Philip Piper | The Australian National University (original) (raw)

Papers by Philip Piper

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

The onset of Neolithic food-producing cultures during the Mid Holocene in Southeast Asia (SEA) co... more The onset of Neolithic food-producing cultures during the Mid Holocene in Southeast Asia (SEA) constituted major social and demographic change. In northern Vietnam, the Late Holocene site of Man Bac has been argued to capture this shift in population and material culture. This paper provides an updated faunal record of Man Bac and assesses the evidence for dog domestication and pig management at the site. Using a mixed method approach combining morphometric analyses, cluster analysis, mortality profiles, and body part representation, dogs are confidentially determined to be domesticated, and pigs are argued to represent an early management strategy. Direct 14C dating on select pig and dog elements provide the current earliest date for these domesticated animals in northern Vietnam and reflects the early expansion of farming communities into Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA).

Quaternary International

The emergence of agriculture in Mainland Southeast Asia appears to have resulted in a subsistence... more The emergence of agriculture in Mainland Southeast Asia appears to have resulted in a subsistence shift from hunting terrestrial and arboreal game to a combined hunting/animal management subsistence regime focused on the maintenance of pigs and dogs. These conclusions are currently based on nominal differences in vertebrate taxonomic composition observed at different archaeological sites. In this paper, we take a statistical approach to test whether hunter-gather and early agricultural subsistence economies really can be confidently distinguished based on the relative taxonomic composition of the recovered animal bone assemblages. A regional database of terrestrial and arboreal vertebrate faunas was created for 32 archaeological sites across Southeast Asia from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Late Holocene, and principal component analysis was performed. The resultant data indicates that terrestrial vertebrate taxonomic composition is a relatively strong indicator of the general subsistence base for the various archaeological sites studied and can be used to determine whether the inhabitants subsisted purely from hunting, or from a mixture hunting and animal management.

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

... The palaeontological record shows a wider past range extending to China and also including th... more ... The palaeontological record shows a wider past range extending to China and also including the two other large islands of the Sunda region, Java and Borneo. ... Datuk Zuraina Majid in 1977 and by Sarawak Museum Archaeological Assistant the late Edmund Kurui in 1980. ...

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

Royal Society open science, 2017

The colonization of Madagascar by Austronesian-speaking people during AD 50-500 represents the mo... more The colonization of Madagascar by Austronesian-speaking people during AD 50-500 represents the most westerly point of the greatest diaspora in prehistory. A range of economically important plants and animals may have accompanied the Austronesians. Domestic chickens (Gallus gallus) are found in Madagascar, but it is unclear how they arrived there. Did they accompany the initial Austronesian-speaking populations that reached Madagascar via the Indian Ocean or were they late arrivals with Arabian and African sea-farers? To address this question, we investigated the mitochondrial DNA control region diversity of modern chickens sampled from around the Indian Ocean rim (Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and Madagascar). In contrast to the linguistic and human genetic evidence indicating dual African and Southeast Asian ancestry of the Malagasy people, we find that chickens in Madagascar only share a common ancestor with East Africa, which together are genetica...

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Feb 21, 2013

Page 1. Hunting in a Tropical Rainforest: Evidence from the Terminal Pleistocene at Lobang Hangus... more Page 1. Hunting in a Tropical Rainforest: Evidence from the Terminal Pleistocene at Lobang Hangus, Niah Caves, Sarawak PJ PIPERa* AND RJ RABETTb a Archaeological Studies Program, Basement Palma Hall, University ...

Antiquity, 2014

Excavations at three open-air sites in the Karama valley of West Sulawesi have revealed similar s... more Excavations at three open-air sites in the Karama valley of West Sulawesi have revealed similar suites of ceramics and overlapping chronologies. The pottery from the basal layers at Minanga Sipakko and Kamassi resembles that of the Philippines and Taiwan, and suggests the settlement of migrants from those areas, consistent with the theory of Austronesian expansion. The absence of the flaked lithic technology typical of earlier Sulawesi populations indicates that these two sites do not represent the indigenous adoption of Neolithic features. The Karama valley evidence underlines the importance, in the quest for the earliest farmers, of research at open-air sites close to agriculturally suitable land, while indigenous populations may have continued for some time to occupy remote caves and rockshelters.

