ABSTRACT
This chapter provides a synthesis of historical researches in the area, as well as an overview of the results obtained from recent surveys, excavations and laboratory analyses. Gunung Sewu has become one of the most important regions for the study of the prehistory of the Indonesian Archipelago. In the meantime, the Gunung Sewu area provides a more detailed picture of Palaeolithic stone artefact typology and technology, and of the pattern of landscape exploitation, than has been obtained from any other region of Indonesia. The cultural complex described above is not restricted to the Gunung Sewu area, but extends to the surrounding areas in the central and eastern part of Java, starting from Wonosari in the west to Situbondo in the east. Viewed in the wider context of Indonesian prehistory, a quite significant retardation is observable in the cultural development in the Gunung Sewu area, in particular since the early Neolithic.
