The Tasaday Tribe

In the summer of 1971, a wealthy Filipino cultural minister, Manuel Elizalde Jr., was the first to "reveal" the existence of a Stone Age tribe, the Tasaday, living in the Mindanau rain forest of the Philippine’s. Elizalde, "a scion of a wealthy family,"(1) was introduced to the tribe through a member of the Blit Manabo tribe, a tribe of farmers who live a three-hour walk from the caves the Tasaday supposedly inhabited. This man, named Dafal, took Elizalde on a walk to the interior of the forest where the Tasaday dwelled. He had met them many years earlier on a hunting expedition, and claims he started trading bits of metal and cloth with them in return for their help in watching his hunting traps.(2)

At the time of their discovery, the 26 members of the Tasaday tribe wore clothes of orchid leaves, used stone tools, and ate only what they could gather in the rain forest. The discovery of Tasaday was important for the anthropological community because "they appeared to be relics from the Stone Age."(3) In 1986, however, the discovery was pronounced a hoax. Some members of what was thought to be a primitive tribe said that they were really members of other tribes, paid to pose as Tasaday. Several anthropologists agree that the Tasaday was a carefully planned scheme thought up by Elizalde as a means of gaining access to rain forest lands. Anthropologists have yet to agree on what the real story is behind the Tasaday.(1,3) This paper will present both sides of the issue as well as a conclusion based on analysis of the facts of the case.

Some say the discovery of the Tasaday people is the most significant anthropological event of the twentieth century. When Elizalde first met the Tasaday, they had no previous contact with Westerners. His claim was that they had been isolated for over one hundred years in the rain forest of the Mindanao Island, and based on the first few hours of observation, anthropologists concluded that the Tasaday people had been isolated geographically and culturally for around one thousand years.(2)

The man who brought the Tasaday tribe into the spotlight, Manuel Elizalde Jr., was head of a Filipino government agency for the protection of minority groups. Elizalde founded a group, PANAMIN, with the support of Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos. At the time of the discovery, the Philippine Government under Marcos was extremely corrupt. "Mr. Marcos grew fat off the starving country and even science was corruptible."(4) One theory says that Marcos’ supposed support of the Tasaday was due to his ulterior motive: to exploit the land and gain access to valuable mahogany growing there. Upon discovery of the Tasaday, Elizalde was excited about their potential "as a subject of scientific study, as a means of dramatizing the cultural minorities of the Philippines and their problems."(5) In the early 1970’s, Elizalde arranged for a group of journalists and scientists to visit and study the tribe. He was also paid $50,000 to film the tribe by NBC television.(6) Shortly after Tasaday was pronounced a hoax, Elizalde fled the Philippines to Costa Rica, where he was unable to be located by reporters or government officials, or any other media groups interested in his involvement with the supposed hoax.(7,1)

Another controversial issue driving those who say Tasaday is a hoax is that of linguistics. One of the scientists who studied the tribe, Carol Maloney, was a linguistic anthropologist. Her claim was that the Tasaday language was a "distinct dialect" with no word for agriculture, a practice that is supposedly unfamiliar to the tribe and no Spanish-derived words. Because the language was claimed as a distinct one, it seems that the hoax theory would be impossible. In creating a hoax, Elizalde would have had to also create a language.(8) Today, Maloney has a different view. She says that the hoax theory is "more credible than any other explanation of the Tasaday and should be taken with a grain of salt."(8) She originally felt that the Tasaday lived alone for at least 571 years, but now says that they may have lived alone for only 100 to 150 years. But, Clay Johnson, a member of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, thinks that the hoax theory is most credible. Although not an anthropologist, Johnson spent ten years in the southern Philippines learning the local languages. In 1972, upon seeing a National Geographic television special, Johnson reported that the language the Tasaday were speaking was much like Manobo, "the one he spoke while living in the Philippines."(1) At the request of a reporter, Johnson listened to a tape made by Maloney while she was at the cave in 1972, and came to the conclusion that the Tasaday language was 90 percent equivalent to Manobo. According to Johnson and other widely accepted standards, languages that overlap by 70 percent or more are in effect the same languages. "Thus, he calls the speech on the tape a dialect of Cotabato Manobo."(1) Today Maloney still believes that the Tasaday tongue is a dialect not a language.(9,10) With experts offering such differing views, no conclusion can be made about the truth of Tasaday through just linguistics studies.

