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Although non-marine turtles are nearly ubiquitous in the Southeast Asian archaeological record, their zooarchaeological study has been very poorly undertaken in that tropical region of the world. This lack of study makes the understanding of past human subsistence strategies very complex especially regarding the prehistoric hunter gatherer populations which may have massively exploited inland chelonian taxa. In order to try to start a new dynamic regarding the study of the past human-turtle interactions in Southeast Asia we propose here an in-depth zooarchaeological analysis of the turtle bone remains recovered from four Hoabinhian Hunter-gatherer archaeological assemblages located in Thailand and Cambodia, and dated from the Late Pleistocene to the first half of the Holocene. Our study is focused on the bone remains attributed to the Yellow-Headed Tortoise (Indotestudo elongata) as they account for the majority of the turtle archaeological assemblages identified in the target area. For this species, we developed osteo-metric equations enabling the estimation of the carapace size of the archaeological individuals of this species. This allowed us to study the size structure of the archaeological populations in the different sites and to reveal the human exploitation strategies of these animals. We found a strong taphonomic homogeneity between the studied assemblages suggesting similarities of the subsistence behaviors in the different sites despite their very different environmental settings. We thus hypothesize putative cultural similarities across time and space. In addition, we also provide a baseline for future zooarchaeological studies as well as a methodological frame for the detailed studies of archaeological turtle bones in continental Southeast Asia.

The technocomplexes of the European Lower Palaeolithic are often attributed to the so-called Acheulean. Through several prehistoric sites located in the South Armorican coast, a distinct and contemporary Acheulean cultural facies was proposed at the end of the 1980s. Based on the study of lithic industries at the Pointe de Saint-Colomban site in Carnac, it is called “Colombanian” and is characterised by the coexistence of macro-tools on pebbles and a variety of small tools on flakes. As is often the case, the presence or absence of handaxes is a determining criterion to qualify a lithic assemblage as “Acheulean”. However, this categorial attribution loses all meaning when a technological analysis is conducted. Consequently, we used a techno-structural approach to illustrate the technological and functional variability of lithic artefacts from the early occupations of the Pointe de Saint-Colomban site (layers 5, 6 and 7). The application of the “chaîne opératoire” principle allowed us to reveal the processes and objectives of the lithic production system and to establish a homogeneous reading grid among the different pieces of the assemblage. We present here the data from our study which clearly shows that the “Colombanian” is no longer valid and that we need to initiate a change of definition. The lithic industry of the Pointe de Saint-Colomban site is dominated by the concept of flaking (débitage) represented by numerous cores and flake tools. The concept of shaping (façonnage) is illustrated by only two sandstone pebble tools. All this highlights the diversity and originality of the lithic technical systems of the Lower Palaeolithic of the Atlantic Armorican coastline.

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...

International audience; n this paper, we examine previously unstudied archaeological fish remains recoveredduring Mansuy's first excavation in 1902 from the inland Samrong Sen midden site inCambodia and which are currently stored at the Musée de l'Homme, Paris, France. Theremains are dated by association to the Neolithic/Bronze Age between 2206 and1892 cal.BC from a time when the development of metal age trade and exchangenetworks contributed substantially to the success of many cultures in this diverseregion. We focus on the taxonomy of the fish captured and the implications for tech-nology and regional networks. The identification of two perforated shark vertebraebeads indicates that, during the late Neolithic to Bronze Age period, trade andexchange between coastal and inland communities was prominent on mainlandSoutheast Asia

International audience; L'approche technogénétique dans le domaine des études en technologie lithique préhistorique trouve son origine à la fin des années 1980. Les approches traditionnelles comme de la typologie à la technologie productionnelle ont eu tendance à aborder les objets de la préhistoire à travers leurs dimensions socioculturelle et économique, sans vraiment considérer l’existence d’une technogenèse antérieure à ces contingences. L’appréhension de cette dimension technogénétique en préhistoire convoquera à la fois la philosophie et l’anthropologie des techniques pour amener à une double approche des artefacts: une approche technogénétique de l’objet lithique selon les critères techniques de sa genèse; et une approche psychosociale de l’objet selon les critères propres à sa production artisanale au sein d’un système technique majeur. L’objectif de cet article est d’identifier deux existences fondamentales constituantes de l’objet technique, l’une interne (technogénétique) avec des lignées techniques et l’autre externe (psychosociale) avec des trajectoires techniques. La distribution spatio-temporelle de l’altérité technique préhistorique sur différents continents a logiquement amené à de nouvelles questions, constats et de nouveaux critères d’analyse. Sur cette base, notre démarche visera à revisiter les principaux axes conceptuels des fondements de l’approche technologique, à préciser les anciennes questions tout en développant de nouvelles expertises. À travers l’application de concepts clés comme celui de temps, de mémoire et d’altérité, une méthodologie d’ensemble sera également rediscutée et proposera une ligne de fuite épistémologique.

