 The Tuyom Clay SourCe and CeramiCS from The CenTral ViSayaS, PhiliPPineS Chapter 25 The Tuyom Clay Source and Ceramics from the Central Visayas, Philippines: Comparative Studies Using ICPMS Elemental Analysis John A. Peterson, Andrea Yankowski, Grazyna Badowski, and Eric De Carlo Abstract This project compares the elemental signature of clays and earthenware pottery from the Central Visayas using iCPmS (inductively Coupled Plasma-mass Spectrometry) and multivariate statistical analysis. data from specimens from Cebu and Bohol are included with that from a previous study comparing the Tuyom clay source in Cebu with very local pottery near Carcar, Cebu. The previous study demonstrated that ceramic sherds from several iron age sites in the vicinity were likely from the source; earlier neolithic era pottery did not match. This was not surprising since the source is from a paleosol that formed in ad 1000–1200 and the radiocarbon age of the late neolithic pottery was ca. 1000 years earlier. neither did pottery from liloan, 60km further north in Cebu and near another quality clay source, match. The present study combines elemental data from pottery in Bohol which is directly across the Bohol Strait from Cebu in order to broaden the comparative universe and to consider the strength of relations between cross- channel villages, if any. This study contributes to the consideration of household vs. village production and exchange of earthenware pottery in the region as well as to refinement of regional chronologies and social practices. Introduction Cebu and Bohol in the Visayas islands of the central Philippines face each other across the 20-mile wide Bohol Strait [fig. 25.1]. Coastal villages on both sides and throughout the region shared a common Visayan culture indicated by ceramic design, language, and other material culture markers. ethnohistorical documentation, beginning with Spanish accounts in the 16th century, affirms this cultural affiliation throughout the Visayas, at least from the period of european contact and presumably earlier. Spanish policies of reducción and encomendero, the resettlement of local populations within the vicinity of churches and the assignment of their labor to Spanish authorities, as well as religious and military colonization, significantly altered settlement patterns. What may have been a village and household level economy before the Spanish era was transformed into a tribute and market economy centered on urban cores around the early augustinian parishes. Carcar, Cebu, was the site of a major church construction in 1599 (Peterson et al. 2005) with elaborate and massive stone architecture that demonstrates the substantial character of Spanish intrusion. across the strait in Bohol, Spanish missionaries settled in Baclayon, just outside Tagbilaran City. in 1596 and established its first reducción and church in the town of loboc by the early 1600s. Previous study — Cebu We examined the character of this settlement shift using ceramic sherds found at sites in Cebu and Bohol, and comparing them using iCP-mS elemental analysis. Sherds from Bohol were also compared internally  Crossing Borders 25.indd 1 6/19/2012 12:07:19 AM