Functional Adaptation among early Stone Tool Assemblages in south-eastern Wallacea and north-western Australia

考古学和遗传学证据表明，智人首先通过东南亚岛屿（Wallacea）传播，并在65- 50，000年前到达澳大利亚西北部。他们遇到了新的栖息地，那里的资源与非洲和欧亚大陆的资源截然不同。该项目通过对工具表面进行显微分析，确定来自三个考古遗址的史前石器的功能，来检验技术对这些新挑战的适应性。这项研究将检验一个假设，即石器的生存和社会功能是其他古人类物种所没有的，是我们物种适应这些地区不同环境的关键。

Archaeological and genetic evidence suggests Homo sapiens first spread through island southeast Asia (Wallacea) and reached north-western Australia by 65-50,000 years ago. Theyencountered novel habitats with very different resources from those available in Africa andEurasia. This project examines technological adaptations to these new challenges throughidentifying the function of prehistoric stone tools from three archaeological sites usingmicroscopic analysis of the tool surface. The research will test the hypothesis that novelsubsistence and social functions for stone tools, not seen in other hominin species, were critical inallowing our species to adapt to the divergent environments of these regions.