International audience; Recent discoveries of ancient sites in mainland Southeast Asia confirm the presence of old lithic industries as early as 0.8 Ma, i.e., at the transition between the Early to Middle Pleistocene. Although these open-air sites still require geochronological and biostratigraphic precisions, they allow us to understand the oldest vestiges of human presence in the tropics and the technical orientations chosen by these hominins. This article aims to present an objective and critical synthesis of the material discovered at the main sites. Some sites in Cambodia and Thailand have been the subject of archaeological field missions by the Ministère de l’Europe et des Affaires Étrangères (MEAE). The diversity of lithic tool types and manufacture methods encountered from the Middle Pleistocene in peninsular Asia shows a technical variability that stands out as a counterexample to diffusionist hypotheses of a cultural fabrication inherited from the West. The diversity of production methods, tools, and raw material matrices remains incomparable to those encountered in the West, Africa, or South Asia. To date, only evidence from China has allowed us to put forward the hypothesis of a common technical basis that would have spread from its southern territories; however, this hypothesis is currently under debate. Researchers have proposed the idea of continuous technical progress and the shift from heavy industry to a lighter and polished stone in Southeast Asia. However, the omnipresence of the pebble prevents a clear conclusion because these technical objects from Southeast Asia are quite simply incommensurable; a chopper in these regions may not be comparable with another chopper from the terraces of the Garonne or the Roussillon in France, for example. In other words, these tools are above all ‘tropical’ tools, and they belong to a distant cognitive world(s) with specific use(s), gesture(s), and meaning(s), making it impossible for them to be compared or evaluated by our faculty of Western judgment.; Les récentes découvertes de sites anciens en Asie du Sud-Est continentale confirment de la présence de vieilles industries dès 0,8 Ma, c’est-à-dire à la transition entre le Pléistocène ancien et moyen. Même si ces sites de plein air nécessitent encore des précisions géochronologiques et biostratigraphiques, ils permettent d’appréhender les plus anciens vestiges de la présence humaine sous les tropiques et les orientations techniques choisies par les hominines. D’un point de vue typo-technique, un ensemble de critères confirme l’hypothèse anthropique de ces objets qui affichent une variabilité étonnante pour une période aussi reculée du Quaternaire dans une Asie tropicale encore à découvrir. Cet article a pour objectif de présenter une synthèse objective et critique du matériel découvert sur les principaux sites dont certains au Cambodge et en Thaïlande ont fait l’objet de missions de terrain archéologiques du MEAE. La diversité des différents types d’outils lithiques et des modes de fabrication rencontrés dès le Pléistocène moyen en Asie péninsulaire, montrent très tôt une variabilité technique qui s’impose à la fois comme un commencement et comme un contre-exemple à toute explication diffusionniste d’une nappe culturelle héritée de l’Ouest. La diversité des modes de production et des outillages mais aussi des matrices des matières premières, restent incomparables à celles rencontrées en Occident, Afrique ou en Asie du Sud. Seule la Chine permet à ce jour d’avancer l’hypothèse d’un fond technique commun qui se serait répandu depuis ses territoires méridionaux et encore, rien n’est absolument certain. Est-il possible, au fond, de parler de progrès techniques continus et de passage d’industrie lourde à plus légère puis à la pierre polie en Asie du Sud-Est ? L’omniprésence du galet nous empêche de répondre en nous rappelant que ces objets techniques rencontrés en Asie du Sud-Est sont tout simplement incommensurables, autant que peut l’être un chopper dans ces régions avec un autre trouvé des terrasses de la Garonne ou du Roussillon en France. Autrement dit, ces outils sont des outils avant tout « tropicaux» et ils appartiennent à des mondes cognitif(s), d’usage(s), de geste(s), de sens trop éloignés pour qu’ils puissent être comparés ou évalués par notre faculté de juger occidentale.

International audience; Since 1909, patrol officers, anthropologists and archaeologists have identified evidence of a pre-contact trading network linking New Guinea with the Torres Strait. Current research in the Lower Sepik River Basin reported various ethnographic descriptions relating to cultural material objects stenciled on various rock art sites in Auwim, Upper Karawari-Arafundi region, East Sepik, Papua New Guinea (PNG). In addition to the rock art, the broader area has one of the most environmentally intact freshwater basins with lowland rainforests in Melanesia, and is famous for its architectural carvings and spirit houses. This paper reports new research that articulates local ethnographic knowledge about rock art with the art-work itself. The rock art panels contain a wide range of stencils primarily consisting of hands but, importantly, also several objects. One such object is the kina shell. The kina shell stencils are, among other things, indicative of the remarkable distance over which the shells were traded and traditionally used. The Auwim case study is important because it is one of the relatively few sites across PNG for which we still have ethnography of rock art and therefore provides us with important insight into the past-present rock art practices, and concurrently notions of cultural continuity.

International audience; In South China and mainland Southeast Asia, the lithic industry called the "cobble-tool industry" dominated throughout the Pleistocene and persisted until the middle Holocene. Although this term has long been used to characterize the lithic industry and to compare the Paleolithic cultures interregionally, it is really just a description of the raw material used by the lithic industry, lacking any indication of essential technological information about lithic production. As a result, the term loses utility when we compare the lithic industries of different sites in South China and mainland Southeast Asia, because both regions' lithic industries are characterized by cobble/pebble raw material during their prehistory. In this paper, we studied the lithic collection of the Bailiandong Cave, an important site in Guangxi, southern China, dating back to 36-7 ka, from a new technological perspective, and revealed the chaines operatoires of production and the objectives of prehistoric knappers. After a concise comparison with the Hoabinihian techno-complex in mainland southeastern Asia, the long-lasting suspicion about the Hoabinhian elements in this site was dispelled. So, technological analysis did construct a solid foundation to redefine the cobble-tool industry in South China and to reveal the variability of lithic industries on a larger regional scale. The application of this approach to more sites is expected to help to decipher more clearly the technological and cultural scenario of prehistoric humans in South China and adjacent Southeast Asia

