The Australian Aboriginal approach to stone technology is often characterised as highly flexible, a phenomenon well-documented by ethnographic observation. In the Australian context, it would appear that a stone's function was only loosely related to its form. Nevertheless, many ethnographic studies recognise that artefact manufacture was "aimed at" producing specific forms (Home and Aiston 1924:92). This study examines the extent of rigidity in artefact manufacture through an archaeological analysis of a large stone assemblage from Camooweal, northwestern Queensland, Australia. The reduction sequence which created the assemblage is modeled and the rigidity of the various trajectories comprising the reduction sequence is assessed by the degree to which blanks for "aimed at" forms crossed between trajectories. While the ethnographic literature indicates that various artefact categories tended to be used in an ad hoc fashion, the results of the technological analysis indicate that blank production for "aimed at" forms was, in fact, relatively rigid. This stands at odds with sweeping generalisations about the flexibility of Aboriginal lithic technology.

Stone flaking is achieved through integral sets of geometrical identifications and motor actions collectively referred to as the 'flake unit'. Early trends in technological evolution involved elaborating the internal complexity of the flake unit and later trends involved elaborating the way that flake units were combined. Studies by developmental psychologists suggest that internal and external increases in complexity reflect advances in cognitive ability. Homo floresiensis combined the simplest type of flake units by arranging them in chains rather than stacking them hierarchically. Thus Homo floresiensis lithic technology does not indicate high levels of cognitive ability.

Walter E. Roth studied the Aboriginal people of northern and western Queensland between 1894 and 1904, making written descriptions, drawings and photographs of their lifestyles and artefacts. At this time Aboriginal people were undergoing sweeping cultural changes through contact with Europeans. One of these changes was the rapid and ongoing replacement of their traditional methods of toolmaking by new methods based on European materials.

Evidence from Liang Bua, a limestone cave on the island of Flores in East Indonesia, provides a unique opportunity to explore the long term relationship between hominins and their environment. Occupation deposits at the site span ῀95 ka and contain abundant stone artefacts, well preserved faunal remains and evidence for an endemic species of hominin: 'Homo floresiensis'. Work at the site included detailed geomorphological and environmental analysis, which has enabled comparisons to be drawn between changes in the occupational intensity in the cave, using stone tool and faunal counts, and changes in the environmental conditions, using the characteristics of the sedimentary layers in the cave and speleothem records. These comparisons demonstrate that 'H. floresiensis' endured rapidly fluctuating environmental conditions over the last ῀100 ka, which influenced the geomorphological processes in the cave and their occupational conditions. The intensity of occupation in the cave changed significantly between 95 and 17 ka, with peaks in occupation occurring at 100–95, 74–61 and 18–17 ka. These correlate with episodes of channel formation and erosion in the cave, which in turn correspond with high rainfall, thick soils and high bio-productivity outside. In contrast, periods of low occupational intensity correlate with reduced channel activity and pooling associated with drier periods from 94 to 75 and 36 to 19 ka. This apparent link between intensity of hominin use of the cave and the general conditions outside relates to the expansion and contraction of the rainforest and the ability of 'H. floresiensis' to adapt to habitat changes. This interpretation implies that these diminutive hominins were able to survive abrupt and prolonged environmental changes by changing their favoured occupation sites. These data provide the basis for a model of human–environment interactions on the island of Flores. With the addition of extra data from other sites on Flores, this model will provide a greater understanding of 'H. floresiensis' as a unique human species.

A technological analysis was recently completed on a collection of stone artefacts recovered during bridge construction at Camooweal, northwest Queensland. The results indicate that various bifacial reduction techniques were an integral part of the Aboriginal stone-working repertoire. A sophisticated knowledge of biface flaking and a multi-staged approach to manufacture is suggested by large hand axe-like bifaces and small bifacial points. The reduction techniques used in manufacturing these bifaces were also used on other elements in the stone toolkit.