Hukay, 2007

Linaminan-'The House of Linamin,-is a sacred Pala'wan site and prominent feature on the... more Linaminan-'The House of Linamin,-is a sacred Pala'wan site and prominent feature on the landscape within the Barangay of Isumba, in the municipality of Sofronio Espanola, on the island of Palawan, Philippines. With views out to the Sulu Sea and across the ...

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008

Archaeofauna, 2004

Page 1. Archaeofauna 13 (2004): 85-95 Identification of Morphological Variation in the Humeri of ... more Page 1. Archaeofauna 13 (2004): 85-95 Identification of Morphological Variation in the Humeri of Bornean Primates and Its Application to Zooarchaeology KIMARNIE KI-KYDD & PHILIP JOHN PIPER Dept. Archaeology. University of Leicester, UK Phil_piper2003@yahoo.ie ...

Scientific reports, Jan 7, 2017

Rice (Oryza sativa) was domesticated in the Yangtze Valley region at least 6000-8000 years ago, y... more Rice (Oryza sativa) was domesticated in the Yangtze Valley region at least 6000-8000 years ago, yet the timing of dispersal of domesticated rice to Southeast Asia is contentious. Often rice is not well-preserved in archaeobotanical assemblages at early Neolithic sites in the wet tropics of Southeast Asia and consequently rice impressions in pottery have been used as a proxy for rice cultivation despite their uncertain taxonomic and domestication status. In this research, we use microCT technology to determine the 3D microscale morphology of rice husk and spikelet base inclusions within pottery sherds from early Neolithic sites in Vietnam. In contrast to surface impressions, microCT provides images of the entire husk and spikelet base preserved within the pottery, including the abscission scar characteristic of domesticated rice. This research demonstrates the potential of microCT to be a new, non-destructive method for the identification of domesticated plant remains within pottery ...

—The Ilin cloud rat Crateromys paulus, identified from a single individual in 1981 and collected ... more —The Ilin cloud rat Crateromys paulus, identified from a single individual in 1981 and collected from an undocumented location in Ilin Island, Mindoro, Philippines, is now considered to be ''data deficient'' and possibly extinct. 96 murid dental fossil remains were recently recovered within a two-meter excavation of well stratified and chronometrically dated deposits at the archaeological sites of Bubog I and Bubog II on Ilin Island. Research on these well-preserved murid rodent remains confirms the past presence of C. paulus on Ilin Island and describes for the first time variability in dental morphology of this species. The succession of fossils within the detailed stratigraphic sequence also provides us with information on C. paulus throughout the Holocene and on its possible recent extinction.

Two thousand years ago, maritime trade flourished in Southeast Asia and archaeological excavation... more Two thousand years ago, maritime trade flourished in Southeast
Asia and archaeological excavations have revealed that Island Southeast
Asia played an important role within developing trading networks.
The sites of Sembiran and Pacung on the north coast of Bali,
Indonesia, have produced a wide range of artifacts that demonstrate
links to mainland and island Asia. Here, we examine faunal remains
from these sites to assess the role that livestock played in north Bali
diet and trade at that time. In addition to abundant pig (Sus cf. scrofa)
remains, the sites yielded the earliest securely dated goat (Capra hircus)
remains known from Southeast Asia. Moreover carbon, nitrogen,
oxygen, and strontium stable isotope analyses of bone collagen and
tooth apatite indicate that some of these goats were from a markedly
different environment than the pig, human, and dog remains from
the sites. It is likely that these goats were imported from a different region—possibly South Asia—where they fed on C4 plants such as millet.
This provides evidence that livestock were included in regional
exchange networks, and prompts the question as to why goat remains
are absent from Mainland Southeast Asia archaeological sites despite
their presence in South Asia, East Asia, and Island Southeast Asia.

