During my stay in Philippines I visited Bohol island where I have seen Chocolate Hills. In the picture on the left side (you can enlarge it by clicking on it) you can see treeless hills which grow from a jungle. If you look on the hills from smaller distance you can see that they are covered by two kinds of grass. Wikipedia specifies that there are species: Imperata cylindrica and Saccharum. The grass is shown in photos below. I cannot distinguish species of the grasses so I call them grass 1 and grass 2.
Grass 1
Grass 2
But there are also other hills covered with forest, as in the picture below.
There are many hills covered by forest around Chocolate Hills but they look like normal hills. Some of hills of Chocolate Hills are partially covered by forest.
How these hills were created?
The website bohol-philippines.com explains:
"The most acceptable geological theory of the Chocolate Hills of Bohol is that the hills were the result of thousands of years of weathering of marine limestone. Others say that the hills were formed ages ago by the uplift of coral deposits or that they erupted from the sea in a massive geologic shift, and the action of rain water and erosion for the past thousand years put in the finishing touches."
Wikipedia says about it:
"The Chocolate Hills are conical karst hills similar to those seen in the limestone regions of Slovenia, Croatia, northern Puerto Rico, and Pinar del Río Province, Cuba. These hills consist of Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene, thin to medium bedded, sandy to rubbly marinelimestones. These limestones contain the abundant fossils of shallow marine foraminifera, coral, mollusks, and algae.[8][9] These conical hills are geomorphological features called cockpit karst, which were created by a combination of the dissolution of limestone by rainfall, surface water, and groundwater, and their subaerial erosion by rivers and streams after they had been uplifted above sea level and fractured by tectonic processes. These hills are separated by well developed flat plains and contain numerous caves and springs. The Chocolate Hills are considered to be a remarkable example of conical karst topography.[10][11][12]
The origin for the conical karst of the Chocolate Hills is described in popular terms on the bronze plaque at the viewing deck in Carmen, Bohol. This plaque states that they are eroded formations of a type of marine limestone that sits on top of hardened clay.[13][14] The plaque reads:
The unique land form known as the Chocolate Hills of Bohol was formed ages ago by the uplift of coral deposits and the action of rain water and erosion.[13]
The plaque also makes reference to a fanciful explanation of the origin of the Chocolate Hills that is unsupported by any published scientific research, i.e. either Hillmer[8] or Travaglia and others,[9] when it states:
the grassy hills were once coral reefs that erupted from the sea in a massive geologic shift. Wind and water put on the finishing touches over hundreds of thousands of years.[13]
Self-published, popular web pages present a variety of fanciful and less credible explanations about how these hills formed. They include sub-oceanic volcanism; limestone covered blocks created by the destruction of an active volcano in a cataclysmic eruption;[15]coral reefs that were raised from the sea as the result of a massive geologic shift; and tidal movements.[16] The lack of any exposed or associated volcanic rocks anywhere in the Chocolate Hills refutes the popular theories involving volcanic eruptions. These theories involving either a sudden, massive geologic shift, coral reefs being erupted from the sea, or tidal movements lack any corroborating evidence and support among geologists.[8][9]"
Wikipedia claims that "The Chocolate Hills are conical karst hills similar to those seen in the limestone regions of Slovenia, Croatia, northern Puerto Rico, and Pinar del Río Province, Cuba."
I checked photos of the other karst hills in other regions of the world in internet and for me the Bohol's hills are totally different.
Wikipedia suggests that such a rock, as shown in the picture below (corral reef near Moalboal - Cebu) has been lifted above the water surface, then crushed by tectonic processes and erosion into rock debris and formed into regular mounds separated from each other by flat surfaces.
The website bohol-philippines.com explains:
"The most acceptable geological theory of the Chocolate Hills of Bohol is that the hills were the result of thousands of years of weathering of marine limestone. Others say that the hills were formed ages ago by the uplift of coral deposits or that they erupted from the sea in a massive geologic shift, and the action of rain water and erosion for the past thousand years put in the finishing touches."
