The Ibaloi or Nabaloi is an indigenous ethnic group found in the northern Philippines. The Ibaloi are one of the peoples collectively known as Igorot, which live in the mountains of the Cordillera Central on the island of Luzon. There are approximately 55,000 Ibaloi; most of them can be found in the southern part of the province of Benguet. Indigenous peoples are: Peoples living in an area prior to colonization by a state Peoples living in an area within a nation-state, prior to the formation of a nation-state, but who do not identify with the dominant nation. ... Igorot is a Tagalog word for mountain people and denotes the inhabitants of the mountains of central Luzon. ... Map of the Philippines showing the island groups of Luzón, Visayas, and Mindanao. ... Benguet is a landlocked province of the Philippines in the Cordillera Administrative Region in Luzon. ...

The Ibaloi are a mostly agricultural people cultivating rice in terraced fields. Many contemporary Ibaloi have integrated into the mainstream Filipino culture and some are employed as miners in the gold and silver mines of Benguet. In the Philippines however, they are most known for their mummification of the noble and the rich. The process they used involved smoking the body for months to completely dehydrate the dead body, which preserved every part of the body including tattoos and internal organs. They would then incase the preserved body within a hollowed out log and placed in caves that are thought to be spiritual by the Ibaloi.

External links

• The Ibaloi - from the Philippine National Commission on Indigenous Peoples.