Editing Hoabinhian (section)

==Hoabinhian and plant domestication==
Gorman (1971) claimed that [[Spirit Cave, Thailand|Spirit Cave]] included remains of ''Prunus'' ([[almond]]), ''Terminalia'', ''Areca'' ([[betel]]), ''Vicia'' ([[Vicia faba|broadbean]]) or ''Phaseolus'', ''Pisum'' ([[pea]]) or ''Raphia lagenaria'' ([[bottle gourd]]), ''Trapa'' ([[water caltrop]]), ''Piper'' ([[Piper (genus)|pepper]]), ''Madhuca'' ([[butternut tree|butternut]]), ''[[Canarium]]'', ''Aleurites'' ([[candle nut]]), and ''[[Cucumis]]'' (a [[cucumber]] type) in layers dating to c. 9800-8500 BP. None of the recovered specimens differed from their wild [[phenotype]]s. He suggested that these may have been used as foods, [[condiment]]s, [[stimulant]]s, for lighting and that the [[legume|leguminous]] plants in particular 'point to a very early use of [[domestication|domesticated]] plants' (Gorman 1969:672). He later wrote (1971:311) that 'Whether they are definitely early [[cultigen]]s (see Yen n.d.:12) remains to be established... What is important, and what we can say definitely, is that the remains indicate the early, quite sophisticated use of particular species which are still culturally important in Southeast Asia.'

In 1972, [[Wilhelm Gerhard Solheim II|W. G. Solheim]], as the director of the project of which Spirit Cave was part, published an article in ''[[Scientific American]]'' discussing the finds from Spirit Cave. While Solheim noted that the specimens may 'merely be wild species gathered from the surrounding countryside', he claimed that the inhabitants at Spirit Cave had 'an advanced knowledge of [[horticulture]]'. Solheim's [[chronology|chronological]] chart suggests that 'incipient [[agriculture]]' began at about 20,000 BC in southeast Asia. He also suggests that ceramic technology was invented at 13,000 BC although Spirit Cave does not have ceramics until after 6800 BC.

Although Solheim concludes that his reconstruction is 'largely [[hypothetical]]', his [[hyperbole|overstatement]] of the results of Gorman's excavation has led to inflated claims of Hoabinhian agriculture. These claims have detracted from the significance of Spirit Cave as a site with well-preserved evidence of human [[subsistence]] and palaeoenvironmental conditions during the Hoabinhian.

Viet (2004), however, focuses on mainly Hoabinhians in Viet Nam. Within his wide range of study of this area, Da But is a site that he has worked at which is dated to about fifth to sixth millennium BC to the end of the third millennium BC. Within this site, Viet observed that the food Hoabinhians mostly focused on are mountainous shellfish, nuts, and fruit. Interesting enough, the site even shows a new shellfish species that they consumed: an as-yet-unnamed species of freshwater clam of ''[[Corbicula]] spp''; species are known to live in swampy areas and lakes.

[[File:Hiem cave (selected flakes).jpg|thumb|Hiem cave (selected flakes)]]

The general food sources of Hoabinhians were gathered from the follow environmental conditions:
* Limestone rock mountains (delivering land snails and some small mammals)
* Mountain water sources like streams, small rivers, swamps and lakes (providing snails and fish)
* Valley earthen surfaces (nuts, fruits, fungi, vegetables, wild cereals, and wild mammals)<ref>{{cite book|last=Viet|first=Nguyen |title=Hoabinhian Food Strategy in Viet Nam|pages=14–15}}</ref>