Fiber technology at Tabon Cave, 39-33 000 years ago. An artistic view based upon the current historical information. Drawing by Carole Cheval-Art chéograph. Produced the exhibit “Trajectories and Movements of the Philippine Identity” curated by Hermine Xhauflair and Eunice Averion. Scientific encouraging: Hermine Xhauflair. Credit: Carole Cheval– Art chéograph, Xhauflair & & Averion, CC-BY 4.0
Stone tools bear tell-tale markings of fiber innovation dating back 39,000 years.
Stone tools bear tiny proof of ancient plant innovation, according to a study just recently released in the journal PLOS ONE. The research study was carried out by Hermine Xhauflair of the University of the Philippines Diliman and coworkers.
Its believed that ancient societies used plant materials extensively to craft cables and fabrics, making the most of the flexibility and resistance of plant fibers similar to modern neighborhoods do. Plant-based products like ropes and baskets are hardly ever preserved in the archaeological record, specifically in the tropics, so ancient plant innovation is frequently rendered undetectable to modern science.
In Southeast Asia, the earliest artifacts made of plant fibers are around 8,000 years of ages. In this research study, Xhauflair and coworkers recognize indirect proof of much older plant innovation.
Plant fiber processing by members of the Pala wan community from Brookes Point, Philippines. Credit: Xhauflair et al., PLOS ONE, 2023, CC-BY 4.0
This evidence originates from stone tools in Tabon Cave, Palawan Philippines dating as far back as 39,000 years old. These tools show microscopic damage accrued throughout usage. Indigenous neighborhoods in this area today utilize tools to strip plants like bamboo and palm, turning stiff stems into supple fibers for weaving or tying. Scientist experimentally followed these plant processing methods and found that this activity leaves a particular pattern of tiny damage on stone tools. This exact same pattern was identified on three stone artifacts from Tabon Cave.
This is amongst the oldest evidence of fiber innovation in Southeast Asia, highlighting the technological ability of prehistoric communities going back 39,000 years. This research also demonstrates a technique for revealing otherwise concealed indications of prehistoric plant innovation. More study will clarify how ancient these methods are, how extensive they remained in the past, and whether modern practices in this region are the result of a continuous custom.
The authors add: “This research study presses back in time the antiquity of fiber technology in Southeast Asia. It means that the Prehistoric groups who lived at Tabon Cave had the possibility to make traps and baskets, but likewise ropes that can be used to construct houses, sailboats, hunt with bows, and make composite things.”
Reference: “The invisible plant technology of Prehistoric Southeast Asia: Indirect proof for basket and rope making at Tabon Cave, Philippines, 39– 33,000 years earlier” by Hermine Xhauflair, Sheldon Jago-on, Timothy James Vitales, Dante Manipon, Noel Amano, John Rey Callado, Danilo Tandang, Céline Kerfant, Omar Choa and Alfred Pawlik, 30 June 2023, PLOS ONE.DOI: 10.1371/ journal.pone.0281415.
The various phases of this job were supported by the European Unions Horizon 2020 research study and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant contract # 843521, the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, the Muséum National dHistoire Naturelle of Paris, Ile-de- France Region, the Fondation Fyssen, the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research (University of Cambridge), the Institute for SE Asian Archaeology, and the PrehSEA Program.
Fiber innovation at Tabon Cave, 39-33 000 years back. Made for the exhibition “Trajectories and Movements of the Philippine Identity” curated by Hermine Xhauflair and Eunice Averion. Scientific advising: Hermine Xhauflair. Native neighborhoods in this region today use tools to strip plants like bamboo and palm, turning rigid stems into flexible fibers for weaving or connecting. This research study likewise shows an approach for exposing otherwise hidden indications of prehistoric plant innovation.
