Earliest Evidence in the Philippines of Life Under the Canopy: Plant Technology and Use of Forest Resources by Our Species

In the past decades, two antinomic hypotheses were developed in tropical prehistory. Scholars qualified tropical forests as “green deserts” and considered them inhospitable before the emergence of agriculture. Other archaeologists working in Southeast Asia rather thought that humans adapted so much to tropical forests that it impacted their technology. Neglecting mineral resources, they would have made diverse and complex tools in perishable plant material: bamboo. Here, we report findings from Tabon Cave, including palaeo-environmental, lithic technological, and use-wear data from 39,000 to 33,000 years ago. Our data document that the site was surrounded by rainforest at the time of human occupation, including 39,000 to 33,000 years ago, adding to the body of knowledge showing that our species was indeed capable of living in tropical forests long before relying on agriculture. During this period, prehistoric groups made stone tools out of radiolarian chert using Kombewa, SSDA (système par surface de débitage alterné), and discoid methods. Fifteen percent of the blanks were retouched, and some of the knapping products are blades, produced by volumetric exploitation of the blocks. Both are unusual in the region. Functional analyses of lithic artefacts show evidence for an organic plant-based technology, but not limited to the manufacturing of bamboo tools and weapons: various plants were exploited, including but not limited to palm trees; plants were split and turned into different objects, including baskets and ties or fasteners. We propose that plants played an important role in the economy and technology of Southeast Asian prehistoric groups, going much further than making bamboo tools.