Geometric morphometry versus traditional stone artefact typology in the Hoabinhian of northern Vietnam

Summary

Hoabinhian typologies dominate stone artifact analysis in discussions of late Pleistocene archaeology in mainland Southeast Asia. Although, the objective reality of the types in this system has been questioned, there has been little empirical work to test the usefulness of the commonly used types as discrete entities. We collect 3D scan models of 110 artifacts from Mau A, a recently excavated site in northern Vietnam, where the Hoabinhian was was first described. We derive semi-landmarks along outlines in three planes for each artifact, and use Principal Component Analysis and k-means analysis on elliptical Fourier analysis coefficients to explore patterns in morphological clusters. We identify which outline is most informative for traditional types, and demonstrate that substantial morphological overlap is present between the traditional types. Our results reveal where continuities and discontinuities exist between the traditional types, and highlight the importance of recording measurements of continuous variables when collecting data from stone artifact assemblages.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15220