In 1986, Swiss journalist, Oswald Iten, hiked to the Tasaday caves, found that they were not inhabited, and called the story a hoax. Although there had always been Tasaday doubters, until Iten’s discovery, they did not receive much attention. It is now Oswald’s skeptical view that predominates.(11) When Iten walked in to the Tasaday land, he found them wearing jeans and colored T-shirts, living in huts, growing crops, and possessing knives and trinkets.(11,12) Those in opposition to the hoax theory say that this modernization is due to the Tasaday’s recent exposure to the outside world. Since their discovery, Tasaday have intermarried with members of neighboring tribes, who they claim introduced them to things such as agriculture, hunting, jewelry, and other modern items.(13,14)

In addition to these factors, there are also many other smaller claims that cause controversy about Tasaday. For example, one scientist, Thomas N. Headland, says that there is not nearly enough food that could be gathered in the rain forest to be able to support the dietary needs of the tribe. Scientist, Douglas E. Yen disputes that claim. It has also been said that the tools of the Tasaday are amateurish compared to those of a tribe who had been living off such tools for hundreds of years.(15) Scientists also found no "midden", or heap of trash, near the Tasaday dwelling. Usually, such primitive tribes inevitably develop a midden in the surrounding area.(16)

Another question those studying Tasaday have posed is whether or not such a small group could survive for so many years. At the time of their discovery, there were only seven men, six women, and 14 children that called themselves Tasaday.(17)

John Nance, a journalist who quit his job to write and speak about the Tasaday, is one of the most insistent people claiming that Tasaday was indeed not a hoax. His feeling is that due to the lack of control of the Filipino government, Elizalde would have not needed a hoax, "just a gun" to gain control of Tasaday land. In theory, Elizalde’s reasoning for the Tasaday hoax was to gain control of their land. According to Nance, such a hoax would be totally unnecessary given the lack of a concept of land rights under the Marcos regime. In response to members of the T’boli tribe who claim that they were paid to be Tasaday, Nance maintains that these poverty stricken tribesmen would have said almost anything for the right amount of money. Nance says that the hoax theory is simply a "cloud of rumors and gossip" that intelligent people will see through and find the truth.(18)

After analyzing all the conflicting information on the Tasaday tribe, we can only deduce that there can be no conclusion. Anthropologists cannot seem to agree on what really happened in the Philippine forests; therefore, it is impossible for a layperson to decide what is really true. Although all of the anthropologists that spent time with the Tasaday agree that they are a real tribe, they spent very little time studying them. Linguist Carol Maloney spent only 14 days. Douglas Yen spent more time with the Tasaday than any other scientist, only 38 days.(3) Regardless of anyone’s opinion, the fact is that all the information on Tasaday is preliminary. There was no extensive research conducted on the tribe. Media contact ceased in 1974 due to the imposition of martial law in the Philippines. The research that was conducted was only enough to generate "plenty of heat and precious few rays of light."(19)

1 "Anthropologists debate Tasaday hoax evidence," in Infotrac: Primary Historical Documents from American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science, Dec 1, 1989 v246 n4934 p1113 (2)-[cited 11Feb, 2000]; available from www.infotrac.com.

2 "If only life were so simple. (anthropology - fascination with primitives) (Horizons)", in Infotrac Primary Historical Documents from U.S. News and World Report Inc., Feb 19, 1990 v108 n7 p54 (3) www.infotrac.com.

3 Lost Tribes, Sunken Continents and Ancient Astronauts: Tasaday Hoax: http://lime.weeg.uiowa.edu/~anthro/webcourse/lost/Tasaday/Tasaday.htm.

