| Abstract: |
Current archaeological evidence from sites throughout the Philippine archipelago suggest the presence of complex polities (e.g., chiefdoms) by at least the beginning of the second millennium AD, during what is referred to here as the late prehistoric period which ended with Spanish contact in the sixteenth century (e.g., Hutterer 1986
Ronquillo 1987
Junker 1990). Recent archaeological investigations at the Tanjay site and surrounding Bais region sites in southeastern Negros (Hutterer and Macdonald 1979, 1982
Hutterer 1981
Macdonald 1982
Junker 1990, 1991, 1993), and at the Cebu City site, Cebu Island (Nishimura 1988, 1992) have been aimed at elucidating the nature of sociopolitical complexity and evaluating dynamic models of the organization and economy of complex polities. Currently, I am conducting related research focused on chiefdom political economy and interpolity interaction using historic accounts of the contact period and archaeological evidence obtained in 1988-89 as part of the research project I directed in the Dumaguette-Bacong area of southeastern Negros, as well as data from several earlier studies (Bacus in prep). Analysis of the archaeological materials is still in progress. In this paper, I will present a brief summary of the research, and will focus primarily on the theoretical framework guiding this project including a discussion of the several models of political economy being evaluated and of how these models can provide a context for understanding and investigating interchiefdom interaction. In addition, I will summarize evidence from Spanish historical accounts on the political economy and interpolity interactions of contact period polities. Finally, I will present a brief summary of the archaeological fieldwork from the 1988-89 season.
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