Preliminary soil micromorphology studies of landscape and occupation history at Tabon Cave,Palawan, Philippines

Preliminary soil micromorphology study of cultural sediments at Tabon Cave, Philippines, supports interpretations of sporadic occupation in the Paleolithic. The presence in some deposits of authigenic minerals potentially related to altered cultural materials, such as ash, needs further investigation. Later in the sequence there is a marked change in local depositional processes, with the onset of significant quartz sand deposition in layers dating from the Middle to Late Holocene. This could relate to beach development in the area. Future sedimentological study and dating would confirm this interpretation, which suggests that in appropriate settings, stratified cave sediments could be useful for the study of regional sea level rise. © 2007 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.