An outlook on prehistoric research in Laos: An inventory and some perspectives

Abstract

Prehistoric Research in Laos was initiated during the French Indochinese period. Disrupted by unstable geopolitics, Laotian teams started to revisit prehistoric cave sites and rock shelters in the early 2000s. International interest in Laotian prehistory resumed in 2005 with a prehistoric survey of Northern Laos focusing more especially, on ancient period (pre-) Hoabinhian lithic techno-complex but also, more recently on rock art along the Mekong river banks. The purpose of this paper is not to discuss the periods classically referred to as "recent prehistory" by authors, which generally spans from the Neolithic through to Metal ages and sometimes even historical times. Rather, we provide a retrospective on prehistoric investigations, in Laos to date, independently of periods, with the main focus on stone tools. New perspectives for prehistoric research in this widely under-explored country are briefly discussed.

Reduction Sequences During the Hoabinhian Technocomplex in Cambodia and Thailand: A New Knapping Strategy in Southeast Asia from the Terminal Upper Pleistocene to mid Holocene

“…However, the geographic distribution of these Hoabinhian sites is biased due to the disparity of archaeological work in Southeast Asian countries (Figure 1). Currently, more than 150 Hoabinhian sites in Vietnam (Chung, 2008;Son, 2020;Yi et al, 2008), about 30 sites in Thailand (Chitkament, 2016a;Forestier et al, 2017a), 10 sites in Laos (Forestier et al, 2017a;Singthong et al, 2016), two sites in Cambodia (Forestier et al, 2015;Sophady, 2008), 16 sites in Malaysia (Adi, 1981), one site in Burma (Thaw, 1971) and six sites in northwestern Indonesia (Forestier et al, 2005a) have been recorded. Some Hoabinhian-like tools have also been discovered in the southern fringes of the Himalayas in Nepal (Corvinus, 1987(Corvinus, , 1989(Corvinus, , 2007 and northern India (Gaillard et al, 2010(Gaillard et al, , 2011Sharma, 1988).…”