Early Paleolithic Technology in Eastern and Southern Asia

Description

This work, which offers a reassessment of the basic principles of stone tool classification proposed by Hallam Movius, derives from work at eight Paleolithic sites in southern China and northern and central India. The localities examined, whose locations roughly parallel the areas in Movius’ original study, include five sites in China, and three in India. The evidence is analysed through reduction typology, thin-section analysis of the lithic raw materials, and the use of local raw materials to replicate the archaeological industries. The author offers an alternative classification to the archaeological material of Eastern and Southern Asia, challenging categories based solely or primarily on typologies devised for Africa and Europe. The usefulness of the new approach to classification and the resulting shift in interpretation is confirmed through experimental archaeology.