According to Bellwood (1984), the prehistoric Tingkayu Lake may have covered up to 100 square kilometers.
The Tingkayu stone industry shows a unique level of skill for its time period in Southeast Asia, and the tools are mostly made on a locally quarried tabular grey chert together with a few riverine pebbles of brown chert.
Several lanceolets (spear-like shape of stone tools) and other bifaces have been excavated together with their manufacturing debris.
The lanceolets with razor-sharp edges suggest that they have been used both as projectile points and knives. At one site, the manufacturing floor of these tools is estimated to cover a total area of 800 square meters.
Why was mass production of stone tools by the Tingkayu tribe? One possibility is that there was trade – exchange of the tools with other items. If this was the case, who were their trading counterparts? What material did they take in exchange? Unfortunately, the acidic forest soil in which these sites lie has left no trace of either the material or bone that can yield some answers to our questions.
It is however quite obvious that the Tingkayu tribe were hunters. They did not need to go far for hunting as many animals would have come to the lake for water. A group of hunters would lie down quietly waiting for their prey.
On a quite warm afternoon a herd of seladang (Bos gaurus) emerged from the jungle. Comprised of three cows and a calf, the herd was unusually small. Without a bull as their leader, the herd was easy prey. The hunters sprang and speared one of the cows.
In panic, the herd scattered and dashed to the jungle. The hunters followed the trace of blood from the wounded cow. Badly hurt and so much blood loss, the injured animal did not go far. The hunters took their price and happily went back to their cave home. That night the tribe had a fiesta.
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