4 Nance, John. The Gentle Tasaday. Boston: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975, p25.

5 "Anthropologists debate Tasaday hoax evidence," in Infotrac: Primary Historical Documents from American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science, Dec 1, 1989 v246 n4934 p1113 (2)-[cited 11Feb, 2000]; available from www.infotrac.com.

7 Manuel Elizalde. (anthropologist/philanthropist) (obituary). In Infotrac: Primary Historical Documents: The Economist (US), May 17, 1997 v343 n8017 p94 (1). www.infotrac.com

8 Benthell, Jonathon. "Tasaday Debate as a Docu-Drama." Anthropology Today February 1990:1.

10 "Anthropologists debate Tasaday hoax evidence," in Infotrac: Primary Historical Documents from American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science, Dec 1, 1989 v246 n4934 p1113 (2)-[cited 11Feb, 2000]; available from www.infotrac.com.

11 "If only life were so simple," in Infotrac:US NEWS and World Report, Feb 19, 1990 v108 n7 p54 (3)-[cited 3 Feb, 2000]; available from www.infotrac.com.

12 Mydans, Seth. "20th Century Law Suit Asserts Stone-Age Identity," New York Times 29 Oct, 1998.

14 Hyndman, David and Nietschmann, Bernard. Letter. New York Times January 9, 1998.

19 "The strange case of the Tasaday: were they primitive hunter-gatherers or forest phonies," in Infotrac: Science Services Inc, Science News, May 6, 1989 v135 n18 p280 (3)-[cited 3 Feb, 2000]; available from www.infotrac.com.

