The Exploitation of Toxic Fish from the Terminal Pleistocene in Maritime Southeast Asia: A Case Study from the Mindoro Archaeological Sites, Philippines

Representatives of the Diodontidae family (porcupinefish) are known to have been fished by prehistoric Indo-Pacific populations; however, the antiquity of the use of this family is thus far unknown. We report here on the presence of Diodontidae in the archaeological sites of Bubog I, II, and Bilat in Mindoro, Philippines, dating back to c. 13,000 BP (Before Present). This evidence demonstrates the early exploitation by islanders of poisonous fish. Every part of porcupinefish can be toxic, but the toxicity is mostly concentrated in some organs, while other parts are edible. The continuous presence of Diodontidae remains throughout the stratigraphic record of these Philippines shell middens suggests that porcupinefish were prepared by human inhabitants of the sites to render them safe for consumption, indicating an advanced cultural knowledge of the preparation needed to separate the toxic principle from the edible parts. This constitutes one of the rare examples of poison processing by humans, aside from the contentious wooden stick poison applicator from Border Cave (South Africa)

Taphonomy and chronosequence of the 709 ka Kalinga site formation (Luzon Island, Philippines)

The recently described site of Kalinga in the Philippines adds to our understanding of Early-Middle Pleistocene hominin behaviour. Yet, disentangling the natural from the anthropogenic modifications that have taken place in such an old archaeological site is challenging. In this paper we use a set of taphonomic tools at hand to rectify the distortion made by natural processes during the formation of the Kalinga site. From the description of the ribs completeness, surface damages and scattering in the excavation, one can reconstruct the butchery, transport and deposition sequence of the rhino carcass and its post-depositional disturbances and diagenetic evolution of the site. We conclude that the rhino and the stone artefacts potentially used to deflesh the carcass were transported by a mudflow from its butchery place over a few meters only and got stuck and mixed with an older faunal assemblage that was transported by a small stream.Materials and methods Results Discussion and concluding remarks: Death and butchery of the rhino ; Transport and deposition ; Post‑depositional evolution of the site and diagenesis ; The relative age of the stone artefact

Les primates quaternaires de Song Terus (Java Est, Indonésie) : implications paléobiogéographiques et archéozoologiques pour l’Asie du Sud-Est

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An allometric study of Macaca fascicularis from the Late Pleistocene deposits at the Ille site (Philippines): a possible model for Southeast Asian Dwarf Hominins

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Monkey hunting in Early to Mid-Holocene eastern Java (Indonesia)

In this chapter, we explore the patterns of nonhuman primate exploitation in Early to Mid-Holocene East Java by looking at the faunal assemblage recovered from excavations in Braholo Cave. Cercopithecid specimens account for more than 50% of the animal remains recovered from the site. Of these, 90% were identified to represent the Javan langur (Trachypithecus auratus), suggesting deliberate hunting of this arboreal species. Age-at-death profiles demonstrate targeting of prime-aged adults and skeletal element representation suggests onsite carcass processing. We observed consistent placement of butchery marks on specific skeletal elements, indicative of routine carcass processing that also involved preparation of skeletal elements for bone tool manufacture. We discuss our findings in the framework of early hunter-gatherer subsistence economies in the region

First fossil evidence of the extinct Philippine cloud rat Crateromys paulus (Muridae: Murinae: Phloeomyini) from Ilin Island, Mindoro, and insights into its Holocene abundance

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From Food to Grave Good

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Biometric Differentiation of Wild Philippine Pigs from Introduced<i>Sus scrofa</i>in Modern and Archaeological Assemblages

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