Stone artifacts and hominins in island Southeast Asia: New insights from Flores, eastern Indonesia

Author(s)
Moore, Mark
Brumm, Adam
Publication Date
2007
Abstract
This study reexamines the current understanding of Pleistocene stone-artifact assemblages in island Southeast Asia. A differentiation has long been made between assemblages of large-sized "core tools" and assemblages of small-sized "flake tools". "Core tool" assemblages are often argued to be the handiwork of early hominin species such as Homo erectus, while small-sized "flake tool" assemblages have been attributed to Homo sapiens. We argue that this traditional Southeast Asian perspective on stone tools assumes that the artifacts recovered from a site reflect a complete technological sequence. Our analyses of Pleistocene-age artifact assemblages from Flores, Indonesia, demonstrate that large pebble-based cores and small flake-based cores are aspects of one reduction sequence. We propose that the Flores pattern applies across island Southeast Asia: large-sized "core tool" assemblages are in fact a missing element of the small-sized flake-based reduction sequences found in many Pleistocene caves and rock-shelters. We conclude by discussing the implications of this for associating stone-artifact assemblages with hominin species in island Southeast Asia.
Citation
Journal of Human Evolution, 52(1), p. 85-102
ISSN
1095-8606
0047-2484
Link
Language
en
Publisher
Elsevier Ltd
Title
Stone artifacts and hominins in island Southeast Asia: New insights from Flores, eastern Indonesia
Type of document
Journal Article
Entity Type
Publication

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