A B S T R A C T Loc Giang is an early Neolithic settlement located on the east bank of the Vam Co... more A B S T R A C T Loc Giang is an early Neolithic settlement located on the east bank of the Vam Co Dong River in Long An Province, southern Vietnam. Archaeological excavations at the site have identified sequences of midden deposit, floor surfaces, postholes and hearths, suggesting that the settlement consisted of ground-built dwellings. Throughout the life of the settlement several phases of reconstruction and expansion could be discerned. A comprehensive radiometric-dating program indicates that the initial phases of activity within the excavated area started around 2000 cal. BCE and Neolithic activity continued until c. 1300 cal. BCE or slightly later. Comparisons with An Son, another mounded Neolithic settlement just 700 m to the east of Loc Giang, demonstrate that the two sites overlapped chronologically and were both constructed in similar ways. The new chronology from Loc Giang tightly brackets characteristic pottery types within the different phases of construction and has aided in refining the burial chronology at An Son. The material culture from Loc Giang and An Son is identical, specific to the Vam Co Dong River settlements, and distinctive from that recorded in sites on the Dong Nai Plain and along the coast. This suggests that, following initial settlement by agricultural populations who predominantly owed their origins to more northerly regions within East Asia, there was relatively rapid cultural and social diversification within the southern Vietnamese region.

We report on the first prehistoric identifications of the Greater Adjutant (Leptoptilos... more We report on the first prehistoric identifications of the Greater Adjutant (Leptoptilos dubius) (Gmelin 1789) in the prehistoric archaeological record of Vietnam, the earliest known example of this species in Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA). The two bone fragments, a proximal tarsometatarsus and a distal tibiotarsus, were found in the hunter-gatherer midden/cemetery site of Con Co Ngua in Thanh Hoa Province, and date to c. 6,000 – 5,500 BP. The tarsometatarsus has been modified into an edge ground implement similar to artefacts recorded at other archaeological sites in the region. Modifications to the functional end suggest the implement is consistent with the manipulation and/or manufacture of plant-based fibres.

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2012

Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports

The onset of Neolithic food-producing cultures during the Mid Holocene in Southeast Asia (SEA) co... more The onset of Neolithic food-producing cultures during the Mid Holocene in Southeast Asia (SEA) constituted major social and demographic change. In northern Vietnam, the Late Holocene site of Man Bac has been argued to capture this shift in population and material culture. This paper provides an updated faunal record of Man Bac and assesses the evidence for dog domestication and pig management at the site. Using a mixed method approach combining morphometric analyses, cluster analysis, mortality profiles, and body part representation, dogs are confidentially determined to be domesticated, and pigs are argued to represent an early management strategy. Direct 14C dating on select pig and dog elements provide the current earliest date for these domesticated animals in northern Vietnam and reflects the early expansion of farming communities into Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA).

Quaternary International

The emergence of agriculture in Mainland Southeast Asia appears to have resulted in a subsistence... more The emergence of agriculture in Mainland Southeast Asia appears to have resulted in a subsistence shift from hunting terrestrial and arboreal game to a combined hunting/animal management subsistence regime focused on the maintenance of pigs and dogs. These conclusions are currently based on nominal differences in vertebrate taxonomic composition observed at different archaeological sites. In this paper, we take a statistical approach to test whether hunter-gather and early agricultural subsistence economies really can be confidently distinguished based on the relative taxonomic composition of the recovered animal bone assemblages. A regional database of terrestrial and arboreal vertebrate faunas was created for 32 archaeological sites across Southeast Asia from the Terminal Pleistocene to the Late Holocene, and principal component analysis was performed. The resultant data indicates that terrestrial vertebrate taxonomic composition is a relatively strong indicator of the general subsistence base for the various archaeological sites studied and can be used to determine whether the inhabitants subsisted purely from hunting, or from a mixture hunting and animal management.

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

... The palaeontological record shows a wider past range extending to China and also including th... more ... The palaeontological record shows a wider past range extending to China and also including the two other large islands of the Sunda region, Java and Borneo. ... Datuk Zuraina Majid in 1977 and by Sarawak Museum Archaeological Assistant the late Edmund Kurui in 1980. ...

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology

Royal Society open science, 2017

The colonization of Madagascar by Austronesian-speaking people during AD 50-500 represents the mo... more The colonization of Madagascar by Austronesian-speaking people during AD 50-500 represents the most westerly point of the greatest diaspora in prehistory. A range of economically important plants and animals may have accompanied the Austronesians. Domestic chickens (Gallus gallus) are found in Madagascar, but it is unclear how they arrived there. Did they accompany the initial Austronesian-speaking populations that reached Madagascar via the Indian Ocean or were they late arrivals with Arabian and African sea-farers? To address this question, we investigated the mitochondrial DNA control region diversity of modern chickens sampled from around the Indian Ocean rim (Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Arabian Peninsula, East Africa and Madagascar). In contrast to the linguistic and human genetic evidence indicating dual African and Southeast Asian ancestry of the Malagasy people, we find that chickens in Madagascar only share a common ancestor with East Africa, which together are genetica...

