao limestone formation suggests post-Pleistocene sites where a Paleolithic type of technology persisted. The materials recovered indicate that the people were hunters and gatherers who exploited forest and riverine environments. (Source: http://whc.unesco.org/)