Three Styles of Darwinian Evolution in the Analysis of Stone Artefacts: Which One to Use in Mainland Southeast Asia?

Our understanding of flaked stone artefacts from assemblages in mainland Southeast Asia is constrained by a shortage of robust and flexible theory to generate suitable methods of analysis. I review three candidate theories derived from Darwinian evolutionary principles to identify the most suitable for investigating flaked stone artefacts from mainland Southeast Asia. The demands of the theory are compared with the evidential constraints of the assemblages. Human behavioural ecology is found to be the most suitable because of the reliable methods available to test predictions with artefact assemblages. A small case study is discussed to demonstrate the applicability of this approach.