via the VERA Files, 23 July 2023: The groundbreaking discovery of the earliest evidence of plant technology use in stone tools in Southeast Asia highlights the ingenuity and resourcefulness of prehistoric peoples, who utilized perishable plant-based materials for weaving baskets, making ropes, and other fibrecrafts over 39,000 years ago in Palawan, Philippines, as revealed in a recent study published in Plos One by Hermine Xhauflair and a team of researchers.
The research study titled The Invisible Plant Technology of Prehistoric Southeast Asia: Indirect Evidence for Basket and Rope Making at Tabon Cave, Philippines, 39-33,000 Years Ago (June 2023) has been published by Plos One, a peer-reviewed open access journal by the Public Library of Science.
The authors are Hermine Xhauflair, Sheldon Jago-on, Timothy James Vitales, Dante Manipon, Noel Amano, John Rey Callado, Danilo Tandang, Céline Kerfant, Omar Choa, and Alfred Pawlik.
Archaeological sites in the country have revealed how our ancestors live, work, and play through material remains such as stone tools, fossils, bones, shells, pottery and ceramics, and precious metals and stones.
Among prehistoric peoples. their material culture (just like ours today) consisted of organic materials, mostly from plants such as textiles and tying materials. Organic materials do not preserve well, especially in hot and humid tropical countries.
Source: Prehistoric Filipinos: Mastery of plant fiber technology – VERA Files
