The “Sumatralith” in the Hoabinhian technocomplex of South China and Southeast Asia: a techno-functional perspective

The Hoabinhian technocomplex has been one of the major concerns of Paleolithic archaeologists in China in recent years, and it has been an inevitable topic especially when it comes to the comparison of the tradition of cobble-tool industries in South China and Southeast Asia. The characterization of the lithic industry of the Hoabinhian technocomplex is largely based on the presence or absence of "Sumatralith", but there has not been a study that provides a comprehensive and systematic introduction to this type of tool. Against this background, based on the author's recent research on the Hoabinhian lithic industries in South China and Southeast Asia, this paper attempts to adopt a chaîne opératoire perspective to systematically summarize the characteristics of Sumatraliths in terms of raw materials, production methods, tool blanks, tool structures and techno-functional organization, and reveal their rich technological connotations. On this basis, the uniqueness of "Sumatralith"is discussed, as well as its significance for our understanding of the Hoabinhian and for thinking about other Paleolithic techno-cultural phenomena.