Philippines
Tabon Cave
The Tabon Cave Complex and Lipuun contain over 200 caves that yielded cultural materials important to the understanding of prehistoric Philippines and Southeast Asia.
The astonishing wealth and time range of the finds dates back to 50,000 years ago to the 14th century AD. Notable artifacts include 47,000-year-old human remains, highly developed Neolithic burial jars, tools from the Pleistocene and Metal Ages, and porcelain and stoneware from China’s Song and Yuan dynasties.
Site Info
Official Information
- Full Name
- The Tabon Cave Complex and all of Lipuun (ID: 1860)
- Country
- Philippines
- Status
-
Nominated 2027
Site history
History of Tabon Cave
- 2023: Preliminary Assessment
- 2006: Added to Tentative List
- Added to tentative list
- Type
- Cultural
- Criteria
- ii
- iii
- iv
- v
Links
- UNESCO
- whc.unesco.org
All Links
UNESCO.org
- whc.unesco.org — whc.unesco.org
Community Information
- Community Category
- Archaeological site: Prehistoric
- Archaeological site: South (East) Asian
Travel Information
Recent Connections
News
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Community Reviews
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I visited the Tabon caves together with my adopted Norwegian family (Randi & Svein) as part of our Tubbataha trip in April 2025. There are 7 caves you can visit on a guided tour. We were the only English-speaking visitors and thus got a guide just for the three of us. Even though it is a cultural site, about remains of early humans, it is probably the natural beauty of the caves, that strikes you first. The caves are reached by a board walk along the coast. They are connected by steep paths within the forest and each one is somehow unique. Most remains (especially burial jars) were found by Dr. Robert Fox. One of the caves still has the platform and digging holes of his last mission. There are a few replica jars in the visitor centre, but if you want to see the real deal, go to the Nation Museum of Anthropology in Manila (free entrance). After the cave hopping, we walked back to the visitor centre via a path in the forest. It was very hot and humid, but luckily there is a beach right next to the visitor centre, straight out of a dream holiday ad.
How to visit
There are daily tours at 9am and 1pm. You are supposed to prebook. This is oddly done via their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/nmptaboncaves. We did not prebook, but arrived shortly after 9am and were graciously included into the group, that was already watching the safety video. The …
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The Tabon Cave complex is dubbed as "cradle of Philippine civilization" - with 200+ chambers found within Lipuun point, only 20+ have been explored, and only 7 currently open to tourists. This promises more exciting discoveries for the world! Already, some of the blotches found on the walls are thought to be prehistoric murals, and some stone formations may have been shaped as animal sculptures.
The whole Palawan province should receive a sort of "heritage complex" conservation status. Apart from the two existing UNESCO WHS (Puerto Princesa Underground River and Tubbataha Reefs), five other tentative sites are found here - Coron Island, El Nido-Taytay, Tabon Caves, Singapan Caves (petrographs) and Mt. Mantalingahan. The last two sites will be my next destination in the future.
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