Re-Examining Pictograms in the Caves of Cagayan Valley, Philippines

The rock art sites in Penablanca caves located in the province of Cagayan, northern Luzon, Philippines, were initially explored in 1976-1977. An estimate of more than 350 forms of geometric motifs, namely anthropomorphs, purported botanical emblems and many other indistinct and vague forms of drawings were documented on the walls of the rockshelters and caves located in the Callao Limestone formation. Since then, no further in-depth research of the rock art has been undertaken. The sites were revisited by the authors to document and to study the rock art in greater detail. This is the first systematic documentation of the sites using close-range, digital photography. Digital image enhancement techniques to reconstruct and recompose the faded images were also employed. This paper presents preliminary findings of systematic observation and documentation of motifs in rock art sites visited in Penablanca.