| Abstract: |
Stone adzes are one of the most widespread and enduring artifacts in human prehistory, especially in southern China, Southeast Asia, the Pacific Islands and Taiwan. As Bellwood (1979:171) points out, apart from potsherds, the stone adze is the most obvious feature of museum collections of the Southeast Asian Neolithic. Certainly, the stone adze is a common artifact in Taiwan archaeology. By classifying the raw materials used in the manufacture of stone adzes and tracing their sources and distributions, this paper gives a better understanding of the cultural interactions that took place in Taiwan during the Neolithic. In this paper, more than 1000 stone adzes from 210 Neolithic sites are analyzed. These include sites on the island of Taiwan as well as on the surrounding islands in the Penghu Archipelago to the west, Xiaoliuqiu to the southwest, and Ludao and Lanyu to the southeast.
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