Project description
Investigating prehistoric plant-based tools of South-East Asia
Compared to other regions, stone tools in prehistoric South-East Asia during the Late Pleistocene period were very primitive and remained unchanged for thousands of years. For this reason, scholars hypothesise that early hunter-gatherers adapted to their environment and developed more sophisticated bamboo tools. The EU-funded BeΒamb project aims to substantiate the theory that humans of the Late Pleistocene period in Palawan, Philippines, used bamboo and other forest plants to make complex tools. Quantitative use-wear analyses using confocal microscopy will be carried out to study microplant residues on stone tools. This project will further our understanding of the evolution of early humans and their adaptability to the environment.
Objective
The prehistory of SE Asia is very different from the rest of the Old World. The stone tool kit is rudimentary and production techniques lasted unchanged for millennia. Currently, the dominant hypothesis to explain it is the “Bamboo Hypothesis”: prehistoric hunter-gatherers would have adapted to their environment, the tropical forest and manufactured more complex implements in bamboo. The objective of this project is to explore the potential adaptation of Late Pleistocene hunter gatherers to the forest in Palawan, Philippines and its modalities: have stone tools really been used mostly to make bamboo tools? We know, thanks to plant remains discovered in the archaeological record, that several species were known and used. Therefore, we can hypothesise that the simplification of lithic technology could be due to a technological investment focusing on a large spectrum of plants and not only on bamboo. As objects made of plants do not preserve well, I will gather data by an indirect mean: studying use-wear and micro plant residues on stone tools. To increase the possibilities of diagnosis, I will move from classic qualitative use-wear analyses to a quantitative methodology using confocal microscopy. This method proved efficient to distinguish use-wear resulting from processing different plants in the Levant. This research will be conducted at the Institut Mila y Fontanals (CSCI), in Barcelona, where I will receive high level training in quantitative use-wear and at the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History (Jena, Germany) (secondment) where I will be trained in micro plant residue analyses. This project will contribute to our understanding of environmental influence on human development and the adaptability of our species to the rainforest. It will also question the assumption that simple technology is the reflection of simple society as lithic functional analyses may reveal a hidden complexity in plant related practices that may be unique to SE Asia.
Fields of science (EuroSciVoc)
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
CORDIS classifies projects with EuroSciVoc, a multilingual taxonomy of fields of science, through a semi-automatic process based on NLP techniques. See: The European Science Vocabulary.
- humanities history and archaeology history prehistory
- social sciences other social sciences development studies social developments
- natural sciences mathematics pure mathematics mathematical analysis functional analysis
- natural sciences physical sciences optics microscopy confocal microscopy
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Programme(s)
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
Multi-annual funding programmes that define the EU’s priorities for research and innovation.
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H2020-EU.1.3. - EXCELLENT SCIENCE - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
MAIN PROGRAMME
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H2020-EU.1.3.2. - Nurturing excellence by means of cross-border and cross-sector mobility
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Topic(s)
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Calls for proposals are divided into topics. A topic defines a specific subject or area for which applicants can submit proposals. The description of a topic comprises its specific scope and the expected impact of the funded project.
Funding Scheme
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
Funding scheme (or “Type of Action”) inside a programme with common features. It specifies: the scope of what is funded; the reimbursement rate; specific evaluation criteria to qualify for funding; and the use of simplified forms of costs like lump sums.
MSCA-IF-EF-ST - Standard EF
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Call for proposal
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
Procedure for inviting applicants to submit project proposals, with the aim of receiving EU funding.
(opens in new window) H2020-MSCA-IF-2018
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Net EU financial contribution. The sum of money that the participant receives, deducted by the EU contribution to its linked third party. It considers the distribution of the EU financial contribution between direct beneficiaries of the project and other types of participants, like third-party participants.
28006 Madrid
Spain
The total costs incurred by this organisation to participate in the project, including direct and indirect costs. This amount is a subset of the overall project budget.