Majority of the artifacts found in the museum came from the different ethnolinguistic groups or cultural communities from the Cordillera region. These are the following, namely: the Ibalois and Kankanaeys from Benguet, the Applays and Bontocs from Mountain Province, the Ifugaos from Ifugao, the Kalingas from Kalinga the Isnegs/Isnags from Apayao, and the Tingiuans/Itnegs from Abra.
The museum has a total ethnographic collection of around 2,000 cultural artifacts. These collections can be classified into the following: dress and adornments, kitchen wares and implements, farming tools, magico-religious paraphernalia, musical instruments, fishing tools, weaving implements, weapons and fighting gears, sugarcane presser, gold processing implements, and Chinese porcelain, among others.
Dress and Adornments
Each community group has their respective designs, colors, and symbolism. One can easily identify one group from another by the dresses that they wear.
The museum collection includes taps (wrap around skirts) i.e. aten for Benguet, ampuyo for Ifugao, eten for Bontoc, and akin for Kalinga women; belts (bakget for Bontocs and binuhlan for Ifugaos); loin cloths (i.e. wanoh for Ifugaos, kuba or wanes for the Kankanaeys, baag for the Kalingas); head gears (like the putting and soaking of the Ifugao & Bontocs, respectively) blankets (like the bayaong or Ifugao shoulder blankets and the dilli/shindi and Koabaw or funeral blankets of the Kankanaeys and Ibalois).
Prior to the advent of weaving, the early Igorots used bark clothing's and loin clothes. The woven bark fiber loin cloth and vest items in the museum are for funeral use in Kalinga.The Cordillera ornaments found in the museum include the following: the dinampulay earring of Kalinga women and the gading or giniling brass leggings and wild boar teeth armlets of the Ifugaos, the Bontocs and the Kankanaeys. Beads are limited to a few Bontoc and Ifugao head and wrist beads. Necklaces include the Bontoc Uway (wild boar teeth), duli or being (snake vertebrae),Ifugao palangapang (rattan and metal necklaces), anddengaw (baby charmers protectors). Also included n the museum collection are lowland dresses and ornaments like the barong Iloco, camisa di Chino, saya and few pieces of earrings, hair pins, combs, and jeweleries.
Kitchen Wares and Implements
The indigenous kitchen wares and implements include, among others, the following: (1) Wooden wares like bowls (duyo, chuyo, sukong), plates (latok), spoons (idus, ichus), jars (taluwan, tangungo and buyaw), and other food containers (gudan or pig pal); (2) Basket wares like bamboo plates (kiyag/giyag, parongan,bituto), containers (kamuwan, kalikog, bekgeng, uppit, acupan, lupao, takba, etc.). Farming Tools/implements (including carrying baskets) The farming tools include the following: (1) ground breaking implements like the arado (plow), sagad (harrow),aklo(digging stick), sanggap (trowel), suwan or teek (pick), etc.; (2) harvestng tools like the kumpay (sickle) and lakem/rakem (harvesting knives); (3) ran protectors (ananga, bangew, tudong vakkul and Tadidi); (4) animal harnesses like the pako (wooden yoke) and betad (rope made of animal hide); (5) bird scares like the tatayyaw, kilaw and pit-ag; and (6) carrying baskets (lua, kayabang, balyag, langaya, lagba, gimata/kimata, and sangi/pasiking).
Magico-Religious Paraphernalia
The magico-religious paraphernalia include the following: (1) Carved images (Ifugao bulol or rice granary gods, tat-tagu or house gods, and bihang or Kalinga fear-installer); (2) ritual boxes (pun-amahan for ancestral worship, punhunga for rice blessing punhagawhawan for sorcery and black magic, tingab or Bontoc granary box); and (3) ritual objects (such as the kalikog or jarletsfor spirit offering, takba or Bontoc sacred basket, allot or Kalinga sanctuary of spirits, tabayag or Ifugao spirit catcher, and bangibang/ pakengkeng or funeral clappers, among others.