International audience; Despite a rich archaeological record, the old prehistory of Namibia, particularly from the Earlier Stone Age, is poorly documented, due to the surface context of the findings, exposed by erosional processes. In this context, human behaviors and responses to environment changes in this region during the Middle Pleistocene remain unclear. In the late 1970's, Myra Shackley surveyed the Central Namib dune desert and discovered lithic artefacts associated to fragmented fossilized bones of antelopes, elephants, zebras and buffalos at Namib IV. She interpreted this locality as an Acheulean butchery site on the shores of a paleolake. The radiometric dating suggested an age of ~347ka whereas biochronology broadly pointed the human occupation to the Mid-Pleistocene Transition (1–0.5 Ma). Thanks to these ages, Namib IV is currently the earliest dated evidence of human presence in the current Namib coastal desert. Contextualized by the existing chronological and paleoenvironmental data, we analyzed the unstudied lithic material recovered at Namib IV. To do so, we applied a qualitative morpho-structural approach to the stone tools and tried to reconstruct the productional schemes (chaînes opératoires). Our results argue for an important economy of the raw material, a spatial fragmentation of stone tool production and an important technical homogeneity of the lithic assemblage despite few possible intrusive elements. In the light of these analyses, we finally discussed the advanced site function of Namib IV as butchery site.; En Namibie, malgré une riche documentation sur le Middle et Later Stone Age, les sites Earlier Stone Age sont principalement connus en surface du fait d’important processus d’érosion. Dans ce contexte, les comportements humains et les réponses aux environnements namibiens au cours du Pléistocène moyen restent obscurs. À la fin des années 1970, les prospections entreprises par Myra Shackley dans le désert de dunes du Namib central ont mis au jour des restes lithiques associés à des os fossilisés fragmentés d’antilopes, d’éléphants, de zèbres et de buffles sur les bords d’un paléo-lac à Namib IV. Le site a alors été interprété comme un site de boucherie acheuléen. Les datations radiométriques suggèrent un âge de ~347 ka alors que la biochronologie suggèrent une faune de la Mid-Pleistocene Transition (1–0,5 Ma) ; ce qui ferait de Namib IV la plus ancienne preuve de présence humaine dans l’actuel désert côtier du Namib. Malgré les données chronologiques et paléoenvironnementales existantes, le matériel lithique n’a pas été étudié. Nous avons donc appliqué une approche qualitative techno-morpho-structurelle aux outils en pierre et essayé de reconstruire les chaînes opératoires de production. Nos résultats plaident pour une économie importante de la matière première, la fragmentation spatiale de la production lithique et une homogénéité importante de l’assemblage malgré quelques éléments techno-typologiques potentiellement intrusifs. In fine, nous interrogeons la cohérence entre la nature de l’assemblage lithique et la fonction présumée d’aire de boucherie du site de Namib IV.

The presence of notches on European Palaeolithic flaked stone tools termed ‘denticulates’ has been variously ascribed to cultural, functional and taphonomic factors. In Southeast Asia prehistoric stone tool assemblages are dominated by unretouched flakes, so the rare retouched lithics, including denticulates, can be considered unique testimonies of the intention of the tool makers to control the shape and properties of tool edges. Here we report the results of plant processing experiments with modern unretouched flakes made of red jasper. Splitting plants with the help of a specific hand and arm movement (“twist-of-the-wrist”) resulted in a series of use-wear traces that included large crescent-break micro-scars. These are very similar in shape and appearance to the notches of prehistoric denticulated tools. These results suggest that some denticulated pieces in prehistoric Southeast Asia could be less intentional than previously thought, being instead the result of plant processing activities. We also report here the analysis of 41 denticulates from Tabon Cave, Philippines. While some are clearly intentionally retouch, others exhibit use-wear and nocth micro-morphology characteristic of plant splitting. The notches of others result from utilisation and taphonomy or trampling. Altogether, our observations raise the following question: should the term denticulates be restricted to the tools intentionally retouched or encompass all the tools with adjacent notches whatever the origin of the latter is?, This research was supported by the French Ministry of Higher Education and Research, the Institut de Recherche pour le Développement, the Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle of Paris, Ile-de- France Region, the Legs Prévost, the PREsea Programme, the Fondation Fyssen, the McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research and the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement #843521. Alfred Pawlik was supported by a Research and Creative Writing (RCW) Faculty Grant of the Loyola Schools of Ateneo de Manila University.

International audience; In Central Africa, Late Stone Age (LSA) seems to emerge before the Late Glacial Maximum (LGM) usually associated to a fluctuating savanna expansion and forest cover reduction. However, few sites with a reliable chrono-stratigraphic context allow us to deal with the emergence, the diffusion and the specificities of the regional lithic assemblages associated to the Late Stone Age. The site of Maboué 5, located in the Lopé National Park in Gabon provided useful lithic corpus to consider these questions. This paper provides a detailed technological analysis of the Layer 3 dated between 44 600 and 14 770 cal. BP. We consider both the production patterns of the entire assemblage and the morpho-structural characteristics of the tools. Our results exhibit a lithic assemblage associating both Middle and Late Stone Age technological patterns and argue for regional technological variability among early LSA quartz assemblages. Finally, we highlight the specificities of quartz lithic industry of a site in the poorly documented region of western Central Africa and we question the validity of the regional nomenclature, namely the Tshitolian and Lupemban facies, to classify this final Late Pleistocene lithic assemblage.

Pleistocene and Holocene lithic assemblages found in Southeast Asia are characterised by simple production techniques and a paucity of formal stone tools. This situation led some scholars to hypothesise that this situation reflected an adaptation of prehistoric human groups to the rainforest and that these simple stone tools had been mainly used to manufacture more complex implements made of bamboo. Microscopic use traces observed on stone tools could support this hypothesis since many result from plant processing. However, it remains unclear whether these traces were produced by working bamboo or other plants, due to the lack of a suitable use-wear reference collection. To be able to clearly discriminate the use-wear resulting from bamboo processing, such a collection needs to encompass use traces resulting not only from bamboo processing but also from working various other plants, which might potentially have been used by prehistoric groups. We present here the results of a three month field work among Pala'wan communities aiming to know what plants from the forests of Palawan, Philippines are used nowadays, are therefore useful to humans in general and might have been used during the past as well. We recorded the use of 95 different plant species belonging to at least 34 different families. Archaeobotanical studies confirm that some of those plants were available and used by humans in the past while others would have been extant at least in forest refugia, even during glacial periods. Those plants are processed by the Pala'wan at all life stages from seed to dead trees and the parts involved are very diverse. While the most frequent type of use that we witnessed was technological in nature (67 plant species), plants are also used for alimentary, medicinal, ornamental, and sanitary purposes, and even for producing poison. The observations presented here can serve as a basis for use-wear analysts to design experiments in relation to plant exploitation by humans during the past, and to enlarge reference collections.

