This presentation focuses on community identity in the Bacong region during the Metal and Proto-Historic period by introducing a new approach to examining jar burials in the Philippines. Guided by practice theory, it teases out nuances in funerary practice from jar burial remains and examines two types of practices – intentional and unintentional - that either deliberately or unconsciously reveal group affiliation. This study examines the spatio-temporal distribution patterns of various attributes of intentional and unintentional practices in mortuary styles from Metal and Proto-Historic periods. Analyses show that during the Metal period, patterns of intentional practices of affiliation in grave arrangements, mortuary vessels, ceramic grave goods, and ritual ceremonies exhibit high degrees of similarity at four sites with one atypical site. Hence, remains of intentional affiliative practices suggest high degrees of social interaction at the four sites with a deliberate strategy of creating and maintaining a cohesive community identity. In contrast, during the Proto-Historic period, conscious enactments of community are deemphasized and inclined towards social differentiation. This interpretation is based on the lack of high visibility symbols and images of commonality and community in funerary material culture and traces of ritual ceremonies. Furthermore, evidence for unintentional affiliative practices, as observed from patterns in techniques of grave preparation and ceramic production, indicate that learning transmission of production techniques is high among Bacong groups during the Metal period. Unfortunately, a lack of comparable material for the Proto-Historic period provides no insight into later processes of enculturation. Overall, the findings suggest community identities transformed from the Metal to the Proto-Historic period in Bacong, with weak indicators of cultural transmission between earlier and later period communities in intentional and unintentional practices of affiliation.