that's a key to several elements I'm working with; cultures turning to biological methods both to scavenge resources and because a lot of the older material methods have to deal with resource scarcity.

Note that resource scarcity doesn't even have to mean the materials are gone, just locked up in manners that are difficult to work with. Compare working on a low-temperature forge with iron ore vs. high-temperature steel, for example. And that's leaving out exotic crap like single-crystal iron, or exotic laminates.