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, Feb 21, 2013

Page 1. Hunting in a Tropical Rainforest: Evidence from the Terminal Pleistocene at Lobang Hangus... more Page 1. Hunting in a Tropical Rainforest: Evidence from the Terminal Pleistocene at Lobang Hangus, Niah Caves, Sarawak PJ PIPERa* AND RJ RABETTb a Archaeological Studies Program, Basement Palma Hall, University ...

Antiquity, 2014

Excavations at three open-air sites in the Karama valley of West Sulawesi have revealed similar s... more Excavations at three open-air sites in the Karama valley of West Sulawesi have revealed similar suites of ceramics and overlapping chronologies. The pottery from the basal layers at Minanga Sipakko and Kamassi resembles that of the Philippines and Taiwan, and suggests the settlement of migrants from those areas, consistent with the theory of Austronesian expansion. The absence of the flaked lithic technology typical of earlier Sulawesi populations indicates that these two sites do not represent the indigenous adoption of Neolithic features. The Karama valley evidence underlines the importance, in the quest for the earliest farmers, of research at open-air sites close to agriculturally suitable land, while indigenous populations may have continued for some time to occupy remote caves and rockshelters.

Hukay, 2007

Linaminan-'The House of Linamin,-is a sacred Pala'wan site and prominent feature on the... more Linaminan-'The House of Linamin,-is a sacred Pala'wan site and prominent feature on the landscape within the Barangay of Isumba, in the municipality of Sofronio Espanola, on the island of Palawan, Philippines. With views out to the Sulu Sea and across the ...

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2012

Biological Journal of the Linnean Society, 2008

Archaeofauna, 2004

Page 1. Archaeofauna 13 (2004): 85-95 Identification of Morphological Variation in the Humeri of ... more Page 1. Archaeofauna 13 (2004): 85-95 Identification of Morphological Variation in the Humeri of Bornean Primates and Its Application to Zooarchaeology KIMARNIE KI-KYDD & PHILIP JOHN PIPER Dept. Archaeology. University of Leicester, UK Phil_piper2003@yahoo.ie ...

Scientific reports, Jan 7, 2017

Rice (Oryza sativa) was domesticated in the Yangtze Valley region at least 6000-8000 years ago, y... more Rice (Oryza sativa) was domesticated in the Yangtze Valley region at least 6000-8000 years ago, yet the timing of dispersal of domesticated rice to Southeast Asia is contentious. Often rice is not well-preserved in archaeobotanical assemblages at early Neolithic sites in the wet tropics of Southeast Asia and consequently rice impressions in pottery have been used as a proxy for rice cultivation despite their uncertain taxonomic and domestication status. In this research, we use microCT technology to determine the 3D microscale morphology of rice husk and spikelet base inclusions within pottery sherds from early Neolithic sites in Vietnam. In contrast to surface impressions, microCT provides images of the entire husk and spikelet base preserved within the pottery, including the abscission scar characteristic of domesticated rice. This research demonstrates the potential of microCT to be a new, non-destructive method for the identification of domesticated plant remains within pottery ...

—The Ilin cloud rat Crateromys paulus, identified from a single individual in 1981 and collected ... more —The Ilin cloud rat Crateromys paulus, identified from a single individual in 1981 and collected from an undocumented location in Ilin Island, Mindoro, Philippines, is now considered to be ''data deficient'' and possibly extinct. 96 murid dental fossil remains were recently recovered within a two-meter excavation of well stratified and chronometrically dated deposits at the archaeological sites of Bubog I and Bubog II on Ilin Island. Research on these well-preserved murid rodent remains confirms the past presence of C. paulus on Ilin Island and describes for the first time variability in dental morphology of this species. The succession of fossils within the detailed stratigraphic sequence also provides us with information on C. paulus throughout the Holocene and on its possible recent extinction.