Wikipedia says about it:
"The Chocolate Hills are conical karst hills similar to those seen in the limestone regions of Slovenia, Croatia, northern Puerto Rico, and Pinar del Río Province, Cuba. These hills consist of Late Pliocene to Early Pleistocene, thin to medium bedded, sandy to rubbly marinelimestones. These limestones contain the abundant fossils of shallow marine foraminifera, coral, mollusks, and algae.[8][9] These conical hills are geomorphological features called cockpit karst, which were created by a combination of the dissolution of limestone by rainfall, surface water, and groundwater, and their subaerial erosion by rivers and streams after they had been uplifted above sea level and fractured by tectonic processes. These hills are separated by well developed flat plains and contain numerous caves and springs. The Chocolate Hills are considered to be a remarkable example of conical karst topography.[10][11][12]
The origin for the conical karst of the Chocolate Hills is described in popular terms on the bronze plaque at the viewing deck in Carmen, Bohol. This plaque states that they are eroded formations of a type of marine limestone that sits on top of hardened clay.[13][14] The plaque reads:
The unique land form known as the Chocolate Hills of Bohol was formed ages ago by the uplift of coral deposits and the action of rain water and erosion.[13]
The plaque also makes reference to a fanciful explanation of the origin of the Chocolate Hills that is unsupported by any published scientific research, i.e. either Hillmer[8] or Travaglia and others,[9] when it states:
the grassy hills were once coral reefs that erupted from the sea in a massive geologic shift. Wind and water put on the finishing touches over hundreds of thousands of years.[13]
Self-published, popular web pages present a variety of fanciful and less credible explanations about how these hills formed. They include sub-oceanic volcanism; limestone covered blocks created by the destruction of an active volcano in a cataclysmic eruption;[15]coral reefs that were raised from the sea as the result of a massive geologic shift; and tidal movements.[16] The lack of any exposed or associated volcanic rocks anywhere in the Chocolate Hills refutes the popular theories involving volcanic eruptions. These theories involving either a sudden, massive geologic shift, coral reefs being erupted from the sea, or tidal movements lack any corroborating evidence and support among geologists.[8][9]"
Wikipedia claims that "The Chocolate Hills are conical karst hills similar to those seen in the limestone regions of Slovenia, Croatia, northern Puerto Rico, and Pinar del Río Province, Cuba."
I checked photos of the other karst hills in other regions of the world in internet and for me the Bohol's hills are totally different.
Wikipedia suggests that such a rock, as shown in the picture below (corral reef near Moalboal - Cebu) has been lifted above the water surface, then crushed by tectonic processes and erosion into rock debris and formed into regular mounds separated from each other by flat surfaces.
The hills on Cebu neighbouring Bohol look like in the picture below. Their shape is quite common around the world. It seems that they are created from limestone also, as it is suggested by white stains visible among vegetation.
Wikipedia claims that as a result of tectonic processes, I guess earthquakes, and erosion arose rock debris which formed Chocolate Hills. It could be so, but it did not have to. Materials from which the hills are made are sand and small stones. Wikipedia noted it also. My guess is that earthquakes could have formed large irregular stones that could have been rounded up by surface water. But sand and small rubble? To smash rock to rubble and sand tha land should be covered by sea again and sea waves and sea currents crushed the stones to sand and rubble. Or winters appeared in Bohol and water penetrating into the clefts of the rock froze and crumbled the rock. Well, in the ice age it could be so that the winter occurred in the Philippines. But why is there not so much rubble on the neighboring Cebu Island? Unless the rubble was turned into soil and covered with vegetation. We can consider an other variant. There were no winters. It was very warm (I considered this situation in my post here) and if there was a lot of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, thanks to which the vegetation flourished very richly, it rooted in the cracks in the rocks, which have been splitted by the roots. Perhaps it is similar on other islands, only that the rock material has been so shredded that we have soil from it. But on Cebu there are rocky mountains still.
Another question is why this rubble was concentrated in these mounds called Chocolate Hills and various types of debris were separated between the individual mounds, as evidenced by the different species of grass grow on the hills?
