Origin of the Kalinga Axe

[Battara]

Interesting piece Barry. Never seen such from a gas can before. Looks Kalinga.

[Nonoy Tan]

It was four years ago when I started this thread. Since then more information has come to light and would like to share them here.

1. Historical records show that the usual name used for this weapon was "Aliwa."

2. These historical records, many of which are early dictionaries or compilation of words, were based on data gathered as early as ca. 1570-1699. There records show cognate words such as Aligua, Aliua, Alioa, Liga, Iwa, Iua, Ygua, Igua and Ligua.

3. The "Aliwa" and its cognates are found in Tagalog, Isneg, Apayao, Tinguian, Iloco, Zambal, Ibanag, Bontoc Igorot, Lepanto Igorot, Pampanga, Ifugao, and Kalinga. These linguistic groups are found in eastern, northern, and central Luzon.

4. “Aliwa” was not always an axe. In fact early accounts indicate that the Aliwa was a bolo, knife or dagger. It was only later that it became known as an axe. It was not until the around the late 18th century that the name “Aliwa” was applied to the axe. It is quite possible that the axe form of the “Aliwa” was not existent until this period mentioned for it was still in knife or bolo form.

The headhunter's axe as we know it, was a later development and not ancient. The tool used by headhunters was originally a bolo or knife-like. How the axe form came into being - historical records does not provide. However, the “Aliwa” (as a head-cutting tool) is limited to Luzon, despite the fact that headhunting was also prevalent in the Visayas and Mindanao. (The head-cutting tool used in the Visayas and Mindanao was not called “Aliwa” and was not an axe either – but that is a separate topic).

Incidentally, the beautiful "Kalinga/Tinguian axe" with long ferrule and handle could not have been used for lopping off heads. It is not strong enough in my view. When tested against pig neck, the wooden handle broke at the point closest to the metal ferrule. Unless, held by the metal ferrule (not by the wooden handle) it cannot possibly do heavy chopping work. This type of axe was likely an ornament or tool for ritual and cutting/slicing smaller objects.

[T. Koch]

Hi Nonoy Tan,

How cool to get your update here - It's funny but I have in the last couple of days been reading through this exact topic and am very excited to see you bring it up from the depts. This has probably turned into one of the greatest online resources for information on these Cordillera axes and you have been primus motor on a lot of the information. Thank you so much for all of that - I've really learned a lot!

Regarding your last post above, I would advise caution in making too much of a direct comparison between pigs and humans. It is true that we in some ways are very comparable, for instance with regards to organs and digestion, but in other ways we are - because of our different ways of life and body structures - not so comparable.

Regarding exactly the neck region, the pig has evolved to a life on all four legs as opposed to being upright like us. This means that the pig by comparison has developed a very strong neck region, evident by the very close situation of the also larger neck vertebrae, separated by slimmer vertebral discs, as well as in some cases fewer vertebrae. In addition comes that pigs - and other four legged animals - have developed much stronger ligaments along the back of the neck, evolved to keep the head straight and prevent it from simply slumping down between the forelegs of the animal. All these characters makes for a significantly stronger structure than that of the human neck, but it comes with other disadvantages: A pig is mostly restrained to moving it's head up and down and have very little movement from side to side. This is ok if you're a pig though, as it dosen't need to see much anyway (also has relatively poor vision), but has developed a strong sense of smell and hearing which it relies on for predator defense.

Us humans by contrast, being bi-pedal predators with forward oriented binocular eyes, have developed a very flexible neck allowing us a near 360 degree field of vision. This has however, come at a disadvantage, being that our necks, together with our knees, have turned into a major structural weakness. For the same reason a lot of classical execution methods, i.e. decapitation, hanging, garroting etc., are concerned with seperation or dislocation of the neck vertebrae - the neck is just an easy target.

Looking at the well-forged Cordillera axes, wouldn't the reinforced tip and in some cases hardened edge also hint at it being used for some kind of impact purpose? As has been pointed out, the edge probably wouldn't be useful for chopping would or clearing brush. A human neck on the other hand, I think it would tear right through. After all, in Africa they successfully do it with those flimsy Martindale Pangas, with a blade thickness of not much more than a few mm.

Regarding the reported handle break, couldn't it also be that, since most of these are antique, the handle integrity by now, is not what it was 80 years ago, or whenever the axe was made?


In all regard a super-interesting topic and I'm so happy to see it brought to life again!


All the best, - Thor