Fifty years after the first excavation on September 3, 1976, archaeologists from the National Museum of the Philippines (NMP) uncovered what they believe are the remains of another ancient wooden boat during a recently concluded confirmatory excavation in Barangay Libertad. This discovery could further expand the archaeological record of the country’s oldest known plank-built vessels and reinforce the city’s role as a major maritime trading center more than a thousand years ago.
‘The initial assessment is certainly significant. If this is not the previously identified Butuan Boat 3, then it raises an even more exciting possibility: there may be more ancient boats and archaeological treasures beneath the site waiting to be discovered,’ said Eunice M. Plaza, head of the NMP-Butuan.
Plaza pointed out that with 11 Butuan Boats reported to date, the possibility of additional boat remains underscores how much there is still to learn about Butuan’s maritime past.
‘This is not only good news for Butuan, but for the entire country as it highlights the depth of our maritime heritage and the need for continued archaeological research and the careful protection of these archaeological sites that contain irreplaceable evidence of our past,’ she added.
The NMP-Butuan cited that the new findings was revealed during the Exit Conference on July 29, 2026 of the archaeological excavation and documentation activity on the Butuan boats at the two sites in Barangay Libertad.
The excavation at the privately-owned Torralba site revealed three wooden planks, including one bearing lugs known as wooden projections characteristic of the famed Butuan boats, prompting researchers to conclude that the remains are almost certainly part of an ancient vessel.
Nero M. Austero, Senior Museum Researcher, NMP-Maritime and Underwater Cultural Heritage Division (NMP-MUCHD), the project team leader of the excavation, said that the new planks they discovered in the new excavation sites might possibly be a new balangay boat that has not yet been previously recorded and documented.
‘Based on what we’ve seen, the planks that we have excavated have the characteristic of a Butuan boat. We are just not sure if these new sites from the previously cited areas where the documentation were lost, like boats 10 and 11 that really don’t have records-so when we are finally sure that these don’t belong to any of the recorded sites, then it will be the time that we might call them boat 12 or 13,’ said Austero.
Austero emphasized that they will still have to resort all means to find the old records to counter verify if the planks found in the newly excavated sites are really not from the older recorded excavation that got lost in the records or if these are boats 3, 6, 7, and 8.
‘Last year, when we started the new excavation, we assumed that it was boat 3 but based on previous reports and photographs, we compared them and found out that it is not the same boat,’ said Austero, citing the recent excavation at the Toyota Butuan area which concluded on July 25.
The archeologist explained that one of the key questions they are looking at is: what boat-building technology was used, as he noted the various boat-building technologies used on different boats.
‘For example, boat 9 has a different boat-building technology, does not have any lugs, what this mean is that it doesn’t have lashed-lug, which is used for the lashing technique in tying the frames, so boat number 9 is interesting,’ explained Austero, adding that the next question would be who built them. He cited different theories on whether they were made in Butuan or elsewhere then brought to Butuan; and who built them, as they are using different techniques in building the boats.
Lashed-lug boats are ancient boat-building techniques of the Austronesian peoples. It is characterized by the use of raised lugs which are also called ‘cleats’ on the inner face of the hull planks.
Austero added that another good question is, after the height of this technology, there are recorded new boats by the 19th century revealing a gap as to the time where the boats used only dowels, no nails, raising the question where the technology ended. A city built by trade
Long before Spanish colonization, Butuan had already established itself as one of Southeast Asia’s earliest trading centers.
Austero cited historical records from Chinese annals indicatinng that as early as the 10th century, Butuan was already sending trading missions to China even before its formally documented tributary missions.
‘As early as the 10th century, there were reports written on the Chinese annals,’ Austero said. ‘The people of Butuan were already negotiating and trading with the Chinese.’
Historical data suggests that by the late 12th century, Butuan had become part of an integrated regional trading network linking settlements across present-day Luzon, the Visayas, and Mindanao.
Archaeological evidence suggests these communities flourished around the mouth of the Agusan River and Butuan Bay, locations that naturally evolved into trading settlements.
‘Ancient settlements usually begin at the mouth of rivers,’ Austero explained. ‘The Agusan River played an important role in commerce and trade even in ancient times.’
Geological studies also explain why ancient boats were eventually buried beneath today’s landscape.
Thousands of years ago, the Agusan River flowed differently. Over centuries, sedimentation gradually altered its course, sealing former river channels beneath thick layers of silt and preserving the wooden vessels in waterlogged conditions.
Geological studies suggest that the Agusan river basin was formed from centuries of floodings swallowing the flood plains of Butuan-events that contributed to fertile farm land areas along the valleys near the river deltas.