It is very difficult to find answer based on natural processes.
Another question is why this rubble was concentrated in these mounds called Chocolate Hills and various types of debris were separated between the individual mounds, as evidenced by the different species of grass grow on the hills?
It is very difficult to find answer based on natural processes.
Looking at the Chocolate Hills you can see that they are more similar to the hill in the picture on the left side than to mountains. The simplest explanation is that someone just built them. But for what purpose? Probably we will never find out. It is also unknown when Wanda Mound located in my hometown Kraków, (depicted in the picture on the left side) was built, who built it, for what purpose and in what way. People from a dozen thousands years ago had a different mentality, different beliefs, different goals. In 10,000 years no one will know the purpose of many things which we use everyday. Scientists of future will write scientific dissertations on the destiny of, for example, laptops. The electric current can come out of use and will be replaced with, for example, light or other type of energy that we do not even imagine yet, and which will be discovered, for example, in 50 years. After thousands of years no one will remember that there was a time, that almost everything was powered by electricity and without electricity even it was no water in houses. Another example. Geologists of future will find our atomic shelters. Until then, limestone from cement will dissolve, creating stalactites and stalagmites in the shelter rooms, which will cease to resemble rooms known to us. The stairs will smooth out and will not resemble stairs. These processes can happen faster than we suppose. Scientists of future will consider concrete as a natural rock and will claim that underground caves were formed spontaneously.
Coming back to Chocolate Hills, from all the world we know tumuli. They have similar shapes to Chocolate Hills but usually they are smaller. Usually they contain graves. But we know hills which look like tumuli but they have not graves inside for example Wanda Mound or Krakus Mound. It could be that initially hills like the Krakus Mound were built for a different purpose than the tombs. They began to be built as burial mounds later. Chocolate Hills could have been built for different aims than tumuli. History of Egyptian pyramids give a certain hint. Usually these pyramids are treated as tombs of pharaohs. The website sacred-texts.com inform us:
"MASOUDI, who died in the year 967 A.D., professes to relate the Coptic tradition, which says, "that Surid * Ben Shaluk Ben Sermuni Ben Termidun Ben Tedresan Ben Sal, one of the kings of Egypt before the Flood, built the two great pyramids; and notwithstanding they were subsequently named after a person called Shed-dad Ben Ad, that they were not built by the Adites, who could not conquer Egypt, on account of the powers which the Egyptians possessed by means of enchantment; that the reason forp. 99
building the Pyramids was the following dream, which happened to Surid three hundred years previous to the Flood. It appeared to him, that the earth was overthrown, and that the inhabitants were laid prostrate upon it; that the stars wandered confusedly from their courses, and clashed together with a tremendous noise. The king, although greatly affected by this vision, did not disclose it to any person, but was conscious that some great event was about to take place." Soon afterwards the king had another vision, which so much alarmed him that he repaired to the Temple of the Sun, "where, with great lamentations, he prostrated himself in the dust. Early in the morning he assembled the chief priests from all the Nomes of Egypt, a hundred and thirty in number. No other persons were admitted to this assembly, when he related his first and his second vision. The interpretation was declared to announce, 'that some great event would take place.'" The high-priest, whose name was Philimon, or Iklimon, related a dream which he had had a year before, in which the firmament descended till it overshadowed him and the king like a vault as they sat upon the tower of Amasis. "The king then directed the astrologers to ascertain, by taking the altitude,
p. 100
whether the stars foretold any great catastrophe, and the result announced an approaching deluge. * The king ordered them to inquire, whether or not this calamity would befal Egypt; and they answered, Yes, the flood will overwhelm the land, and destroy a large portion of it for some years. He ordered them to inquire if the earth would again become fruitful, or if it would continue to be covered with water. They answered that its former fertility would return. The king demanded what would then happen. He was informed that a stranger would invade the country, kill the inhabitants, and seize upon their property; and that afterwards a deformed people, coming from beyond the Nile, would take possession of the kingdom, upon which the king ordered the Pyramids to be built, and the predictions of the priests to be inscribed upon columns, and upon the large stones belonging to them; and he placed within them his treasures, and all his valuable property, together with the bodies of his ancestors. He also ordered the priests to deposit within them written accounts of their wisdom and acquirements in the different arts
