via L’Anthropologie, 06 April 2024: This paper by Wu et al. describes artifacts linked to the Hoabinhian technocomplex, previously well-documented in Southeast Asia but not in this region. The findings from two ancient sites, Xiaodong rockshelter and Dedan cave, support the hypothesis of a “Chinese Hoabinhian Homeland” and highlight Yunnan’s strategic role in ancient migration routes. These discoveries, although lacking precise stratigraphic data, confirm the presence of the Hoabinhian lithic tradition in the upper Mekong and Salween rivers, suggesting a potential diffusion strategy along these waterways into East Asia.
Recent discoveries in Yunnan province have confirmed the presence of the Hoabinhian technocomplex in this southern part of China. Compared with the history of Hoabinhian research in Southeast Asia, which goes back almost a century with numerous Hoabinhian sites dating back to the late Upper Pleistocene and Holocene, southwest China is still a blank page on the Hoabinhian question until recent years. For the vast territory of Yunnan (394,000 km2), we currently have only two published ancient Hoabinhian sites (Xiaodong rockshelter and Dedan cave) with reliable dating and typo-technological studies. To test the “Chinese Hoabinhian Homeland” hypothesis and the geo-strategic importance of Yunnan in migration routes to Southeast Asia, proposed in previous studies, modern archaeological methods should enable more sites in these southern Chinese regions to be discovered, excavated and studied. Firstly, fieldwork carried out in southwestern Yunnan in recent years (investigation, prospecting, excavation, etc.), where numerous lithic artefacts with Hoabinhian affinities have been collected, is discussed. The aim of this article is to present the typo-technological composition of these unpublished lithic assemblages from nine caves and open-air localities. Although we do not yet have precise stratigraphic information, their presence could nonetheless confirm the presence of the Hoabinhian lithic tradition in this region located in the upper reaches of the Mekong and Salween rivers within the most northerly humid tropical forest environment in Southeast Asia. Finally, we will discuss the diffusion strategy of Hoabinhian settlements in East Asia in a specific environmental and geographical context, as well as their possible dispersal along the river routes that irrigate and structure the relief of Southwest China and Peninsular Asia.