In the Soa Basin of central Flores, eastern Indonesia, stratified archaeological sites, including Mata Menge, Boa Lesa and Kobatuwa (Fig. 1), contain stone artefacts associated with the fossilized remains of Stegodon florensis, Komodo dragon, rat and various other taxa. These sites have been dated to 840-700 kyr bp (thousand years before present). The authenticity of the Soa Basin artefacts and their provenance have been demonstrated by previous work, but to quell lingering doubts, here we describe the context, attributes and production modes of 507 artefacts excavated at Mata Menge. We also note specific similarities, and apparent technological continuity, between the Mata Menge stone artefacts and those excavated from Late Pleistocene levels at Liang Bua cave, 50 km to the west. The latter artefacts, dated to between 95-74 and 12 kyr ago, are associated with the remains of a dwarfed descendent of S. florensis, Komodo dragon, rat and a small-bodied hominin species, Homo floresiensis, which had a brain size of about 400 cubic centimetres. The Mata Menge evidence negates claims that stone artefacts associated with H. floresiensis are so complex that they must have been made by modern humans (Homo sapiens).

Australia was colonized by at least 40,000 bp and scientists agree that the continent was only ever occupied by anatomically and behaviourally modern humans. Australia thus offers an alternative early record for the archaeological expression of behavioural modernity. This review finds that the pattern of change in the Australian archaeological sequence bears remarkable similarity to the pattern from the Lower to Upper Palaeolithic in the Old World, a finding that is inconsistent with the 'symbolic revolution' model of the origin of modern behaviour. This highlights the need for archaeologists to rethink the implications of the various criteria and scales of analysis used to identify modern human behaviour.

This study reexamines the current understanding of Pleistocene stone-artifact assemblages in island Southeast Asia. A differentiation has long been made between assemblages of large-sized "core tools" and assemblages of small-sized "flake tools". "Core tool" assemblages are often argued to be the handiwork of early hominin species such as Homo erectus, while small-sized "flake tool" assemblages have been attributed to Homo sapiens. We argue that this traditional Southeast Asian perspective on stone tools assumes that the artifacts recovered from a site reflect a complete technological sequence. Our analyses of Pleistocene-age artifact assemblages from Flores, Indonesia, demonstrate that large pebble-based cores and small flake-based cores are aspects of one reduction sequence. We propose that the Flores pattern applies across island Southeast Asia: large-sized "core tool" assemblages are in fact a missing element of the small-sized flake-based reduction sequences found in many Pleistocene caves and rock-shelters. We conclude by discussing the implications of this for associating stone-artifact assemblages with hominin species in island Southeast Asia.

This study examines trends in stone tool reduction technology at Liang Bua, Flores, Indonesia, where excavations have revealed a stratified artifact sequence spanning 95 k.yr. The reduction sequence practiced throughout the Pleistocene was straightforward and unchanging. Large flakes were produced off-site and carried into the cave where they were reduced centripetally and bifacially by four techniques: freehand, burination, truncation, and bipolar. The locus of technological complexity at Liang Bua was not in knapping products, but in the way techniques were integrated. This reduction sequence persisted across the Pleistocene/Holocene boundary with a minor shift favoring unifacial flaking after 11 ka. Other stone-related changes occurred at the same time, including the first appearance of edge-glossed flakes, a change in raw material selection, and more frequent fire-induced damage to stone artifacts. Later in the Holocene, technological complexity was generated by "adding-on" rectangular-sectioned stone adzes to the reduction sequence. The Pleistocene pattern is directly associated with 'Homo floresiensis' skeletal remains and the Holocene changes correlate with the appearance of 'Homo sapiens'. The one reduction sequence continues across this hominin replacement.

This paper presents the results of the recent technological analysis of the Early Pleistocene stone assemblage from Mata Menge in the Son Basin of Flores, Indonesia, the oldest Palaeolithic stone assemblage recovered from a well-dated stratified context in Southeast Asia. The various methods and techniques used by hominins to reduce stones at the site are discussed, as well as evidence for the deliberate transport of flaked stone artefacts around the Son Basin landscape.