Newsletter: Ateneo robot explorers uncover Philippine islands’ ancient technologies

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Danika Geronimo, Ateneo de Manila University Research Communications

Long before the first Spanish ships arrived on our shores, the Philippine islands were already home to daring seafarers with technology that enabled them to cross vast stretches of open seas, hunt formidable marine life, and build lives in a world that was anything but forgiving. 

Newsletter: Clues of advanced ancient technology found in the Philippines and Island Southeast Asia

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New archaeological evidence suggests that ancient inhabitants of the Philippines and Island Southeast Asia had the advanced plant-working technology needed for sophisticated boat building and open-sea fishing. CREDIT: Pawlik, 2025

The ancient peoples of the Philippines and of Island Southeast Asia (ISEA) may have built sophisticated boats and mastered seafaring tens of thousands of years ago—millennia before Magellan, Zheng He, and even the Polynesians.