Formation processes at the early Late Pleistocene archaic human site of Lingjing, China

Li, Hao; Li, Zhanyang; Lotter, Matt G.; Kuman, Kathleen

doi:10.1016/j.jas.2018.05.004

Cited by 11 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…This can be explained by the convenience of fishing, access to water, and gravel for tool-making along the river (Wang and Lu, 2016). Similar hominin environments have been proposed for sites in Africa, Europe, and Asia (Chauhan et al, 2017;Li et al, 2018a). There is no doubt that a settlement close to a river will be in danger of flooding (Huang et al, 2013;Wang et al, 2014a;Guo et al, 2015;Liu et al, 2015;Wu et al, 2016), but the choice for a settlement location may involve other factors including water supply, food source (vegetation and animals), transport route and defense (Vandenberghe, 2015; Table 1 The distribution and category of the stone artifacts, excavated from the sediment sequence of LGS4.…”

Section: Potential Influence Of the Evolving Depositional Environmentmentioning

confidence: 64%

Fluvial terrace formation and its impacts on early human settlement in the Hanzhong basin, Qinling Mountains, central China

Yang

Balen

Prins

et al. 2019

Global and Planetary Change

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The Qinling Mountains (QLM) form the climatic boundary between the temperate north and subtropical south of China. Many important Paleolithic archaeological sites located on fluvial terraces in this area have been reported in recent decades. Abundant artifacts have been excavated in silt layers overlying fluvial gravels and coarse sands. These silt layers have thus far been interpreted as aeolian deposits. However, in principle they could also represent (in part) fluvial (floodplain) deposits, especially near the base of fine-grained sequences. Reconstruction of fluvial terrace formation is crucial for the correct interpretation of the environment of hominin occupation. In this paper, two sediment sequences from two Paleolithic sites, located on different terrace levels of the Hanjiang River in the Hanzhong basin, are studied mainly using grain-size and grain-shape analyses. In addition, grain-size distributions have been unraveled by applying end-member modelling to distinguish different sedimentary environments. The results show that three different units can be discriminated in each section. The lower unit, consisting of gravelly sand mixed with fine silt, is interpreted as shallow-channel-fill sediment deposited during the start of the transition from a channel to a floodplain environment. The middle unit comprises a fine-grained, gradually fining-upward sequence, representative a floodplain environment. At its base, it reflects a high-energy floodplain situation; at its top, the sequence is interpreted as a low-energy floodplain environment with aeolian input (settling in static water). The third, uppermost unit consists of aeolian loess interbedded with paleosol(s) and sediments that are interpreted as the results of episodic surface runoff. The gradual transition between the 3 units and the gradual fining upward trend of the middle unit indicates that there is no considerable age gap (no hiatus) between the fluvialand aeolian sedimentary environments. Stone artifacts have been found in all 3 units, with difference abundance, indicating that both the aeolian and floodplain depositional environments provided favorable living conditions. For the floodplain environment, the resources of water and raw materials (fluvial gravels) for tool making may have offered fundamental resources for hominin settlement.

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Section: Potential Influence Of the Evolving Depositional Environmentmentioning

confidence: 64%

Fluvial terrace formation and its impacts on early human settlement in the Hanzhong basin, Qinling Mountains, central China

Yang

Balen

Prins

et al. 2019

Global and Planetary Change

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“…Palaeoenvironmental reconstruction from pollens recovered in hyena coprolites suggests a grassland-dominated vegetation with a mosaic of scattered, mixed forests [131,132]. This environment, combined with the presence of an active water spring surely attracted both animals and humans throughout the early Late Pleistocene, as attested by the uninterrupted vertical distribution of lithic and faunal remains from the lower half of layer 10 to the bottom of layer 11 [115].…”

Section: Plos Onementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Lingjing site corresponds to one such pond [ 58 ]. Layer 11, which is the focus of the present study, was formed from the horizontal accumulation of sediments originating from one of these springs, as attested by the fine-grained sediment with no evidence of substantial horizontal flow dynamics [ 115 ]. A water cistern was built over the opening of the spring present in the southern portion of the site in 1958 [ 116 ].…”