During past decades the lack of sufficient clarification between typology and lithic technology has caused misapprehension and misuse of “lithic technology” and more than once generated two opposing views on characterization of the same lithic industry. Here the authors would like firstly to take issue with Hu et al.’s recently published paper claiming “the earliest evidence of Levallois at Guanyindong site of Southwest China” (Nature 565: 82–85), secondly to clarify the essential difference between these two methods which Hu et al. failed to do, with expectation for deeper discussion and larger application of lithic technology in East Asian Paleolithic research.

International audience; The use of ochre in mortuary practices was widespread during prehistory. In northern Thailand, several painted rock-shelters attributed to Iron age or Neolithic cultures have provided burials characterized by the presence of pigment fragments and ochres deposits. In the case of Doi Pha Kan, data collected during excavations have highlighted the important role of ochre in funerary rites dating from 13,172 to 10,986 cal BC. The presence of painted panels overhanging Hoabinhian burials raises the question of their chronology and association to painting activities. To investigate this issue at Doi Pha Kan, we applied a multi-analytical approach (optical microscopy, SEM-EDS, Raman spectroscopy, XRF spectroscopy, XRD and μXRD) on painting pigments and ochres associated with a grave (dpk E-5) and the archaeological context to determine the mineralogical and elemental composition of pigment raw materials. We showed that the composition of raw pigments from the archaeological context is homogeneous, suggesting a common geological source characterized by the presence of As. In contrast, pigments on the painted panel have variable compositions indicating that panels were created in different time periods. The pigment used for anthropomorphic figure is the only one similar to the materials identified in the archaeological levels and burial at Doi Pha Kan. Without possibility of direct dating, it is not possible to establish a direct link between the these anthropomorphic figure paintings and mortuary practices, however two painted wall fragments were discovered in the archaeological layers attest to a long tradition of rock painting for at least 13,000 years at this site.

The nature of Paleolithic cultures in South China and their relationship with mainland Southeast Asia remains ill-defined. The lithic industry of South China has been characterized as a simple ‘cobble-tool’ industry, persisting from the early Pleistocene to the Holocene, while the most representative Southeast Asian industry was also marked by a pebble-tool techno-complex, the Hoabinhian, during the Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene. A possible cultural link between the two regions has been proposed by some scholars but the technological characteristics of the two industries remained elusive, as did the variability within them. In this paper we conduct technological analysis of a ‘cobble-tool’ industry associated with a bone tool technology from Luobi Cave, Hainan Island, dated to c. 11–10 ka, and compare it with the well-studied typical Hoabinhian site of Laang Spean in Cambodia. While there is a slight similarity in operational sequence (chaine operatoire), a major difference is that the Luobi Cave site can be rejected as a potential Hoabinhian site. The excavated material indicates a high degree of innovation and demonstrates a new sort of variability in the tool-kit of modern human groups during the Late Pleistocene–Early Holocene transition in South China and Southeast Asia. This study represents an initial attempt to decipher the technological cultural variability in this region. We suggest that the emergence of behavioral modernity and cultural variability should be evaluated at both regional and sub-regional scales, instead of defining them as uniform, progressive and incremental, processes. Here we present, firstly, the variability of operational sequences (chaines operatoires) within the lithic production of Luobi Cave, and then compare this assemblage with typical and well-studied Hoabinhian assemblages from Laang Spean Cave in Cambodia to make clear the regional variability or complexity of human technological behaviors. Secondly, we then discuss the role of these technological behaviors as strategies for adapting to diverse ecology and environments from the Late Pleistocene to the Holocene.

The Hoabinhian has been a major topic in prehistoric research in Mainland Southeast Asia for nearly 90 years. However, its variability in terms of lithic assemblages is still poorly understood, as a limited number of sites have been analyzed from a technological perspective. This variability is to be expected, considering that the Hoabinhian covers a timespan of more than 30,000 years, a wide region extending from mountainous south-western China to insular Indonesia and diversified sub-tropical to tropical environments. In this research, we present the variability of Hoabinhian tools at the site of Moh Khiew Cave in Southern Thailand. Unlike other ‘typical’ Hoabinhian sites discovered in this region, the Hoabinhian lithic assemblage (~11,000–9000 BP) at Moh Khiew is dominated by unifacially shaped limaces and unifaces, on large/medium and thick flakes, and thus involves a mixed operational sequence (chaine operatoire) of debitage and shaping methods. No classic sumatralith tools were found in the site, which are usually made on river cobbles and considered to be the hallmark of the Hoabinhian. Another exceptional tool type is the biface, made on shale slabs or blocks, other cutting tool types include chopper-chopping-tools and flake tools, etc. In view of the production methods of unifaces and limaces, their distinct volumetric structures, and the co-existence of unifaces with other shaped tool types; the Moh Khiew lithic assemblage is different from other Hoabinhian sites, and may represent a local variant of the Hoabinhian in this region of south-western Thailand.

