TIMBAC BURIAL CAVE

Photo from: philippine-evolution.com

Some of the best mummies that may be viewed by visitors are a long hike from Kabayan town to Mt. Timbac – the fog-capped third highest peak of Luzon – lording over the hamlet. Aside from the mummies, the grueling climb from Kabayan town to Timbac caves entertains hikers with majestic views of the Agno river valley and a stopover at the Tinongchol Burial Rock, a three-storey high boulder where ancient Ibaloi carved out holes to inter their dead in wooden coffins.

Photo from: smallopening.multiply.com

Believed to be 500 to 1,000 years old, the Kabayan mummies are entombed in oval and rectangular-shaped hardwood coffins hidden away within “caves” – actually cramp rock shelters – along steep mountain slopes. Some of the coffins have anthropomorphic and geometric designs etched on the outer surface. And traditional tattoos have been preserved on some mummies. The Ibaloi people mummified their dead by smoking them dry, hence, the nickname “fire mummies”. The World Monuments Fund website explains the mummification process: “Dying members of the tribe drank salty mixtures to begin the process. After death, their bodies were cleansed, rubbed with herbs, and heated while their mouths were filled with smoke. These steps were performed continually over a period of weeks before the deceased were placed fetal position into oval-shaped wooden coffins with decorative carvings. These practices endured until the arrival of Spanish colonialists in 1500 and the caves themselves remained untouched until the 19th century.”