Musical instruments
The musical instruments include the following: (1) Percussion instruments like the solibao (Ibaloi cylindrical drum), pakkong/piwpiw (Ibaloi devil chaser), balingbing (Kalinga percussion tongatong (Kalinga musical tube), tallak (Kankanaeys wooden beaters), gangsa (gongs), kongkong (bamboo slit), (2) wind in instruments like the abew/koding/apistong (Jew's harp), tungali (Kalinga mouth flute), kalaleng (Bontoc nose flute), diw-as (Tinguan panpipe), (3) stringed instruments like the akelshang/ageldang (Ibaloi/Kankanaey guitar) and the kulitong and pattanggok (Kalinga bamboo guitars).
Food Collecting Tools/Implements
These include fishing tools, chicken snares, locust nets, crab snares, and shell collectors. Fishing tools/implements used n the Cordillera are intended for catching fresh aquatic resources found in the rice fields,creeks and rivers and mountain lakes or lagoons n the region.Aquatic resources range from the jojo or mudfish from the rice fields, the wadingan, paileng, bunog or bayyek from creeks and rivers, the bakbak or frogs from the marshes, and the dalit or igat from rivers and lakes. Other aquatic resources are the small varieties of shells like the ginga, ket-an and tudya-an found in the rice fields or water pools. The fishing tools/implements include the following: ube/offe/gubo/bobo (bamboo fish traps) for mudfish, ugat (Bontoc bamboo eel trap), apayo (Ifugao fish basket),agkhawin/alat (Bontoc fish container), begging (fish container), pana (fish or eel harpoon), and talakeb (dalag catcher). Tabukol or fish nets are also used in the rivers. The Shi-ay (chicken snare) is a specially devised set of nooses which catch wild chicken by the neck. Wild chicken abounds in the mountains and hills of the Cordillera and these are caught essentially for food or for game fowls. The She-ok (locust net) s for catching locust which usually infest the rice fields. The ekab (locust basket) contains trapped locust, which are used as food supplement. Small varieties of shells are collected with the used of kalawag (bamboo shell collector) which is shaped like a winnowed but with small spaces to serve as strainer. Shell collection is done usually before rice planting or after harvest.
Weaving Tools/implements
The weaving process s a tedious endeavor of the Cordillera particularly the Bontocs, Ifugaos, Kalingas and the Tinguians of Abra. Weaving s a family activity where each family member has a role to play in the process. Bark fibers and kapok (raw cotton flowers) are diligently processed and twined into threads, carefully dyed according to desired colors, dried, and then readied for weaving. There are two types of weaving: the backstrap/backloom weaving and the tilar (Ilocos loom weaving). The weaving tools/implements in the museum include the following items: ladditan (cottonseed separator), tagudan (thread drier), ruido (spinner), Podunk, gan-ayan, allow and other weaving accessories.
Weapons/Fighting Gears
Prior to the advent of modern weapons, the Cordillerians used indigenous weapons for fighting, for hunting, or for defending themselves from enemy attacks. Most weapons are in used during tribal wars. Among the most common weapons are the following: kalasag/kalasay (wooden shields), panning (head or battle axes), gammon (bladed big knife), pana (bow and arrow), and the different types of spears like the tubay or gayang (double barbed spears), sinalatgat (triple barbed spears for hunting), bangkaw (Kalinga stabbing spear), and the single elaborately barbed spear for the chieftain or peacemakers.
Gold Processing Implements
Traditional mining is an old occupation in the Cordillera. During the advent of Spanish colonization of the Philippines, the Igorots were trading in gold, sliver and copper with the low lands. Gold and sliver adornments used by the natives were made through their indigenous gold processing technology. Gold extraction were done through sayu or gold panning (along river banks) and abucay or pocket mining (along hillsides). Gold particles/powders are usually mixed with the soil or are embedded in naba or rocks (gold ores). Separating the gold from the dirt involves a tedious process. The Gold processing paraphernalia found in the museum include the following: gaidan (flat rock slab for ore grinding), pamalbal (steel/rock ore crusher), aliddan or gad ( rock crusher to pulverize ore pebbles), yogoyog (strainer), sabak (gold washer to eliminate or wash off dirt), gang (clay saucer for melting gold), etc.
