According to a study published June 30, 2023 in the open access journal PLOS ONE Stone tools, prepared by Hermina Xauffler of the University of the Philippines Diliman and her colleagues, contain microscopic evidence of ancient plant technology.

Prehistoric communities, like modern communities, made extensive use of plant materials, possibly for textiles and ropes, taking advantage of the flexibility and durability of plant fibers. However, plant-derived materials such as baskets and strings are rarely preserved in the archaeological record, especially in the tropics, so prehistoric plant technologies are often invisible to modern science. In Southeast Asia, the oldest plant fiber artifacts are about 8,000 years old. In this study, Xhauflair and colleagues uncover indirect evidence of much older plant technology.

This evidence comes from 39,000-year-old stone tools from Tabon Cave in Palawan, Philippines. These instruments show microscopic damage from use. Indigenous communities in the area today use tools to strip plants such as bamboo and palms and turn the tough stems into flexible fibers for binding or weaving. The researchers experimentally followed these methods for processing plants and found that this activity left a characteristic microscopic damage pattern on stone tools. The same pattern was found on three stone artifacts in Tabon Cave.

It is one of the earliest evidence of fiber technology in Southeast Asia, highlighting the technological skills of prehistoric communities dating back 39,000 years. This work also demonstrates a method for detecting hidden signs of prehistoric plant technology. Further research will shed light on how ancient these techniques are, how common they were in the past, and whether current practices in the region are the result of an intact tradition.

The authors add: “This work takes fiber technology in Southeast Asia into the past. This means that prehistoric groups living in Tabon Cave had the ability to make baskets and traps, as well as ropes that could be used to build houses, sailboats, with arrows. hunting and making complex objects.” Source