International Workshop on Southeast Asian Prehistory and Human Behaviour in Material Culture

Sea crossings and maritime technologies play a vital role in the colonization of Wallacea. The symposium and workshop will focus on the aspects of modern human technology at the beginnings of modern human migrations to Southeast Asia. The scientific meeting, organised in the frame of the Southeast-Asia Biocultural Evolution Research Fund, will be held at the Leong Hall Auditorium at Ateneo de Manila University's Loyola Heights Campus, from 3 to 8 March 2025, and will be co-hosted by the Anthropological and Sociological Initiatives of the Ateneo and the Senckenberg Research Institute and Natural History Museum Frankfurt. Leading experts in the fields of artefact studies, lithic and dental use-wear analysis, and prehistoric technology will share their research interests, knowledge, and ideas with the goal of exchanging experiences and methodological approaches and discussing potential networking and the expansion of research collaborations.

The Southeast Asian region is becoming a hotspot for archaeological research, particularly in the context of early human migrations and their adaptation to the various and fast-changing island and coastal environments. In that respect, prehistoric migrations have been one of the main research themes in Southeast Asia for decades. This workshop will bring in specialists trained in identifying prehistoric technologies and activities interpreted from micro-traces – on lithics and bone artefacts, applying cutting-edge methods and technologies

The workshop has three themes – Prehistoric Tool Making and Tool Use in Southeast Asia, Methods in Traceology, and Research Data Management for Traceology. This will be attended by different specialists, mainly in the field of traceology on lithic and osseous materials. One unifying theme of the different specialisations is the goal to acquire quantitative results for objective comparisons, while providing new avenues to develop the field in terms laboratory methods and techniques, and application to assemblages in Southeast Asia and beyond.

For further information please contact apawlik@ateneo.edu.

• Final Workshop Programme (PDF)