Prehistoric Asia

Prehistoric Asia is the human past of Asia before written records, studied through archaeological and environmental evidence. Its chronology varies by region, from early hominin presence to the emergence of writing.

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Dmanisi: An archaeological site in Georgia with early hominin fossils and stone tools dating to about 1.8 million years ago. Its fossils document an early hominin presence at Asia’s western edge.
Archaeology: The study of past human societies through material remains and their contexts. It supplies the principal methods for investigating periods without written records.
Hominin: A member of the human lineage after its split from the lineage leading to chimpanzees. The earliest Asian evidence concerns hominins long before modern humans appeared.
Out of Africa theory: The explanation that modern humans originated in Africa and later dispersed to other continents. It frames research on the arrival of Homo sapiens in Asia.
Hobbit (human species): Homo floresiensis was a small-bodied extinct human species known from fossils on the Indonesian island of Flores. Its origins and relationship to other human species remain disputed.
Zhoukoudian: A cave site near Beijing known for Homo erectus fossils, stone tools, and evidence of repeated occupation. Its long sequence offers a landmark record of early humans in East Asia.
Lithic analysis: The study of stone artifacts, including how they were made, used, and discarded. Stone tools preserve evidence of technology across much of Asia’s prehistoric record.
Homo erectus: An extinct human species that lived across Africa and Eurasia for more than a million years. Its Asian fossils mark a major phase of early human presence.
Homo sapiens: The modern human species, originating in Africa and now the only surviving human species. Its dispersal and regional encounters shape much of later Asian prehistory.
Homo luzonensis: An extinct human species identified from fossils found in Callao Cave on the Philippine island of Luzon. Its evolutionary relationships and route to the Philippines are unresolved.