Two thousand years ago, maritime trade flourished in Southeast Asia and archaeological excavation... more Two thousand years ago, maritime trade flourished in Southeast
Asia and archaeological excavations have revealed that Island Southeast
Asia played an important role within developing trading networks.
The sites of Sembiran and Pacung on the north coast of Bali,
Indonesia, have produced a wide range of artifacts that demonstrate
links to mainland and island Asia. Here, we examine faunal remains
from these sites to assess the role that livestock played in north Bali
diet and trade at that time. In addition to abundant pig (Sus cf. scrofa)
remains, the sites yielded the earliest securely dated goat (Capra hircus)
remains known from Southeast Asia. Moreover carbon, nitrogen,
oxygen, and strontium stable isotope analyses of bone collagen and
tooth apatite indicate that some of these goats were from a markedly
different environment than the pig, human, and dog remains from
the sites. It is likely that these goats were imported from a different region—possibly South Asia—where they fed on C4 plants such as millet.
This provides evidence that livestock were included in regional
exchange networks, and prompts the question as to why goat remains
are absent from Mainland Southeast Asia archaeological sites despite
their presence in South Asia, East Asia, and Island Southeast Asia.

A B S T R A C T Loc Giang is an early Neolithic settlement located on the east bank of the Vam Co... more A B S T R A C T Loc Giang is an early Neolithic settlement located on the east bank of the Vam Co Dong River in Long An Province, southern Vietnam. Archaeological excavations at the site have identified sequences of midden deposit, floor surfaces, postholes and hearths, suggesting that the settlement consisted of ground-built dwellings. Throughout the life of the settlement several phases of reconstruction and expansion could be discerned. A comprehensive radiometric-dating program indicates that the initial phases of activity within the excavated area started around 2000 cal. BCE and Neolithic activity continued until c. 1300 cal. BCE or slightly later. Comparisons with An Son, another mounded Neolithic settlement just 700 m to the east of Loc Giang, demonstrate that the two sites overlapped chronologically and were both constructed in similar ways. The new chronology from Loc Giang tightly brackets characteristic pottery types within the different phases of construction and has aided in refining the burial chronology at An Son. The material culture from Loc Giang and An Son is identical, specific to the Vam Co Dong River settlements, and distinctive from that recorded in sites on the Dong Nai Plain and along the coast. This suggests that, following initial settlement by agricultural populations who predominantly owed their origins to more northerly regions within East Asia, there was relatively rapid cultural and social diversification within the southern Vietnamese region.

We report on the first prehistoric identifications of the Greater Adjutant (Leptoptilos... more We report on the first prehistoric identifications of the Greater Adjutant (Leptoptilos dubius) (Gmelin 1789) in the prehistoric archaeological record of Vietnam, the earliest known example of this species in Mainland Southeast Asia (MSEA). The two bone fragments, a proximal tarsometatarsus and a distal tibiotarsus, were found in the hunter-gatherer midden/cemetery site of Con Co Ngua in Thanh Hoa Province, and date to c. 6,000 – 5,500 BP. The tarsometatarsus has been modified into an edge ground implement similar to artefacts recorded at other archaeological sites in the region. Modifications to the functional end suggest the implement is consistent with the manipulation and/or manufacture of plant-based fibres.

International Journal of Osteoarchaeology, 2012

Archaeological Studies Program, University of the Philippines (authorship)

Victor Paz, Wilfredo Ronquillo, Helen Lewis, Philip Piper, Jane Carlos, Emil Robles, Vito Hernand... more Victor Paz, Wilfredo Ronquillo, Helen Lewis, Philip Piper, Jane Carlos, Emil Robles, Vito Hernandez, Taj Vitales, Janine Ochoa, Tara Reyes and Hermine Xhauflair

Helen Lewis, Victor Paz, Jonathan Kress, Myra G. Lara, Jack G. L. Medrana, A. Jane Carlos, Phil P... more Helen Lewis, Victor Paz, Jonathan Kress, Myra G. Lara, Jack G. L. Medrana, A. Jane Carlos, Phil Piper, Vito Hernandez, Huw Barton, Emil Robles, Timothy J. Vitales, Andrea Ragragio, Wilhelm Solheim II and Wilfredo Ronquillo

The Routledge Handbook of Bioarchaeology in Southeast Asia and the Pacific, M. Oxenham and H.R. Buckley (eds)

This chapter presents preliminary observations relating to the butchery and craft modification of... more This chapter presents preliminary observations relating to the butchery and craft modification of primate bones from late Pleistocene and early Holocene deposits in the Niah Caves, East
Malaysia. An overview of the history of excavation at the site is followed by a discussion of the faunal assemblage with particular attention paid to evidence for the butchery of primates (Cercopithecidae), including remarks on the occurrence, type and placement of butchery traces. Early results suggest that primate carcasses were being processed in careful and notably selective ways. A particular feature of this processing sequence appears to have been tool production.

