Diggin Dewil Valley
the story
The Dewil Valley in El Nido,Palawan
is my favorite place on earth.
Ille is my favorite cave.
It was Ille's amazing archaeology that got me to the Dewil Valley.
Ille belongs to a family of limestone towers that populate the Dewil Valley. She is home to 250 million year old shell fossils, thousands of years worth of archaeology, and a few dozen species of animals and plants—some of which, might be unique to her.
I joined the Palawan Island Palaeohistory Research Project in 2015 as a masters student at the Archaeological Studies Program of the University of the Philippines. For the past 15 years, the project has been based in the Dewil Valley, in El Nido, Palawan, Philippines, and most of the archaeological excavations have focused on Ille.
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During my first excavation season, I was interested in finding out what the local community, who have watched archaeologists dig for over 20 years in their neighborhood thought about the work that we did. I learned that most of the adults were recent migrants, while the children of the valley considered Dewil as their only home. While the adults distanced themselves from the archaeology, the children, who were all born after the start of the archaeological project, saw the archaeology as part of the narratives of their own lives. This realization truly fascinated me and became the basis of the work that I would focus on.
From 2016-2017, I devoted my time on developing a multi-faceted heritage project together with a dedicated interdisciplinary team of architects, artists, anthropologists, archivists, teachers, and community organizers, who I am honored to call my friends. Our team focused on upgrading the exhibit building, developing a learning program for the kids of the valley, and coordinating with the local government units and other stakeholders about tourism and the developments in the valley. We anchored everything we did on the goal of maximizing community participation, increasing engagement, and creating fun, memorable, and inspiring learning opportunities for our kids. The project was made possible by the support of the municipal government of El Nido, National Geographic Society, and an amazing support system of community members and stakeholders.
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In the aftermath of that year of laughing, crying, telling and listening to stories, I finally accepted what others have hinted at all along--we were only just beginning. The construction of the exhibit building, donated by a sponsor and built on municipal land, was not a culmination of years of excavation work. It simply set the stage for the work to be done.
In the years that followed, we conducted more activities with the kids, a camp, numerous consultations and discussions, and innumerable hours of experiments. While I only initially envisioned creating a small response to insights from several interviews, now I look ahead to more years of heritage work to come. There is so much more to learn as we move towards the creation of a heritage landscape. I am so excited to continue dreaming and placemaking in a place that has been home to so many over thousands of years. I hope that you join us on this journey.
Stay tuned for more updates on the Dewil Valley Heritage Landscape and Explore-My-Ili coming this 2021!
Our work
how to support
We've had lots of friends support this project through the years by contributing their time and resources and helping us spread the word about all the work that is being done. a number of undergrad students have also made theses related to our community heritage projects. If you have something in mind, shoot me an email!