Traces of fiber technology found in 3 stone tools from Tabon Cave

Three stone tools from Palawan yielded traces of fiber technology, which could mean that prehistoric Filipinos possibly know how to make baskets or ropes.

According to Mark Salazar's report on "24 Oras," Monday, the three stone tools were found inside the Tabon Cave, where bones of prehistoric humans who lived 47,000 years ago were also found in 2002.

Hermine Xhauflair, a researcher who studied the tools, said there were micro traces that the tools were used for weaving plant fibers.

"These micro traces give us information on the materials it had been processed with the tools and the gestures which had been used," she said.

Museum researcher Timothy Vitales said both prehistoric Filipinos and Indonesians had fiber technology.

"In Sulawesi they discovered evidence of banana fiber in stone tools. Remember banana fiber is another material used in weaving and basket making like abaca," he said.

The researchers had to use a P5 million-worth digital electron microscope to study the stone tools. With excavation and laboratory costs, several millions of pesos are needed to study the tools.

—MGP, GMA Integrated News