Of Prehistoric Pioneers: The Establishment of the First Sedentary Settlements in the Mekong Delta Region of Southern Vietnam during the Period 2000-1500 cal. BC, 2014

Ongoing research in the Philippines is producing important new insights into the Palaeolithic of ... more Ongoing research in the Philippines is producing important new insights into the Palaeolithic of Island Southeast Asia. The recent discovery of the Callao 3rd metatarsal in northern Luzon, which has been provisionally identified as a small bodied Homo sapiens and dated to 67 ka, suggests an earlier colonization of Island Southeast Asia by our species than previously considered. Landscape reconstructions are aiding in building a better understanding of how people adapted to the new and varied environments they encountered across the region, and recent lithic use wear analyses are demonstrating that tool technologies and hence human behaviour was more complex than had been previously envisaged. Wear traces and residues on unretouched and morphologically less characteristic flaked artefacts provided evidence for hafting and the use of adhesives showing that they could have served as hafted armatures of multicomponent tools.

The subsistence strategies of our early ancestors provide important insights into the behavioural... more The subsistence strategies of our early ancestors provide important insights into the behavioural complexities, ingenuity and adaptive capacity of our species. The Late Pleistocene colonization of Mainland and Island Southeast Asia presented numerous challenges that needed to be overcome by early human groups. In this paper we draw on data from a number of keys sites across the region to show how these challenges were met during the Late Glacial. We propose that one of the keys to the successful colonization of Southeast Asia lay in an ability to develop foraging strategies to cope with its diverse range of environments, their unique structure and local cycles of resource availability and abundance. We argue that these were adaptive processes; involving the development of new localised responses and innovations, rather than the use of strategies suited to western Eurasian contexts, as previously assumed.

Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monograph Series

Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monograph Series., 2013

Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monograph Series, 2013

Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monograph Series, 2013

Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monograph in G. Barker (ed.) Rainforest Foraging and Farming in Island Southeast Asia: The Archaeology and Environmental History of the Niah Caves, Sarawak, Niah Cave Project Monographs, 2013

Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monograph Series, 2013

Cambridge: McDonald Institute Monograph Series, 2013

Cambridge Archaeological Unit Landscape Archives Series: The Archaeology of the Lower Ouse Valley, Volume II: 134-140., 2013

Terra Australis 40, 2013

This chapter describes the analysis and interpretation of the terrestrial vertebrate remains from... more This chapter describes the analysis and interpretation of the terrestrial vertebrate remains from the islands of Itbayat and Sabtang. The results indicate that pigs were present in the islands from the earliest recognized phases of colonization and were the only large mammal resource during the prehistoric period from at least 1200 BC until after AD 1000, when the goat was introduced into the islands. Dogs appear to be present by at least 500 BC, as well as a species of civet cat from a similar or slightly earlier date on Itbayat, that has now been extirpated from the island.

Ongoing research in the Philippines is producing important new insights into the Palaeolithic of ... more Ongoing research in the Philippines is producing important new insights into the Palaeolithic of Island Southeast Asia. The recent discovery of the Callao 3rd metatarsal in northern Luzon, which has been provisionally identified as a small bodied Homo sapiens and dated to 67 ka, suggests an earlier colonization of Island Southeast Asia by our species than previously considered. Landscape reconstructions are aiding in building a better understanding of how people adapted to the new and varied environments they encountered across the region, and recent lithic use wear analyses are demonstrating that tool technologies and hence human behaviour was more complex than had been previously envisaged. Wear traces and residues on unretouched and morphologically less characteristic flaked artefacts provided evidence for hafting and the use of adhesives showing that they could have served as hafted armatures of multicomponent tools.

Chapter 11, in: R. Dennell and M. Porr (Eds.) 2014, Southern Asia, Australasia and the search for modern human origins, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 135-147.