Section: Archaeological Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Results suggest a slow deposition rate with limited to low energy flow across the site. Layer 11 likely formed in a relatively stable, close, oxygen-poor environment; the deposition of layer 10 occurred at a time when the local water table was subjected to more frequent rises and falls [ 115 ]. These conclusions are supported by the taphonomic analysis of the faunal assemblage.…”

Section: Archaeological Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

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A 115,000-year-old expedient bone technology at Lingjing, Henan, China

Doyon

Wang

et al. 2021

PLoS ONE

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Activities attested since at least 2.6 Myr, such as stone knapping, marrow extraction, and woodworking may have allowed early hominins to recognize the technological potential of discarded skeletal remains and equipped them with a transferable skillset fit for the marginal modification and utilization of bone flakes. Identifying precisely when and where expedient bone tools were used in prehistory nonetheless remains a challenging task owing to the multiple natural and anthropogenic processes that can mimic deliberately knapped bones. Here, we compare a large sample of the faunal remains from Lingjing, a 115 ka-old site from China which has yielded important hominin remains and rich faunal and lithic assemblages, with bone fragments produced by experimentally fracturing Equus caballus long bones. Our results provide a set of qualitative and quantitative criteria that can help zooarchaeologists and bone technologists distinguish faunal remains with intentional flake removal scars from those resulting from carcass processing activities. Experimental data shows marrow extraction seldom generates diaphyseal fragments bearing more than six flake scars arranged contiguously or in interspersed series. Long bone fragments presenting such characteristics can, therefore, be interpreted as being purposefully knapped to be used as expediency tools. The identification, based on the above experimental criteria, of 56 bone tools in the Lingjing faunal assemblage is consistent with the smaller size of the lithics found in the same layer. The continuity gradient observed in the size of lithics and knapped bones suggests the latter were used for tasks in which the former were less or not effective.

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“…Layers 10 and 11, attributed to the early Late Pleistocene, were dated by OSL between 99 ka and 118 ka [34]. Both layers yielded lithic artifacts and faunal remains [35]. Two incomplete human skulls were also found in layer 11.…”

Section: Archeological Context and Datingmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Paleolithic bird figurine from the Lingjing site, Henan, China

Doyon

Fang

et al. 2020

PLoS ONE

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The recent identification of cave paintings dated to 42-40 ka BP in Borneo and Sulawesi highlights the antiquity of painted representations in this region. However, no instances of three-dimensional portable art, well attested in Europe since at least 40 ka BP, were documented thus far in East Asia prior to the Neolithic. Here, we report the discovery of an exceptionally well-preserved miniature carving of a standing bird from the site of Lingjing, Henan, China. Microscopic and microtomographic analyses of the figurine and the study of bone fragments from the same context reveal the object was made of bone blackened by heating and carefully carved with four techniques that left diagnostic traces on the entire surface of the object. Critical analysis of the site's research history and stratigraphy, the cultural remains associated with the figurine and those recovered from the other archeological layers, as well as twenty-eight radiometric ages obtained on associated archeological items, including one provided by a bone fragment worked with the same technique recorded on the object, suggest a Late Paleolithic origin for the carving, with a probable age estimated to 13,500 years old. The carving, which predates previously known comparable instances from this region by 8,500 years, demonstrates that three-dimensional avian representations were part of East Asian Late Pleistocene cultural repertoires and identifies technological and stylistic peculiarities distinguishing this newly discovered art tradition from previous and contemporary examples found in Western Europe and Siberia.

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Formation processes at the early Late Pleistocene archaic human site of Lingjing, China

Cited by 11 publications

References 53 publications

Fluvial terrace formation and its impacts on early human settlement in the Hanzhong basin, Qinling Mountains, central China

Fluvial terrace formation and its impacts on early human settlement in the Hanzhong basin, Qinling Mountains, central China

A 115,000-year-old expedient bone technology at Lingjing, Henan, China

A Paleolithic bird figurine from the Lingjing site, Henan, China

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