International audience; The Hoabinhian is a distinctive lithic techno-complex of mainland and Island Southeast Asia. Knowledge of its relationships with key patterns of technological change at a global scale has progressed over the last two decades. However, our understanding of the Hoabinhian as an indicator of evolution during Prehistory can be substantially enhanced by examining its regional and chronological variability. Here, we present the characteristics of original Hoabinhian artefacts found in a new open-air site at Houay Pano, near Lak Sip (Luang Prabang province, Laos). This technological study of such a classic assemblage, including sumatraliths dated to 5.5 ± 0.6 ka, is a major contribution to Laotian prehistory and our understanding of the tempo-spatial variability of the Hoabinhian techno-complex.; Le Hoabinhien est un techno-complexe lithique spécifique de l’Asie du Sud-Est, continentale et insulaire. La connaissance de ses relations avec les principaux modèles de changement technologique à l’échelle mondiale a progressé au cours des deux dernières décennies. Cependant, notre compréhension du Hoabinhien comme indicateur d’une évolution au cours de la Préhistoire peut être considérablement améliorée par l’examen de sa variabilité régionale et chronologique. Nous présentons ici les caractéristiques des artefacts hoabinhiens originaux trouvés dans un nouveau site de plein air à Houay Pano, près de Lak Sip (province de Luang Prabang, Laos). L’étude technologique de cet assemblage classique comprenant des sumatralithes datés de 5,5 ± 0,6 ka constitue une contribution majeure à la préhistoire laotienne et à notre compréhension de la variabilité temporelle et spatiale du techno-complexe Hoabinhien.

Resume Les recherches archeo-prehistoriques, sur une vaste region au centre de l’actuel territoire iranien sont menees depuis plus d’un siecle et ont livre de nombreux sites allant du Paleolithique inferieur au Paleolithique superieur et a l’Epipaleolithique. Concernant le Paleolithique superieur, beaucoup de travaux ont porte sur la region du Zagros et ont amene certains a proposer l’existence d’un facies propre au Zagros, le Baradostien ou Aurignacien du Zagros. Durant les deux dernieres decennies, les recherches sur le Paleolithique se sont poursuivies sur les sites du Zagros et se sont etendues aux regions du sud de l’Alborz et au nord de Dasht-e Kavir (plateau central), pour lesquelles peu d’informations etaient disponibles. Quelques sites du Paleolithique superieur tels que Sefid-āb, Bardia et Delazian (dans le Plateau Central) et Garm Roud (en Alborz) ont ete decouverts. Dans cette contribution, (1) une revision actualisee des decouvertes dans le Zagros en mettant l’accent sur les assemblages collectes en contexte stratigraphique, met en evidence une certaine diversite des assemblages lithiques du Zagros et de sa peripherie. Leurs particularites ainsi que les datations disponibles amenent aujourd’hui a se questionner sur l’existence d’un Aurignacien du Zagros. (2) Les premiers resultats d’une etude comparative typo-technologique de deux sites « hors-Zagros », Delazian et Garm Roud, renforce cette idee. Nous pensons que de nouvelles analyses typo-technologiques des assemblages disponibles integrant la nature et la fonction des sites sont necessaires et que les decouvertes de nouveaux sites en contexte stratigraphique dans le Zagros et hors Zagros sont susceptibles de donner une image plus realiste de la complexite de la culture du Paleolithique superieur dans la region.

International audience

International audience; Cambodian Palaeolithic prehistory is largely obscured by the prestigious tradition of major classical (pre)Angkorian studies and is still little known. Renewed excavations in Laang Spean Cave by the French-Cambodian prehistoric mission since 2009 now provide new stratigraphic, chronocultural and archaeozoological results concerning the Hoabinhian techno-complex. At Laang Spean Cave this cultural milestone has been dated between 11,000 and 5000 years BP and is situated between a Neolithic level with burials and a Palaeolithic level with chert flakes and cores. It completes the median part of the stratigraphy of the site with an infilling currently over 5 m thick, although the bedrock has not, as of yet, been reached. The characterization of the Laang Spean Hoabinhian occupation and its environmental context allows for i) the establishment of a first chronostratigraphic estimate, ii) regional comparisons in Southeast Asia and iii) renewed discussions concerning the technical behaviour and means of subsistence of the last hunter–gatherers at the very end of the Late Pleistocene.

Assemblages with bifacial tools cover large areas of the Eurasian continent from the Middle Pleistocene to the Upper Pleistocene. These encompass varied technological strategies although the morphological results are often similar. Consequently, bifacial technology is diversified in Eurasia and cannot be correlated to “Acheulean-type behaviour” everywhere, or for all time periods. While early lithic assemblages with bifacial technology appeared in Africa as early as 1.8 Ma, this technology is observed in Eurasia from 1.5 Ma for the earliest evidence, and particularly from 1 Ma onwards. Our purpose here is to focus on Eurasian patterns. This presentation will be divided into three parts in order to describe, clarify and compare the bifacial phenomenon regarding its chronological and geographical extension, based on examples of key sites in diverse Eurasian areas. This first paper presents a review of detailed data from western and southern Europe and the Levant. The second focuses on the East, India, south-eastern Asia and eastern Asia (China). The third and final paper is a comparative analysis of Eurasian areas with occurrences of bifacial technology in relation to paleoanthropological remains in order to clarify the diversity of the bifacial technological phenomenon over time and space. Major European and Levantine sites are described in this first paper. For Europe, the bifacial component is divided into two main currents; before and after the major glacial event of MIS 12. Before MIS 12, sites such as la Noira, Notarchirico, Caune de l’Arago, Galeria II, Cagny-la-Garenne I-II or Boxgrove are taken into consideration. After MIS 12, sites are more numerous and have been widely reviewed (for instance Terra Amata, Guado San Nicolas, Cagny l’Epinette, Soucy…). For the Levant, sites such as Ubeidiya, GBY, Nadaouiyeh and El Meirah are presented. Data from the Arabian Peninsula are also taken into account.