p. 101
and sciences. * Subterraneous channels were also constructed to convey to them the waters of the Nile. He filled the passages with talismans, with wonderful things and idols, and with the writings of the priests, containing all manner of wisdom, the names and properties of medical plants, and the sciences of arithmetic and geometry, that they might remain as records, for the benefit of those who would afterwards comprehend them." After describing the construction of the three pyramids, Masoudi, says, "In the eastern (Great) Pyramid were inscribed the heavenly spheres, and figures representing the stars and planets in the forms in which they were worshipped. The king also deposited the instruments and the thuribula with which his forefathers had sacrificed to the stars, and also their writings; likewise, the position of the stars and their circles, together with the history and chronicles of time past, of that which is to come, and of every future event which would take place in Egypt. He placed there, also, coloured basins (for lustration and sacrificial purposes),
p. 102
with pure water, and other matters." After referring to the deposit of the bodies of the priests in the coloured (Third) Pyramid, Masoudi describes the guardians assigned by the king to each pyramid. "The guardian of the eastern pyramid was an idol of speckled granite, standing upright, with a weapon like a spear in his hand; a serpent was wreathed round his head, which seized upon and strangled whoever approached, by twisting round his neck, when it again returned to its former position upon the idol. . . . When everything was finished, he caused the Pyramids to be haunted with living spirits; and offered up sacrifices to prevent the intrusion of strangers, and of all persons excepting those who by their conduct were worthy of admission." The author then says, that, according to the Coptic account, the following passage was inscribed, in Arabic, upon the Pyramids: I, Surid the King, have built these Pyramids, and have finished them in sixty-one years. Let him, who comes after me, and imagines himself a king like me, attempt to destroy them in six hundred. To destroy is easier than to build. I have clothed them with silk: let him try to cover them with mats." "
If ancient Egyptians could do it, why not the ancient Filipinos?
Let's look at the map of the Philippines from Google Earth.
Coming back to Chocolate Hills, from all the world we know tumuli. They have similar shapes to Chocolate Hills but usually they are smaller. Usually they contain graves. But we know hills which look like tumuli but they have not graves inside for example Wanda Mound or Krakus Mound. It could be that initially hills like the Krakus Mound were built for a different purpose than the tombs. They began to be built as burial mounds later. Chocolate Hills could have been built for different aims than tumuli. History of Egyptian pyramids give a certain hint. Usually these pyramids are treated as tombs of pharaohs. The website sacred-texts.com inform us:
"MASOUDI, who died in the year 967 A.D., professes to relate the Coptic tradition, which says, "that Surid * Ben Shaluk Ben Sermuni Ben Termidun Ben Tedresan Ben Sal, one of the kings of Egypt before the Flood, built the two great pyramids; and notwithstanding they were subsequently named after a person called Shed-dad Ben Ad, that they were not built by the Adites, who could not conquer Egypt, on account of the powers which the Egyptians possessed by means of enchantment; that the reason forp. 99
building the Pyramids was the following dream, which happened to Surid three hundred years previous to the Flood. It appeared to him, that the earth was overthrown, and that the inhabitants were laid prostrate upon it; that the stars wandered confusedly from their courses, and clashed together with a tremendous noise. The king, although greatly affected by this vision, did not disclose it to any person, but was conscious that some great event was about to take place." Soon afterwards the king had another vision, which so much alarmed him that he repaired to the Temple of the Sun, "where, with great lamentations, he prostrated himself in the dust. Early in the morning he assembled the chief priests from all the Nomes of Egypt, a hundred and thirty in number. No other persons were admitted to this assembly, when he related his first and his second vision. The interpretation was declared to announce, 'that some great event would take place.'" The high-priest, whose name was Philimon, or Iklimon, related a dream which he had had a year before, in which the firmament descended till it overshadowed him and the king like a vault as they sat upon the tower of Amasis. "The king then directed the astrologers to ascertain, by taking the altitude,
