In Black Lamb and Grey Falcon (1941), the British author and journalist Rebecca West wrote:“It is sometimes very hard to tell the difference between history and the smell of a skunk.” 2017 could very well be the Year of the Skunk, with a lot more reek than is normal in store…
Last April we performed an inquest regarding the identity of Callao Man (or Callao Woman), that had been discovered in the Cagayan Valley of Luzon in the Philippines. During this inquest, we discovered some major flaws in the investigation done on the Callao remains by leading scientist Pawlik and his team (University of the Philippines).
Amongst these was the disappearance of the most crucial item of these physical remains – a molar. Now, the remains of the Callao Man (or Woman) are considered a National Treasure of the Philippines. Why was there no public shock when it disappeared? Scientists from all over the globe are anxious to analyse both the metatarsal and the ‘missing’ molar of the Callao. The question arises: WHERE IS THE MOLAR?
Another case: a major exhibition on the Philippines held at the Musée du Quai Branly in Paris (2013) was apparently staged by the Philippine team as a financial transaction. A lot of emphasis was placed on bulols, protectors of rice harvests, that had dubious provenance and that were later sold at auction by their private owners. The historical narrative of the exhibition omitted the Aboriginals also known as “Negritos” and their culture. Fortunately, a member of the French curatorial team included a delicate “hayabung”, a leg adornment used by the Negritos to show their hunting prowess.
On the occasion of this exhibition, a Professor Semah from the Musée de l’Homme (Paris) dismissed the Aboriginals of the Philippines as a recently developed black population. Having collected and studied material about the “Negritos” for more than 30 years, we consider his statements extremely shocking, since evidence points to the contrary: that they formed part of the first prehistorical Afro-Migration that fanned out all over the globe and settled in lands including the Philippines.
The Aboriginal Migration Foundation which I have established is committed to create an awareness concerning BLACK PREHISTORY; it aims to regularly update the narrative of the Aboriginals in an approach that is both coherent and humanistic.
It is time to re-claim BLACK PREHISTORY!