Reduction Sequences During the Hoabinhian Technocomplex in Cambodia and Thailand: A New Knapping Strategy in Southeast Asia from the Terminal Upper Pleistocene to mid Holocene

ABSTRACT

The Hoabinhian is a cultural marker of the late Paleolithic in Mainland Southeast Asia. And it is one of the most debated topics in prehistoric research in Southeast Asia. However, today there is a lack of reliable information on the diversity of production strategies and tool structures in the Hoabinhian, due to poor scientific methods and few well-excavated sites in the twentieth century. Over the last two decades, a technological approach that aims to identify reduction sequences (chaîne opératoires) has been applied to Hoabinhian lithic assemblages. Results have been generated that broaden our understanding of the technological characteristics and nature of the Hoabinhian industry. In this study, we present two Hoabinhian case studies from Cambodia (Laang Spean Cave) and Thailand (Moh Khiew Cave) to reveal the reduction sequences and end products of the Hoabinhian industry. We also compare and discuss the unity and variability between the two sites.

KEYWORDS:

• Hoabinhian
• Mainland Southeast Asia
• last hunter-gatherer
• reduction sequence
• pebble tool
• terminal Pleistocene
• variability

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Mission Préhistorique Franco-Cambodgienne and the Mission Paléolithique Franco-Thaïe of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs (MEAE, Paris). Also by the “Prehistropic Project” of Emergence, City of Paris; the National Social Science Project of China (18BKG003), the Chinese Scholarship Council (CSC201806270228), and the National Museum of Natural History & CNRS UMR7194 laboratory, Paris, France.

Notes on contributors

Hubert Forestier

Dr Hubert Forestier is a professor of the National Museum of Natural History (Paris, France), he is a specialist in lithic technology and prehistory and has worked for more than 20 years in Southeast Asia and China.

Yuduan Zhou

Dr Yuduan Zhou is an associate professor in the School of History, Wuhan University (China), he obtained his PhD degree in July 2021 from the National Museum of Natural History (Paris, France). His PhD thesis presented and discussed the techno-cultural diversity in southern China and its importance for understanding the prehistory of mainland Southeast Asia.

Cyril Viallet

Dr Cyril Viallet is a researcher in the University of Perpignan Via Domitia (France). He is a specialsit in lithic technology and prehistory.

Prasit Auetrakulvit

Dr Prasit Auetrakulvit is a professor of Silpakorn University (Thailand). He is an archaeologist and specializes in zooarchaeology.

Yinghua Li

Dr Yinghua Li is a professor in Wuhan University (China). She is a specialist in lithic technology and has worked on prehistoric sites in southern China and Southeast Asia for more than 10 years.

Heng Sophady

Dr Heng Sophady is the deputy director of the Ministry of Culture and Fine Arits, and the president of Royal University of Fines-Arts, Cambodia. He is also an archaeologist.