The Short History of the Ifugao Rice Terraces: A Local Response to the Spanish Conquest

Contrary to long-held beliefs, the Ifugao Rice Terraces in the Philippine Cordilleras were not established 2000–3000 years ago but rather emerged as a recent adaptation to Spanish colonization. This study challenges the dominant historical narrative by integrating radiocarbon dating, faunal isotopic signatures, human osteological remains, archaeobotanical data, energetics assessments, and spatial analysis. Findings suggest that the shift to wet-rice cultivation was a response to colonial pressures rather than an ancient practice. The research employs Bayesian modeling alongside ethnohistorical and ethnographic evidence to reconstruct the terraces' origins, offering new insights into their cultural and historical significance.

Acabado, S. B., Koller, J. M., Liu, C.-h., Lauer, A. J., Farahani, A., Barretto-Tesoro, G., Reyes, M. C., Martin, J. A., & Peterson, J. A. (2019). The Short History of the Ifugao Rice Terraces: A Local Response to the Spanish Conquest. Journal of Field Archaeology, 44(3), 195–214. https://doi.org/10.1080/00934690.2019.1574159