A team of underwater archaeologists has identified the remains of a 2,000-year-old Austronesian shipyard off the coast of Mindoro in the Philippines. Using high-resolution underwater LiDAR, the researchers mapped several stone-weighted moorings and the foundations of large timber structures that likely served as dry docks for ancient seafaring vessels.
This discovery provides the first physical evidence of large-scale maritime construction in the region during the pre-colonial period. Artifacts recovered from the silt include specialized stone adzes and resin-coated wooden planks, pointing to a highly sophisticated naval engineering tradition that allowed for trans-oceanic voyages across the Pacific.