International audience; Eurasian bifacial series present some common features, but are chiefly characterized by wide-ranging diversity in terms of bifacial technology and blank types, whereas the heavy-duty component presents a limited number of types or categories. Heavy-duty tools are present throughout the geographical areas but the frequency of handaxes and/or cleavers is generally low, except in some regions, where they are made on flakes and/or cobbles/pebbles, on siliceous stones or other rock types. So far, it appears to be generally accepted that bifacial technology became widespread from 800 to 700 ka onwards, both for Europe and Asia, except for some earlier occurrences in the Levant and India. It would thus be reasonable to infer that bifacial technology first reached the Levant from Africa before moving toward Asia, then Europe. However, the existing data point to a much more complex reality, suggesting contemporaneous technological worlds, with or without links between them. In the state of current knowledge, and based on the methodology used for analysing lithic series, it is impossible to clearly argue in favour of either a unique phenomenon with movements of hominins or/and ideas from an African source, or to point to evidence of several onsets of bifacial technology over time on a local substratum. The palaeoanthropological background shows the difficulties involved in characterizing the few available hominin fossils and clearly relating them to bifacial technology. The current context suggests that each area should be analysed independently. Accumulative technological processes in some areas due to successive arrivals and the influence of the local substratum, and local onsets must be considered, as these contribute to the diversity of the strategies encountered and the varied forms of bifacial technology.; Selon les zones géographiques et selon les séries comparées, l’Eurasie livre des séries bifaciales qui partagent des traits communs, mais, dans le temps et dans l’espace, c’est la diversité qui les caractérise. Les outils bifaciaux sont toujours présents, mais avec des fréquences réduites. Ils sont façonnés selon des stratégies variées, sur des supports et des matériaux eux-mêmes variés. Les données récentes attestent qu’ils se généralisent à partir de 800 à 700 ka à la fois en Europe et en Asie, excepté quelques témoignages plus anciens au Levant et en Inde. Il serait facile d’admettre que la technologie bifaciale a tout d’abord atteint le Levant avant l’Asie orientale et l’Europe. La réalité est plus complexe, suggérant des mondes technologiques contemporains étant ou non en relation. Les données dont nous disposons ne permettent pas à l’heure actuelle de concevoir un unique phénomène ayant abouti à la diffusion d’un Acheuléen est-africain par des mouvements de populations ou d’idées. Selon les méthodologies employées, des preuves d’émergence locale ne sont pas toujours claires selon les zones géographiques, par manque de données ou de datations. Les données paléoanthropologiques confirment la difficulté de relier des hommes aux outils bifaciaux et à les nommer. La réalité est que chaque secteur doit être étudié indépendamment, certains livrant des « outils bifaciaux », d’autres des « bifaces ». Des transformations locales ou bien issues de l’influence de nouvelles idées ou de groupes humains différents sont autant de possibilités et scénarios pour expliquer la diversité des stratégies rencontrées, démontrant la plasticité de la technologie bifaciale

Proposer une synthèse sur la préhistoire d’un archipel et de ses assemblages lithiques n’est pas chose facile, d’une part à cause de l’immensité de l’espace concerné mesurant 2 millions de km2, d’autre part du fait que la notion de Paléolithique y est difficilement applicable et notamment celles de « Paléolithique supérieur » ou d’Epipaléolithique-Mésolithique établies en Eurasie occidentale. L’Indonésie et ses myriades d’îles et îlots (environ 18000) s’inscrivent dans un rectangle 5000 km sur 2000 km de part et d’autre de l’équateur ce qui en fait le plus grand archipel du monde. Cette aire géographique immense s’étirant sur un espace maritime d’environ 6 millions de km2, ne nous permet pas aujourd’hui de traiter exhaustivement l’ensemble des groupes industriels, des faciès ou des cultures préhistoriques, c’est pour cela que nous aborderons les principaux. L’Indonésie occupe une place privilégiée pour l’histoire des hommes fossiles qui la rend incontournable dans les connaissances de la variabilité des comportements des hominidés en contexte intertropical. Cette contribution a pour objectif de dresser un bilan critique et objectif des différentes méthodes de taille rencontrées depuis 1 million d’années sur les principales îles à partir d’une sélection de sites dont la stratigraphie est bien établie et bien datée. Rares sont les technocomplexes bien définis avant l’Holocène, période où l’insularité de cette aire géographique s’est fixée avec la remontée marine marquant progressivement le début de l’histoire des archipels insulindiens. Parmi ceux-ci nous citerons le « Toalien » à Sulawesi (faciès à pointes), le « Sampungien » (faciès à pointes) et les industries sur éclats de Song Keplek ou « Keplekien » (débitage orthogonal) dans l’Est de l’île de Java. Hormis ces trois traditions techniques qui restent individualisables sur un plan typo-technologique, il n’y a pas dans l’ensemble du matériel rencontré, de faciès différentiables associés à une dénomination d’outils spécifiques. En règle générale, les industries lithiques du Pléistocène supérieur et de l’Holocène indonésien répondent à une production basique d’éclats et d’outils sur éclats avec de multiples variantes régionales. Le mode de débitage est très largement à la pierre dure, non Levallois, rarement Discoïde, non lamino-lamellaire tel qu’on peut le rencontrer en Europe de l’Ouest ou au Proche et Moyen-Orient. Contrairement à l’Asie du Sud-Est continentale où il est encore plus difficile de discerner un Paléolithique ancien, moyen et récent du fait de la continuité d’industries toutes réalisées sur galet (Hoabinhien et autres), l’Indonésie qui devient insulaire à la marge du Pléistocène et de l’Holocène propose une hétérogénéité des assemblages lithiques sans précédent. C’est-à-dire une diversité dans les modalités de production lithique selon différentes chaînes opératoires de façonnage (galet, pointe de type de Sampung, biface...) ou de débitage (discoïde, orthogonal et laminaire). Le but de cet article est donc de présenter de façon synthétique les principaux ensembles lithiques de l’Archipel indonésien à partir d’une sélection d’îles sur lesquelles des assemblages lithiques ont pu être correctement documentés. Nous nous intéresserons ainsi aux îles de Sumatra, de Java, de Kalimantan (Bornéo), de Sulawesi, et à quelques autres plus orientales qui, comme Timor et Flores, ont, ces dernières années, livré des découvertes de premier plan en paléoanthropologie et en préhistoire. Par commodité, nous avons été obligés de procéder à des coupures régionales et chronologiques (Pléistocène ancien-moyen et Pléistocène supérieur final-Holocène ancien) qui permettent d’exposer au mieux cette synthèse sur des assemblages lithiques qui n’ont pas tous fait l’objet d’études technologiques approfondies au sens où nous pouvons l’entendre en Europe avec l’utilisation du concept de chaîne opératoire.

