A new variability of cobble-tool industry associated with a bone tool technology from the Luobi Cave, South China (ca.11-10 ka): a comparative perspective from Southeast Asia

Summary

The characterization of Paleolithic culture in South China and their relationship with mainland Southeast Asia remains ill-defined and unclearly known. The lithic industry of South China has been characterized as simple "cobble-tool" industry persisting from early Pleistocene to Holocene and the most representative industry of Southeast Asia was also marked by pebble-tool techno-complex termed Hoabinhian during late Pleistocene-early Holocene. The possible cultural link of the two regions was proposed by some scholars but the technological characteristics and variability within the two industries was elusive. In this research we conducted technological analysis on a "cobble-tool" industry associated with a bone tool technology from the Luobi Cave, Hainan Island, dated to ca. 11-10 ka and compared it with a well-studied typical Hoabinhian site of Laang Spean in Cambodia. The major difference of two has rejected the Luobi Cave as a potential Hoabinhian site, indicating a high originality and a new variability in the tool-kit of modern human groups during late Pleistocene-early Holocene transition in South China and Southeast Asia. This study represents the first step towards deciphering the cultural variability in this region from a technological view and suggests that behavioral modernity and cultural variability should be evaluated in regional and sub-regional scale.

This Resource is Part of the Following Collections

• Society for American Archaeology 82nd Annual Meeting, Vancouver, BC (2017)   •
• Advances in Archaeology of Prehistoric and Early China

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Record Identifiers

Abstract Id(s): 15763