The Movius Line and the Bamboo Hypothesis: Early Hominin Stone Technology in Southeast Asia

Abstract

This paper reviews the development of ideas about early hominin stone technology and behavior in Southeast Asia and the state of current thinking on the subject. Particular emphasis is placed on the enduring influence of the “Movius Line” concept, the decades-old notion that Acheulean handaxes are absent from Southeast Asia (and the Far East in general), marking this area off as distinct from the Palaeolithic developmental sequence elsewhere in the Old World. The most widely accepted explanation for the Movius Line is that organic-based tool technologies took precedence over stone in the endemic rainforests of Pleistocene Southeast Asia: the so-called “Bamboo Hypothesis. “The rationalefor the Bamboo Hypothesis is examined and the model called into question on empirical and theoreticalgrounds. Finally, thepaper reviews claims for early hominin stone tools in Southeast Asia and considers their implications for our understanding of Palaeolithic hominin behavior.