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Wilhelm (Bill) G. Solheim II retired from the Department of Anthropology,
University of Hawai'i Manoa in December 1991 and became Professor Emeritus
there from. He started his archaeological training at the University of
California, Berkeley, had several semesters at the University of the
Philippines with Prof. H. Otley Beyer, and completed his Ph.D. at the
University of Arizona, Tucson, 1959. He joined the staff of the
Archaeological Studies Program at the University of the Philippines,
Diliman in October 1997. Bill became a pioneer in the prehistoric
archaeology of first the Philippines and then Southeast Asia as a whole
when he became the first trained archaeologist to work in the Philippines
after the 2nd World War and in northeastern Thailand. He has done field
work for shorter and longer periods in all the countries of Southeast
Asia, plus Hong Kong.
Archaeology in the Philippines
began sometime in the late 19th century with works conducted by
early anthropologists like Alfred Marche and humanists like Jose Rizal
whose works contribute to the small library of archaeological information
thus far collected of Philippine prehistory. This science did not grow
much in the Philippines since then. But, in the 1980s through the 1990s
the efforts of two archaeologists at the National
Museum, namely Wilfredo R. Ronquillo and
Eusebio Z. Dizon, began to attract attention and
together they worked for the establishment of the University
of the Philippines' Archaeological Studies Program (UP-ASP) in
1995. In support of this wonderful effort to promote archaeology in the Philippines,
upon his retirement from the University of Hawaii, Professor Bill Solheim
donated to the UP-ASP his entire library of Philippine and Southeast Asian
materials worth millions of pesos. He also decided to return to the
Philippines where he hopes to spend the rest of his life.
Since then, several
young and not-so-young individuals enrolled in the ASP courses to become
the new core of archaeologists who are committed to search the underground
for archaeological data and densify precious prehistoric information of
the Philippines and Southeast Asia. The need for better and more effective
techniques in archaeological fieldwork and post excavation analysis became
urgent for this new crop of archaeologists. The opportunity to share in
the scientific methods and experience of foreign experts also became
obvious with visits of Japanese, German, British and American
archaeologists in the last 7 years. New archaeological sites were
excavated and documented and many more have been identified for scientific
exploration.
One important site
is
Ille rock shelter
in El Nido,
Palawan. Bill Solheim has decided to dedicate the rest of this life to the
pursuit of archaeology in the Philippines and the promotion of the science
from a field school base that he envisions to establish in El Nido,
Palawan.
 The
purpose of the Wilhelm G. Solheim II Foundation for Philippine Archaeology, Inc.
is to foster both fieldwork and research in Philippine archaeology. For
the first few years of the foundation the purpose is more restricted, i.e.
to set up a research station in connection with the archaeological site of
the Ille Rock Shelter and Cave and several other similar sites in northern
Palawan.
Developing
this research station for both a field school in prehistoric archaeology
and facilities for advanced research on not only archaeology but also
biology, soils, geology, climatology and all those subjects entering into
the total ecology of the area for the past and present. As
the El Nido research station develops, it will be the model for similar research
stations scattered throughout the Philippines, as the needs and funds
develop.
How I Met Bill Solheim
By Cynthia Valdes
I first met Dr. Bill Solheim in 1986 at Ayala Museum. He was giving a
talk on Philippine Prehistory. I found out later that this talk was a
further elucidation of an article he had written for People and Art of the
Philippines. It was a subject matter that was completely new and foreign
but I was an “eager beaver” learner. As the talk was taped, I volunteered
to transcribe it. It took some doing since I was unfamiliar with most of
the terms and many of the names he mentions. But I persisted.
On a subsequent trip to Manila, I contacted him at a pension in Malate
where he and his wife Ludy were staying. I followed him around asking what
I’m sure would have to be the most naïve questions. But he was friendly
and patient. I scrounged around for what other related material I could
find. I was anxious to learn. When I had managed to transcribe the talk,
I submitted it to Fr. Gabriel Casal, then Director of the Ayala Museum.
That was my baptism of fire and introduction to Philippine Prehistory as
well as to the man who had the most to say about the interpretation of
that history.
I was very much
taken not just by Solheim but what he represented that when my first
grandson was born in Honolulu (1986) and I had an excuse to go and visit,
I immediately wrote to Dr. Solheim at the University of Hawaii at Manoa
and asked if he could guide me through a “crash course” on what there was
to know about “Philippine Prehistory”. He said to come but I mustn’t
forget to bring with me a bottle of “Tanduay Five year Old”. Right away,
I could tell this “course” wouldn’t be all that intimidating.
That was 17 years ago. In between bathing the baby and changing
diapers, I took the bus to University of Hawaii at Manoa, making my way to
the Anthropology Department where Dr. Solheim’s office was located. He
gave me papers to read, most of it his own writings. I was introduced to
the Nusantao, the Bau-Malay and Sa-huynh-Kalanay Pottery Traditions (not
that I could understand all that much of what I was reading) but I was
fascinated by the early (5th millennium B. P.) activities of
the Southeast Asian seafarer/navigator/trader.
Bill and Ludy
Three times a week, I made my way to UH. Sometimes, I would bring Bill
an “adobo roll” which my Honolulu-based niece and I baked ourselves.
Bill’s wife Ludy said she would spank me if I did that too often. He was
supposed to be on a “diet” and eat only an apple for lunch.
Bill and Ludy Solheim invited me to dinner at their home in Ulukanu
Drive. Ludy was a good cook. Bill said she could handle a party for 50
guests, doing all the cooking herself. She was also a potter, of which
Bill was quite proud. It complemented his own interests, one of which was
earthenware pottery. I gave her some Philippine-made placemats, she gave
me a blue stoneware salad bowl she had made.
Bill brought me to the University Library (while I turned over the baby
to my niece) and helped me get a Visitor’s card. I found and read other
books on Philippine Pre-history, particularly what Dr. Robert Fox also had
to say on the subject. I found out he didn’t quite agree with Solheim’s
theories on the Sa-huynh-Kalanay pottery tradition and had other things to
say on the matter. These differences of opinion are common among
scholars.
About Angkor
I was also
interested in the Angkorean Period of Cambodian history. I found lots of
books on this subject at UH. I was introduced to Henri Mouhot, a French
naturalist who had “rediscovered” Angkor in the 19th century;
Madeleine Giteau, Claude Jacques, and other French savants who studied and
wrote about it; Bernard-Philippe Groslier, who supervised the restoration
work at Angkor (he said the suffering of the temples were “nothing”
compared to the suffering of the people); Zhao Daguan, a native of
Zhejiang province in China, who actually spent a year in the Cambodian
court in the early 14th century and wrote the only description
of Angkor at the height of its splendor. These readings were attendant to
the study I was doing on Khmer ceramics for the Oriental Ceramic Society
of the Philippines. I have since visited Phnom Penh and Siem Reap where
the Angkorean civilization flourished from the 9th to the 15th
centuries.
To this day, I have
kept up my interest in Angkor and Khmer ceramics as well as what I have
learned from Bill Solheim, preeminent archaeologist and pre-historian;
friend and mentor.
Note:
Cynthia O. Valdes is
currently President of the W.G. Solheim II Foundation for Philippine
Archaeology, Inc. This organization seeks to further the cause of
archaeology in the Philippines and work towards a better understanding of
its prehistory. Its first project is the setting up of a Research Station
at El Nido in Palawan and the excavation of the Ille Rock Shelter, a site
identified by archaeologists as yielding evidences of dates as early as
the Pleistocene period in the Philippines.
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