Understanding the Functions of Guri Cave Stone Tools through Use-wear Analysis and Experimental Archaeology

Justin C. Bernardo

The Tabon Cave in the Island of Palawan had been occupied by the early humans during the Late Pleistocene period. Much information about the technology of the humans who inhabited this part of the island and their subsistence pattern during the Late Pleistocene have been learned through a series of excavations since 1970. While knowledge in human adaptation in Palawan during the Holocene Period is limited, the Guri Cave, found within the Tabon Cave Complex, had been occupied during the Holocene Period and could potentially fill this gap. The questions: “Do the early human settlers in Guri Cave have the same subsistence pattern during the Pleistocene Period?”, and “Do they have the same natural resources utilized and consumed during the Pleistocene?” could be answered through examination of the stone tools excavated from Guri Cave. This research will employ use-wear analysis to determine how the lithic tools from Guri Cave were used, the activities they were used for, and the contact materials the tools processed. Experimental archaeology method will be used to understand how use-wear traces develop on the lithic tools at the same time expanding a reference collection of use-wear traces resulting from processing materials available in the Philippines.