La préhistoire du Sud-est asiatique se caractérise par un matériel lithique dont les chaînes opératoires restent encore peu connues ou mal décrites. Cette méconnaissance s’explique par l’éloignement géographique de ces régions tropicales vis à vis des problématiques préhistoriques occidentales développées depuis maintenant deux siècles. La préhistoire de l’Extrême-Orient est complexe, originale, surprenante parfois paradoxale car en marge des grandes lignées techniques connues ailleurs pour la période concernée, celle qui a vu l’avènement de l’Homme anatomiquement moderne. Cette préhistoire régionale d’environ 2 millions de km2 que l’on nomme l’Asie du Sud-est péninsulaire ou continentale renvoie à l’élaboration d’une science en mouvement dont la construction est toujours d’actualité. En se heurtant à la thèse classique de l’évolution comme à celle du progrès technique, le Hoabinhien bouscule les règles et les repères en préhistoire. Il se situe aux antipodes du modèle classique (Eurasiatique, Africain) de développement des outils de pierre selon l’enrichissement et l’allègement progressif de l’outillage depuis la pebble culture jusqu’au Néolithique. C’est précisément sur cette singularité que porte notre réflexion à propos d’un phénomène technique unique qui reste difficile à positionner sur l’axe évolutif des industries tel qu’il existe ailleurs dans le monde ou en Asie de l’Est (Chine, Corée, Japon). La régularité et l’homogénéité des formes d’outils façonnées sur galet dans un vaste espace et sur une durée record de près de 30 000 ans sont les caractéristiques principales de ce technocomplexe peu orthodoxe qui interroge la capacité cognitive d’Homo sapiens en écosystème tropical humide. Mais aussi, la question de la nature des liens existants entre l’homme et ses productions lithiques ou la place occupée par la technique de la pierre taillée lors du développement humain dans cette région hors d’Europe.A cette monotone pérennité d’outils sur galet se greffe l’absence d’outils lithiques pointus (pointe, extrémité apicale, outil à bords saillants convergents, etc.) tels qu’ils se rencontrent partout ailleurs chez les groupes de chasseurs-cueilleurs qu’ils soient du Paléolithique supérieur ou (sub-)actuels.C’est pourquoi la stabilité de ces outillages sur galet cacherait tout un pan de complexité inconnu du domaine technique comme l’insaisissable travail des matières dures d’origine animale mais surtout végétale non conservées à ce jour dans les niveaux archéologiques. Le cheminement du minéral vers la question du végétal renvoie à la nécessité de compléter la « boîte à outils » des artisans préhistoriques hoabinhiens par des objets pointus. Connue à ce jour qu’à travers les données de l’ethnographie, la « civilisation du végétal » conduit tout naturellement à réfléchir sur l’importance de ce matériau périssable dans le bagage outillé des derniers chasseurs-cueilleurs de la forêt tropicale d’Asie du Sud-est continentale. Autrement dit, la possibilité d’une autre existence technique en équilibre avec le milieu extérieur.Après avoir mis en avant l’originalité du phénomène culturel hoabinhien au regard de l’impact de la recherche en préhistoire et en paléoanthropologie dans les régions du Sud-est asiatique, cet article présentera d’un point de vue strictement qualitatif, les chaînes opératoires du techno-complexe hoabinhien. Faciès industriel sur galet qui caractérise la principale culture technique des chasseurs-cueilleurs du Paléolithique final d’Asie du Sud-est entre environ 30 000 et 5 000 ans BP. Plus largement des précisions seront apportées d’une part sur l’inachèvement informatif du phénomène lithique en tant que donnée archéologique et d’autre part, sur son dépassement en tant que phénomène. Il s’agira donc de repenser l’envers de la dialectique lithique-lignic c’est-à-dire les objets du végétal à jamais disparus, à la lumière des objets de pierre taillée seuls conservés comme marqueurs de temps, de technique, d'espace et d’absence.

The Three Gorges of Yangtze River, southwest China, abundant in human and faunal fossils, and lithic artifacts, represents an important site complex for understanding hominin dispersion and adaptations during the Pleistocene. The Yumidong Cave is a newly-discovered Paleolithic site in this region which yielded a large number of animal fossils and lithic artifacts. U–Th dating in conjunction with biostratigraphic analysis indicated that the archaeological remains were deposited during a long sequence from ca. 400 to 8 ka (Middle Pleistocene to Holocene). Lithic technological analysis indicated an original material shaped on massive limestone blocks with chaine operatoire consisted of selection, shaping and retouching. The volumetric structures of selected blanks are regrouped into three categories: structures with bevel(s), trihedral structure and convergent ones. The outline of cutting-edge is predonimated by denticulate ones, followed by saw-like ones, rostrum, convergent with a denticulate edge and beaked ones. Despite showing nothing in common with Europe, Africa, the Near East and even the Indian Subcontinent and northern China, the lithic assemblage of the Yumidong Cave exhibits a strong coherence and presents more similarity to mainland Southeast Asia with heavy, angular and massive stone tools made on pebble, cobble and without the Levallois, Discoid, and blade/bladelet phenomenon. The lithic assemblage of Yumidong Cave may represent material clues of a potential local technological center of origin in unique technical world of Central-South China and its uniqueness would be understandable as the result of a successful adaptation of hominids to a specific environment. Yumidong lithic material deconstructs the existing paradigm for a long period of time and presents new ideas and new facts for the technic evolution in South China.

