Abstract:Most Chinese lithic industries dated between 300,000 and 40,000 are characterized by the absence of Levallois debitage, the persistence of core-and-flake knapping, the rarity of prepared cores, their reduction with direct hard hammer percussion, and the rarity of retouched flakes. Here we report the discovery of seven bone soft hammers at the early hominin Lingj-ing site (Xuchang County, Henan) dated to 125,000-105,000. These artefacts represent the first instance of the use of bone as raw material to modify s… Show more
“…nov. [ 47 , 48 ]. The skeletal element profile combined with the high frequency of cut marks (~34%) and their location on the bone are consistent with an interpretation of Lingjing Layer 11 as a kill-butchery site [ 49 – 52 ]. The proportion of bones bearing anthropogenic modifications is certainly underestimated due to the presence of thin concretions and manganese coatings on many remains, likely owing to the underground spring context in which they accumulated.…”
Most Chinese lithic industries dated between 300,000 and 40,000 are characterized by the absence of Levallois debitage, the persistence of core-and-flake knapping, the rarity of prepared cores, their reduction with direct hard hammer percussion, and the rarity of retouched flakes. Here we report the discovery of seven bone soft hammers at the early hominin Lingjing site (Xuchang County, Henan) dated to 125,000–105,000. These artefacts represent the first instance of the use of bone as raw material to modify stone tools found at an East Asian early Late Pleistocene site. Three types of soft hammers are identified. The first consists of large bone flakes resulting from butchery of large herbivores that were utilized as such for expedient stone tools retouching or resharpening. The second involved the fracture of weathered bone from medium size herbivores to obtain elongated splinters shaped by percussion into sub-rectangular artefacts. Traces observed on these objects indicate intensive and possibly recurrent utilization, which implies their curation over time. The last consists of antler, occasionally used. Lingjing bone tools complement what we know about archaic hominin cultural adaptations in East Asia and highlight behavioural consistencies that could not be inferred from other cultural proxies. This discovery provides a new dimension to the debate surrounding the existence of the Middle Palaeolithic in the region. The attribution of East Asian sites to the Middle Palaeolithic assumes that cultural traits such as the Levallois method represent evolutionary hallmarks applicable to regions of the world different from those in which they were originally found. Here, we promote an approach that consists in identifying, possibly from different categories of material culture, the original features of each regional cultural trajectory and understanding the behavioural and cognitive implications they may have had for past hominin populations.
“…nov. [ 47 , 48 ]. The skeletal element profile combined with the high frequency of cut marks (~34%) and their location on the bone are consistent with an interpretation of Lingjing Layer 11 as a kill-butchery site [ 49 – 52 ]. The proportion of bones bearing anthropogenic modifications is certainly underestimated due to the presence of thin concretions and manganese coatings on many remains, likely owing to the underground spring context in which they accumulated.…”
Most Chinese lithic industries dated between 300,000 and 40,000 are characterized by the absence of Levallois debitage, the persistence of core-and-flake knapping, the rarity of prepared cores, their reduction with direct hard hammer percussion, and the rarity of retouched flakes. Here we report the discovery of seven bone soft hammers at the early hominin Lingjing site (Xuchang County, Henan) dated to 125,000–105,000. These artefacts represent the first instance of the use of bone as raw material to modify stone tools found at an East Asian early Late Pleistocene site. Three types of soft hammers are identified. The first consists of large bone flakes resulting from butchery of large herbivores that were utilized as such for expedient stone tools retouching or resharpening. The second involved the fracture of weathered bone from medium size herbivores to obtain elongated splinters shaped by percussion into sub-rectangular artefacts. Traces observed on these objects indicate intensive and possibly recurrent utilization, which implies their curation over time. The last consists of antler, occasionally used. Lingjing bone tools complement what we know about archaic hominin cultural adaptations in East Asia and highlight behavioural consistencies that could not be inferred from other cultural proxies. This discovery provides a new dimension to the debate surrounding the existence of the Middle Palaeolithic in the region. The attribution of East Asian sites to the Middle Palaeolithic assumes that cultural traits such as the Levallois method represent evolutionary hallmarks applicable to regions of the world different from those in which they were originally found. Here, we promote an approach that consists in identifying, possibly from different categories of material culture, the original features of each regional cultural trajectory and understanding the behavioural and cognitive implications they may have had for past hominin populations.
“…Mortality patterns, skeletal element representation and anthropogenic modification on the faunal remains (Zhang et al, 2009(Zhang et al, , 2011a(Zhang et al, , 2011b(Zhang et al, , 2012, as well as the osseous and lithic toolkit (Doyon et al, 2018(Doyon et al, , 2019Zhao et al, 2019;van Kolfschoten et al, 2020) are coherent with the interpretation according to which Lingjing was repeatedly used as a kill/butchery site during the early Late Pleistocene. In order to explore anthropogenic activities that could have resulted in the production of flake scars on faunal fragments, it became necessary to assess to what extent marrow extraction could generate such a pattern.…”
Section: Discussionmentioning
confidence: 80%
“…In decreasing order, the herbivores also include Coelodonta antiquitanis, Sus lyddekeri, Cervus elaphus, Procapra przewalskii, Cervus (Sika) sp.. Other taxa, e.g., Palaeoloxodon sp., Dicerorhinus mercki, Hydropotes pleistocenica, Elaphurus davidianus, and Sinomegaceros ordosianus, are present but in very small proportions, i.e., usually less than five elements per species (van Kolfschoten et al, 2020). Modifications by carnivore, e.g., pits and scores as well as surface etching owing to digestion, were seldom observed on the faunal remains (<1%), which suggests they played a limited role in the accumulation of the assemblage (Zhang et al, 2009(Zhang et al, , 2011a(Zhang et al, , 2011b(Zhang et al, , 2012Doyon et al, 2018Doyon et al, , 2019. The main anthropogenic modifications recorded on the faunal remains consist of cut marks generated during butchery activities, and percussion scars likely resulting from the breaking of diaphysis to extract bone marrow.…”
Section: Archaeological Contextmentioning
confidence: 99%
“…The main anthropogenic modifications recorded on the faunal remains consist of cut marks generated during butchery activities, and percussion scars likely resulting from the breaking of diaphysis to extract bone marrow. The skeletal element profiles dominated by body parts with lower nutritional values, the mortality patterns of the main prey species, i.e., equids and bovids, represented exclusively by primeadult individuals, and bone surface modifications demonstrate the importance of the Lingjing site in subsistence activities, namely for the hunting of prey and carcass processing (Zhang et al, 2009(Zhang et al, , 2011a(Zhang et al, , 2011b(Zhang et al, , 2012.…”
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 suggest the latter were used for tasks in which the former were less or not effective.
“…Skeletal elements from late Middle and early Late Pleistocene fauna were also identified in this layer (Li & Dong 2007). The high proportion of limb elements (>60 per cent) and high frequency of cut marks observed on midshafts (approximately 34 per cent) suggest that Lingjing layer 11 was a kill-butchery site (Zhang et al 2012). Figure 1.A) Location of Lingjing (Henan Province, China); B) stratigraphy indicating the geological and cultural layers (after Doyon et al 2018).…”
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