A. Paulita Roa LITTLE is known of the fact that around 3,000 years ago or so, the ancient inhabitants of the Philippines used jade extensively in their daily activities such as tools, ornaments and jewelry. The jade here are of two kinds - the nephrite which is harder than granite and most steel and the jadeite that is used for jewelry but breaks easily. It was Prof. H. Otley Beyer who wrote about a "Jade Cult" meaning this was a long period in time when jade was used extensively by the people. And that it reached the Philippines particularly in Batangas around 800 B.C. to 200 B.C. from South China. He attributed Mainland Asia as the source of raw jade. However, the jade artifacts that were discovered in Batangas and nearby provinces in the 1930s were not taken from controlled archaeological excavations but were what archaeologists termed as "surface finds" or taken from the ground sans digging. These were mostly adzes, chisels and gouges that were probably used for hunting, chopping trees, house and boat building. Dr. Robert B. Fox, known as the Father of Philippine Archaeology, did not agree with Prof. Beyer that Mainland Asia was the source of jade.He thinks that raw jade may have been quarried in Batangas and other places or gathered as alluvial river stones. In mid 1960s, Fox was able to recover several beautiful jade beads, bracelets and lingling- o earrings in several sites at the Tabon Cave complex in Palawan. He believed  that these jewelry were not locally made and that they were brought by several groups of migrants from South China. Similar lingling- o earrings were found in archaeological sites in Sarawak, Brunei, Vietnam, Hongkong, Taiwan and other areas around Southeast Asia. Dr. Wilhelm G. Solheim, known as Mr. Southeast Asian Archaeology, believes that since there is a wide distribution of jade artifacts in Southeast Asia, it shows that there was a dynamic maritime trade in areas where they have been found.That they could have been made in several manufacturing centers and carried by man around several nations that included of course, the Philippines. More than 40 years later, in 2004 to be exact, Dr. Eusebio Dizon of the National Museum of the Philippines and Dr. Peter Bellwood led an archaeological expedition in Anaro, Itbayat Island in Batanes. They found six nephrite artifacts from an ancient workshop site that has been dated between 550 B.C. to 350 B.C. The artifacts consisted of  nephrite adzes, discs and rings.To date there is no other prehistoric workshop  similar to  that in Anaro that has been discovered elsewhere in the Philippines.This discovery of the Anaro workshop refuted the conjecture of Dr. Fox that the jade ornaments were imported. But where did the Anaro craftsmen get their supply of nephrites? it could not be in Itbayat Island since this was formed out of two volcanoes and surrounded by uplifted coral reefs.However, there are big nephrite deposits in Fengtian, Taiwan a good 350 kms. away from Batanes. Could the nephrites come from that area? To find out about this, the archaeologists decided to have a chemical analysis done so that the specific quarry could be pinpointed. In March 2004, six samples were taken from the Anaro site and were subjected to analysis using the Low Vacuum type Scanning Electron Microscope or LVSEM. This is a non destructive technique that is highly recommended for the study of precious ancient materials. The results showed that the chemical compositions of the Anaro nephrite artifacts are similar to the nephrites from Fengtian, Taiwan. This provides an important evidence on the trade and transport of jade products in the Philippines and Taiwan since the latter was the source of raw jade that were fashioned into jewelry at the Anaro workshop.There must have been a great demand for these ornaments as the exquisite jade jewelry were excavated in several Neolithic sites like in Cagayan Valley and in Palawan.Perhaps, this was the same source that reached Butuan for several nephrite pieces were found there and are now in the hands of private collectors. Thanks to archaeology, we now have wonderful and interesting discoveries on that very long period in time before writing was invented. The discovery of the so called “the Jade Cult period” has enriched our knowledge of our history and changed our perceptions on who our ancestors were thousands of years ago.