Analysing residues on stone tools can reveal precise information about the activities that were conducted with the lithic tool and is a valuable technique to reconstruct past human behaviours. However, it is often difficult to assess the nature of the relationship between a residue and the artefact on which it is found. It is of great importance, therefore, to determine whether residues are use-related or a result of contamination. Here, we conducted experiments with 99 tool replicas made of red jasper, processed 15 different plant taxa and mapped the distribution of residues against the use-wear traces. Our experiments addressed several questions on the spatial relationship between use-wear and use-related residues on stone tools. In the majority of cases the residues were not spatially associated with use-wear. Therefore, it appears that residues should not necessarily be considered as non-related to use because they are not in close proximity to use-wear. On the other hand, our experiments also showed that the problem of contamination should not be underestimated and can be a serious cause for misinterpreting stone tool functions. Finally, our results showed a variability in residue distribution between tools used to process different plant taxa and revealed that the water content in the contact material has an influence on residue distribution.

International audience; Throughout continental Southeast Asia, the Hoabinhian techno-complex stands out in clear contrast with the universal chrono-cultural model essentially established on the basis of western prehistory. Following this model, early authors considered perforated stones and associated lithic artefacts as markers of what was then believed to pertain to a Southeast Asian Mesolithic. However, Southeast Asian Mesolitithic has progressively been abandoned in favour of a ubiquitous Hoabinhian spanning from 30,000 to 3000 BP. Here, we present and discuss the discovery of perforated stones at the Doi Pha Kan site in northern Thailand. Perforated stones have almost never been found in undisturbed stratigraphic conditions nor dated with any sufficient degree of certainty. At Doi Pha Kan site, such a kind of artefacts was found in burials intersecting sedimentary layers that could be ascertained as Hoabinhian. In contrast with similar perforated stones described in the literature, that found at Doi Pha Kan are well-dated (13,000 BP), thus providing a time-reference for a putative Southeast Asian Mesolithic. We therefore advocate that such non-Hoabinhian artefacts support the early authors’ hypothesis of the existence of a Southeast Asian Mesolithic. Finally, the funerary practices, the unusually high stature of individuals found at Doi Pha Kan in conjunction with the particular lithic assemblages further contributes to raise the question of the co-occurrence of several cultures or populations at the Pleistocene–Holocene interface in continental Southeast Asia.; En Asie du Sud-Est continentale, le Hoabinhien se démarque clairement du modèle chronoculturel universel établi par la préhistoire occidentale. Sur la base de ce modèle universaliste, les premiers auteurs ont considéré les pierres perforées et les objets lithiques associés comme des marqueurs de ce qui se rapporterait à un Mésolithique du Sud-Est asiatique. Cependant, cette notion de Mésolithique régional a été abandonnée au profit d’un Hoabinhien ubiquiste présent de 30 000 à 3000 ans BP. Nous présentons et discutons la découverte de pierres perforées sur le site de Doi Pha Kan dans le Nord de la Thaïlande. Les pierres perforées n’ont presque jamais été mises au jour dans des contextes stratigraphiques intacts ni datés avec suffisamment de précision. À Doi Pha Kan, ce matériel lithique a été trouvé dans des sépultures intrusives de niveaux archéologiques hoabinhiens. Contrairement à celles, identiques, décrites dans la littérature, les pierres perforées mises au jour à Doi Pha Kan sont bien datées (13 000 BP), ce qui procurerait une base chronologique fiable pour représenter un possible « Mésolithique » du Sud-Est asiatique tel que le décrivent les auteurs pionniers travaillant dans cette région. En définitive, les pratiques funéraires, la stature inhabituelle des individus inhumés à Doi Pha Kan et leur association avec ce type d’assemblage lithique contribuent à soulever la question de l’existence conjointe de plusieurs cultures ou populations à la limite Pléistocène–Holocène en Asie du Sud-Est continentale.

International audience; 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.

Although the oldest Neolithic cultures in eastern Asia have for the most part been documented in China and Vietnam, a large number of Early Metal Age sites have been reported in northeastern Thailand. On the other hand, the Hoabinhian, principally identified by its characteristic unifacial tools, is known throughout the Late Pleistocene up until 3000 BP and is spread across the whole of continental Southeast Asia. The chronology of Hoabihnian lithic assemblages is still poorly documented and burials from the period are scarce and often do not provide enough information to allow the evolution of regional mortuary practices to be investigated. Here we describe a burial dated to 7047 ± 53 BP found associated with a Hoabinhian stone tool assemblage and fauna near the painted rock-shelter of Ban Tha Si. This discovery provides important new chrono-cultural information for continental Southeast Asia, especially with regard to changing regional mortuary practices.

International audience; Prehistoric Research in Laos was initiated during the French Indochinese period. Disrupted by unstable geopolitics, Laotian teams started to revisit prehistoric cave sites and rock shelters in the early 2000s. International interest in Laotian prehistory resumed in 2005 with a prehistoric survey of Northern Laos focusing more especially, on ancient period (pre-) Hoabinhian lithic techno-complex but also, more recently on rock art along the Mekong river banks. The purpose of this paper is not to discuss the periods classically referred to as "recent prehistory" by authors, which generally spans from the Neolithic through to Metal ages and sometimes even historical times. Rather, we provide a retrospective on prehistoric investigations, in Laos to date, independently of periods, with the main focus on stone tools. New perspectives for prehistoric research in this widely under-explored country are briefly discussed.