2023-07-03 14:15:50
It is likely that prehistoric communities made extensive use of plant materials to make fabrics for ropes, baskets, and other items, taking advantage of the flexibility and strength of plant fibers, just as modern communities do. However, objects made exclusively from plant materials are rarely preserved in the archaeological record, especially in the tropics, so prehistoric plant technology often goes unnoticed by modern science. In Southeast Asia, artifacts made from plant fibers are typically 8,000 years old at most. In a new study, scientists have found indirect evidence of much older plant technology.
The research has been carried out by the international team of Hermine Xhauflair, from the University of the Philippines.
This indirect evidence comes from stone tools from 39,000 to 33,000 years ago, found in the Tabon caves, located on the island of Palawan, in the Philippines. Said tools present accumulated microscopic damage as a consequence of their use. Said damages can reveal what kind of materials was the one that was usually being worked with such tools.
The indigenous communities of this region today use tools to uproot plants such as bamboo and palm, turning the rigid stems into flexible fibers with which to make objects.
Xhauflair and his colleagues took an in-depth look at these raw plant material processing techniques and found that this activity leaves a characteristic pattern of microscopic damage on stone tools.
This same pattern was identified in three stone artifacts from the Tabón cave.
Artistic recreation of inhabitants of the Tabón caves performing daily tasks, including using plant fibers to make items such as ropes and baskets. (Image: drawing by Carole Cheval-Art’chéograph, for the exhibition “Trajectories and Movements of the Philippine Identity”, curated by Hermine Xhauflair and Eunice Averion, and scientific advisory by Hermine Xhauflair. CC BY 4.0)
The findings in this study push back the antiquity of plant fiber technology in Southeast Asia. It means that the prehistoric groups that lived in the Tabón caves had the ability to make baskets, ropes and other things, including what was needed to build more complex structures, such as houses, boats to navigate and bows to hunt.
The results of the study have been made public through the academic journal PLoS ONE. The reference of the work is the following: Xhauflair H, Jago-on S, Vitales TJ, Manipon D, Amano N, Callado JR, et al. (2023) The invisible plant technology of Prehistoric Southeast Asia: Indirect evidence for basket and rope making at Tabon Cave, Philippines, 39–33,000 years ago. PLOS ONE 18(6): e0281415. (Source: NCYT from Amazings)
#Unexpected #technology #Philippine #prehistory