Des civilisations du végétal préhistoriques sous les tropiques ?

Abstract

Did a toolkit made of plants exist in tropical forests during prehistory? If so, what was its impact on lithic technology? In Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea, the “simplicity” of lithic industries has been interpreted as the reflection of a technical investment in another material: bamboo. The material clues, including traces of wear and residues on lithic artefacts, show that if a perishable material culture did exist, in the Philippines and in New Guinea, the Bamboo Hypothesis must be nuanced and extended to the plant world in the broad sense. Various plants have been exploited, including palm, to carry out activities that go beyond the manufacture of bamboo knives and arrows: splitting of rigid plants, fibre processing, manufacturing of ropes or baskets. If the relationship with the forest is developed on all continents and combines botanical knowledge, anthropogenization of the landscape and hunting of arboreal animals, its impact on lithics toolkits varies. In South America, stone tools become rarer in forest environment and the operating sequences become simpler. On the contrary, lithic industries of Africa and Sri Lanka show great technical know-how and are characterized by great standardization. Living in the rainforest does not necessarily imply abandoning the mineral to focus on plants and the part of cultural choices was large. A prehistoric plant technology is increasingly attested in Southeast Asia and Papua New Guinea thanks to use-wear analyses but remains to be demonstrated in other tropical regions of the world.