Hilbert College		The Tasaday Tribe
- Home - - Students - - Tutorials - - Student Papers - Links	by Alicia Dunson, Jane Hawthorne, Rebecca Singleton, Tracie Thomas In the summer of 1971, a wealthy Filipino cultural minister, Manuel Elizalde Jr., was the first to "reveal" the existence of a Stone Age tribe, the Tasaday, living in the Mindanau rain forest of the Philippine’s. Elizalde, "a scion of a wealthy family,"(1) was introduced to the tribe through a member of the Blit Manabo tribe, a tribe of farmers who live a three-hour walk from the caves the Tasaday supposedly inhabited. This man, named Dafal, took Elizalde on a walk to the interior of the forest where the Tasaday dwelled. He had met them many years earlier on a hunting expedition, and claims he started trading bits of metal and cloth with them in return for their help in watching his hunting traps.(2) At the time of their discovery, the 26 members of the Tasaday tribe wore clothes of orchid leaves, used stone tools, and ate only what they could gather in the rain forest. The discovery of Tasaday was important for the anthropological community because "they appeared to be relics from the Stone Age."(3) In 1986, however, the discovery was pronounced a hoax. Some members of what was thought to be a primitive tribe said that they were really members of other tribes, paid to pose as Tasaday. Several anthropologists agree that the Tasaday was a carefully planned scheme thought up by Elizalde as a means of gaining access to rain forest lands. Anthropologists have yet to agree on what the real story is behind the Tasaday.(1,3) This paper will present both sides of the issue as well as a conclusion based on analysis of the facts of the case. Some say the discovery of the Tasaday people is the most significant anthropological event of the twentieth century. When Elizalde first met the Tasaday, they had no previous contact with Westerners. His claim was that they had been isolated for over one hundred years in the rain forest of the Mindanao Island, and based on the first few hours of observation, anthropologists concluded that the Tasaday people had been isolated geographically and culturally for around one thousand years.(2) The man who brought the Tasaday tribe into the spotlight, Manuel Elizalde Jr., was head of a Filipino government agency for the protection of minority groups. Elizalde founded a group, PANAMIN, with the support of Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos. At the time of the discovery, the Philippine Government under Marcos was extremely corrupt. "Mr. Marcos grew fat off the starving country and even science was corruptible."(4) One theory says that Marcos’ supposed support of the Tasaday was due to his ulterior motive: to exploit the land and gain access to valuable mahogany growing there. Upon discovery of the Tasaday, Elizalde was excited about their potential "as a subject of scientific study, as a means of dramatizing the cultural minorities of the Philippines and their problems."(5) In the early 1970’s, Elizalde arranged for a group of journalists and scientists to visit and study the tribe. He was also paid $50,000 to film the tribe by NBC television.(6) Shortly after Tasaday was pronounced a hoax, Elizalde fled the Philippines to Costa Rica, where he was unable to be located by reporters or government officials, or any other media groups interested in his involvement with the supposed hoax.(7,1) Another controversial issue driving those who say Tasaday is a hoax is that of linguistics. One of the scientists who studied the tribe, Carol Maloney, was a linguistic anthropologist. Her claim was that the Tasaday language was a "distinct dialect" with no word for agriculture, a practice that is supposedly unfamiliar to the tribe and no Spanish-derived words. Because the language was claimed as a distinct one, it seems that the hoax theory would be impossible. In creating a hoax, Elizalde would have had to also create a language.(8) Today, Maloney has a different view. She says that the hoax theory is "more credible than any other explanation of the Tasaday and should be taken with a grain of salt."(8) She originally felt that the Tasaday lived alone for at least 571 years, but now says that they may have lived alone for only 100 to 150 years. But, Clay Johnson, a member of the Summer Institute of Linguistics, thinks that the hoax theory is most credible. Although not an anthropologist, Johnson spent ten years in the southern Philippines learning the local languages. In 1972, upon seeing a National Geographic television special, Johnson reported that the language the Tasaday were speaking was much like Manobo, "the one he spoke while living in the Philippines."(1) At the request of a reporter, Johnson listened to a tape made by Maloney while she was at the cave in 1972, and came to the conclusion that the Tasaday language was 90 percent equivalent to Manobo. According to Johnson and other widely accepted standards, languages that overlap by 70 percent or more are in effect the same languages. "Thus, he calls the speech on the tape a dialect of Cotabato Manobo."(1) Today Maloney still believes that the Tasaday tongue is a dialect not a language.(9,10) With experts offering such differing views, no conclusion can be made about the truth of Tasaday through just linguistics studies. In 1986, Swiss journalist, Oswald Iten, hiked to the Tasaday caves, found that they were not inhabited, and called the story a hoax. Although there had always been Tasaday doubters, until Iten’s discovery, they did not receive much attention. It is now Oswald’s skeptical view that predominates.