p. 100
whether the stars foretold any great catastrophe, and the result announced an approaching deluge. * The king ordered them to inquire, whether or not this calamity would befal Egypt; and they answered, Yes, the flood will overwhelm the land, and destroy a large portion of it for some years. He ordered them to inquire if the earth would again become fruitful, or if it would continue to be covered with water. They answered that its former fertility would return. The king demanded what would then happen. He was informed that a stranger would invade the country, kill the inhabitants, and seize upon their property; and that afterwards a deformed people, coming from beyond the Nile, would take possession of the kingdom, upon which the king ordered the Pyramids to be built, and the predictions of the priests to be inscribed upon columns, and upon the large stones belonging to them; and he placed within them his treasures, and all his valuable property, together with the bodies of his ancestors. He also ordered the priests to deposit within them written accounts of their wisdom and acquirements in the different arts
p. 101
and sciences. * Subterraneous channels were also constructed to convey to them the waters of the Nile. He filled the passages with talismans, with wonderful things and idols, and with the writings of the priests, containing all manner of wisdom, the names and properties of medical plants, and the sciences of arithmetic and geometry, that they might remain as records, for the benefit of those who would afterwards comprehend them." After describing the construction of the three pyramids, Masoudi, says, "In the eastern (Great) Pyramid were inscribed the heavenly spheres, and figures representing the stars and planets in the forms in which they were worshipped. The king also deposited the instruments and the thuribula with which his forefathers had sacrificed to the stars, and also their writings; likewise, the position of the stars and their circles, together with the history and chronicles of time past, of that which is to come, and of every future event which would take place in Egypt. He placed there, also, coloured basins (for lustration and sacrificial purposes),
p. 102
with pure water, and other matters." After referring to the deposit of the bodies of the priests in the coloured (Third) Pyramid, Masoudi describes the guardians assigned by the king to each pyramid. "The guardian of the eastern pyramid was an idol of speckled granite, standing upright, with a weapon like a spear in his hand; a serpent was wreathed round his head, which seized upon and strangled whoever approached, by twisting round his neck, when it again returned to its former position upon the idol. . . . When everything was finished, he caused the Pyramids to be haunted with living spirits; and offered up sacrifices to prevent the intrusion of strangers, and of all persons excepting those who by their conduct were worthy of admission." The author then says, that, according to the Coptic account, the following passage was inscribed, in Arabic, upon the Pyramids: I, Surid the King, have built these Pyramids, and have finished them in sixty-one years. Let him, who comes after me, and imagines himself a king like me, attempt to destroy them in six hundred. To destroy is easier than to build. I have clothed them with silk: let him try to cover them with mats." "
If ancient Egyptians could do it, why not the ancient Filipinos?
Let's look at the map of the Philippines from Google Earth.
Bohol Island lies in the central part of the shoal which at the time when the sea level was lower could be a mainland. Hypothesis that the Philippines had a land connection not only between their islands, but also with Indonesia (Borneo, Celebes) can confirm occurrence of tarsiers there. Tarsiers are limited to these areas, and supposedly half of their world's population lives on the island of Bohol.
So, if a deluge was expected, Bohol was best suited for storing precious things of the ancient Philippine civilization. Waves of the flood could have shed over Bohol and other islands and after it there was none to dig out the hidden treasures. People who survived were unable to rebuild that civilization and after several generations they even forgot that they ever had some civilisation. Maybe the assignment of Chocolate Hills was completely different and there is nothing inside. We will never understand the motivation of people from thousands of years ago. What they believed in, what goals they had in life and for what reason they undertook mysterious for us activities will remain a mystery.
More photos:
www.klub-amorc.pl/Redakcja/8f59cfe25a93466aa39bbd7bc5eba7bc/bohol-czekoladowe-wzgorza-wyraki
More photos:
www.klub-amorc.pl/Redakcja/8f59cfe25a93466aa39bbd7bc5eba7bc/bohol-czekoladowe-wzgorza-wyraki