The Paleoanthropology of Eastern Asia

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Compared to paleoanthropological (human evolution) research in Africa and Europe, similar studies on Asia have lagged far behind. The purpose of this work is to partially rectify this discrepancy. The manuscript covers the eastern Asian record (including both East and Southeast Asia) from the earliest arrival of hominins (beginning during the Early Pleistocene) until the end of the last ice age (ca. 15, 000 years ago) when the introduction of substantial site occupations and technology such as pottery that traditionally signals the transition from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic began to take place. This is considered one of the most important time periods in eastern Asian prehistory characterized by the earliest arrivals of hominins (e.g., Homo erectus or something else) and the movement of these and other hominin populations (e.g., H. neanderthalensis, H. longi, H. juluensis, H. floresiensis, H. luzonensis, modern H. sapiens, etc.) through the region occurred. Further, the Paleolithic archaeological record indicates significant innovations in the region. For instance, bifacially worked stone tools (hand axes) have been found in eastern Asia where they were previously considered to have been absent. Evidence indicates that the occupation of high-altitude regions (e.g., Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau) occurred well before the advent of plant and animal domestication. Watercraft was possibly used in order to colonize regions such as the Japanese Archipelago, surrounded by water some 40, 000 years ago. It is now clear that in places like Indonesia art on the walls of caves are penecontemporaneous with the Upper Paleolithic cave paintings from southern France and northern Spain (Lascaux, Altamira)"--