(11) When Iten walked in to the Tasaday land, he found them wearing jeans and colored T-shirts, living in huts, growing crops, and possessing knives and trinkets.(11,12) Those in opposition to the hoax theory say that this modernization is due to the Tasaday’s recent exposure to the outside world. Since their discovery, Tasaday have intermarried with members of neighboring tribes, who they claim introduced them to things such as agriculture, hunting, jewelry, and other modern items.(13,14) In addition to these factors, there are also many other smaller claims that cause controversy about Tasaday. For example, one scientist, Thomas N. Headland, says that there is not nearly enough food that could be gathered in the rain forest to be able to support the dietary needs of the tribe. Scientist, Douglas E. Yen disputes that claim. It has also been said that the tools of the Tasaday are amateurish compared to those of a tribe who had been living off such tools for hundreds of years.(15) Scientists also found no "midden", or heap of trash, near the Tasaday dwelling. Usually, such primitive tribes inevitably develop a midden in the surrounding area.(16) Another question those studying Tasaday have posed is whether or not such a small group could survive for so many years. At the time of their discovery, there were only seven men, six women, and 14 children that called themselves Tasaday.(17) John Nance, a journalist who quit his job to write and speak about the Tasaday, is one of the most insistent people claiming that Tasaday was indeed not a hoax. His feeling is that due to the lack of control of the Filipino government, Elizalde would have not needed a hoax, "just a gun" to gain control of Tasaday land. In theory, Elizalde’s reasoning for the Tasaday hoax was to gain control of their land. According to Nance, such a hoax would be totally unnecessary given the lack of a concept of land rights under the Marcos regime. In response to members of the T’boli tribe who claim that they were paid to be Tasaday, Nance maintains that these poverty stricken tribesmen would have said almost anything for the right amount of money. Nance says that the hoax theory is simply a "cloud of rumors and gossip" that intelligent people will see through and find the truth.(18) After analyzing all the conflicting information on the Tasaday tribe, we can only deduce that there can be no conclusion. Anthropologists cannot seem to agree on what really happened in the Philippine forests; therefore, it is impossible for a layperson to decide what is really true. Although all of the anthropologists that spent time with the Tasaday agree that they are a real tribe, they spent very little time studying them. Linguist Carol Maloney spent only 14 days. Douglas Yen spent more time with the Tasaday than any other scientist, only 38 days.(3) Regardless of anyone’s opinion, the fact is that all the information on Tasaday is preliminary. There was no extensive research conducted on the tribe. Media contact ceased in 1974 due to the imposition of martial law in the Philippines. The research that was conducted was only enough to generate "plenty of heat and precious few rays of light."(19) 1 "Anthropologists debate Tasaday hoax evidence," in Infotrac: Primary Historical Documents from American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science, Dec 1, 1989 v246 n4934 p1113 (2)-[cited 11Feb, 2000]; available from www.infotrac.com. 2 "If only life were so simple. (anthropology - fascination with primitives) (Horizons)", in Infotrac Primary Historical Documents from U.S. News and World Report Inc., Feb 19, 1990 v108 n7 p54 (3) www.infotrac.com. 3 Lost Tribes, Sunken Continents and Ancient Astronauts: Tasaday Hoax: http://lime.weeg.uiowa.edu/~anthro/webcourse/lost/Tasaday/Tasaday.htm. 4 Nance, John. The Gentle Tasaday. Boston: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1975, p25. 5 "Anthropologists debate Tasaday hoax evidence," in Infotrac: Primary Historical Documents from American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science, Dec 1, 1989 v246 n4934 p1113 (2)-[cited 11Feb, 2000]; available from www.infotrac.com. 6 http://lime.weeg.uiowa.edu/~anthro/webcourse/lost/Tasaday/Tasaday.htm. 7 Manuel Elizalde. (anthropologist/philanthropist) (obituary). In Infotrac: Primary Historical Documents: The Economist (US), May 17, 1997 v343 n8017 p94 (1). www.infotrac.com 8 Benthell, Jonathon. "Tasaday Debate as a Docu-Drama." Anthropology Today February 1990:1. 9 Maloney, Carol. Interview by Tracie Thomas, Feb 3, 2000. 10 "Anthropologists debate Tasaday hoax evidence," in Infotrac: Primary Historical Documents from American Association for the Advancement of Science, Science, Dec 1, 1989 v246 n4934 p1113 (2)-[cited 11Feb, 2000]; available from www.infotrac.com. 11 "If only life were so simple," in Infotrac:US NEWS and World Report, Feb 19, 1990 v108 n7 p54 (3)-[cited 3 Feb, 2000]; available from www.infotrac.com. 12 Mydans, Seth. "20th Century Law Suit Asserts Stone-Age Identity," New York Times 29 Oct, 1998. 13 Ibid. 14 Hyndman, David and Nietschmann, Bernard. Letter. New York Times January 9, 1998. 15 Ibid. 16 "Tasaday". The Columbia Encyclopedia. Edition 5, 1993, p36238. 17 http://lime.weeg.uiowa.edu/~anthro/webcourse/lost/Tasaday/Tasaday.htm. 18 Nance, John. Letter. New York Times January 30, 1988. 19 "The strange case of the Tasaday: were they primitive hunter-gatherers or forest phonies," in Infotrac: Science Services Inc, Science News, May 6, 1989 v135 n18 p280 (3)-[cited 3 Feb, 2000]; available from www.infotrac.com.

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