Sugar Cane Presser Sugar
Cane is as important as rice in the preparation of wine necessary in most social undertakings of the Igorots in the Cordillera. Be it in the birth of a child, marriage of young couples, or death of a person, tapey (rice wine) or basi (sugar cane wine) drinking is deemed imperative. Likewise, tapey and basi are required to seal vital agreements among feuding parties during a boding (Kalinga peace pact), a pechen (Bontoc peace pact), a tongtong (Benguet peace council), or a kalon (Ifugao negotiations). Much more so, tapey and basi are essential requirements during the performance of traditional rituals dedicated to the ancestral spirits, the gods and goddesses, or to Kabunian, the supreme deity, for the cure of a malady, or a petition for fertility, longevity, prosperity or a bountiful harvest. The dadapilan or sugar cane presser presses the sugar cane and extracts the juice which are processed later into basi (wine), asukal (sugar), tagapulot or other sugar related delcaces. The burnay (big clay jar) serves as the storage for basi. Fermentation or the aging process usually takes a number of months. The longer the aging, the better and stronger is the wine.
Chinese Porcelain/Antiques
Chinese porcelains which include saucers, plates, bowls, jarlets, and jars are important tradewares among the Kalingas and the Tingiuans of Abra. These valuable items are considered as status symbols among the sad groups. A family owning such valuable jars are looked upon as economically rich and may become potential community leaders whose decisions are vital and often sought during discussions on matters of community concerns. The Kalingas generally referred to the Chinese porcelain, except the jars, as panay. The jars are generically termed gusi but each jar s given specific label. Labels can be based on colors designs, shape, and other characteristics. For example, a white jar with dragon design is called pukaw; a jar with small base and opening but with bulging sides is called bogsit; a big jar with wide opening is wapawap etc.
Lowland Religious Paraphernalia and Documents
Included in the lowland religious collections are the following:images of Apo Resurrection (Resurrected Christ), Virgin Mary and assorted saints, a copy of an 1819 hand-printed Psalter of the Holy Week, and some church paraphernalia like the candelabra (candle holders), rosary and crucifixes. Also included in the collections are documents of properties and certificates written in Spanish.
Ethnographic Reports, Books and other Archive Materials
Ethnographic studies by students on their respective cultures portray the diversity of cultures in the region. These ethnographic studies are complied in the museum as first hand references of students and scholars who are studying the Cordillera cultures. Wood-Carved Statues Found in the museum are wood works depicting the special woodcarving skills of the Cordillerians, particularly the Ifugaos of Hapao and Banaue. Most wood carvings can be seen in the people's tools, kitchen wares, house paneling, and even in there religious images of gods. A prominent item in the museum is the "Kalaleng Player" which is adjudged as the representation of the Cordillera cultural comminutes. The statue has the culture embodiment of the Bontocs, Ifugaos, Benguets, Kalingas, Apayaos and Tinggiuans of Abra. For example: the sokyong (headgear) is used by the Bontocs, the ginutto (belt) is that of the Ifugaos, the shagi (backpack) is that of the Kalanguyas, and the Kalaleng (nose flute) is that of the Kalingas or Bontocs. Other wood-carved items in the museum are the Ifugao "rice ponders", the Bontoc "head taker", and the Michelangelo inspired "Ifugao thinker".
Pictorial/Painting Exhibits
Pictorial/panting exhibits in the museum include the Cordillera house architectures, death and burial rites (mummies and mummification process), ethnic dances, and portraits of some cultural communities in the Philippines.
Other Items
Other items include archeological artifacts like the following:Neolithic stone tools (cutting tools, stone arrow heads, and hammering clubs or throwing stones) of Batanes; petrified woods; and fossilized sea shells. Collections of mineral rocks from the Cordillera is part of the added attractions in the museum.
