The eastern Asian ‘Middle Palaeolithic’ revisited: a view from Korea

Seong, Chuntaek; Bae, Christopher J.

doi:10.15184/aqy.2016.141

Cited by 23 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Two contrasting views are confronted. There are those who interpret early Late Pleistocene lithic technologies as reflecting the persistence of essentially Lower Paleolithic traditions (Gao, 2013;Gao & Norton, 2002;Ikawa-Smith, 1978;Li, 2014;Norton & Jin, 2009;Norton, Gao, & Feng, 2009;Seong & Bae, 2016), and those who assign them to some peculiar facies of the Middle Paleolithic (Yee, 2012;Li, 2018;Li, Li, Gao, Kuman, & Sumner, 2019;Zhang, 1985).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…It has been suggested that most Chinese lithic assemblages dated between 300 and 40 ka lack obvious temporal trends and are characterized by the persistence of core-and-flake technology (Gao, 2013;Gao & Norton, 2002;Ikawa-Smith, 1978;Li, 2014;Norton & Jin, 2009;Seong & Bae, 2016). Poor-quality local raw materials are preferred to exotic lithic sources, the cores show seldom preparation, their reduction most often involves direct hard hammer percussion, block-on-block technique or bipolar percussion, and retouched flakes are rare (Gao, 2013), making these industries hardly distinguishable from Chinese Lower Paleolithic traditions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Further Evidence of Organic Soft Hammer Percussion and Pressure Retouch from Lingjing (Xuchang, Henan, China)

Doyon

et al. 2019

Lithic Technology

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Opinions on the nature and distinctiveness of the Chinese Paleolithic differ between those who assign early Late Pleistocene lithic technologies to some peculiar facies of the Middle Paleolithic, and those who interpret them as reflecting the persistence of essentially Lower Paleolithic traditions. The absence of Levallois debitage and organic soft hammers are often used as arguments, amongst others, in favor of the second hypothesis. Here, we report new supporting data for the use of bone retouchers and pressure flakers in knapping activities. The specimens were found at the Lingjing site, Xuchang County, Henan, in a layer dated between 105 and 125 ka. This discovery emphasizes the importance of combining evidence from a variety of aspects of material culture, including anthropogenically modified faunal remains, in order to accurately define Chinese Paleolithic technological traditions.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Further Evidence of Organic Soft Hammer Percussion and Pressure Retouch from Lingjing (Xuchang, Henan, China)

Doyon

et al. 2019

Lithic Technology

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“…The absence of Middle Palaeolithic technologies in large areas of China is considered by some to be the consequence of relatively stable environmental conditions, absence of large-scale population replacement events, low-intensity resources exploitation, high group mobility, the production of perishable tools made of bamboo, and a preference for simple yet flexible stone tool technologies [ 38 , 68 – 73 ]. As a result, a number of researchers have argued that the term Middle Palaeolithic has no real meaning in most of East Asia [ 36 , 37 , 39 , 74 , 75 ] and should be restricted to assemblages located in peripheral areas, i.e., the Ningxia Autonomous Region [ 36 ], the Jilin Province [ 76 , 77 ], and the Inner Mongolia [ 78 ], where Middle Palaeolithic diagnostics are present in the lithic assemblages. Others use this term conventionally to designate occupations falling within the range of 300 ka to 40 ka BP, or yielding remains of archaic Homo sapiens .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Discovery of circa 115,000-year-old bone retouchers at Lingjing, Henan, China

Doyon

et al. 2018

PLoS ONE

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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.

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“…Indeed, knife-shaped tools long persisted as the formal stone tool class in the Japanese lithic industries, and the "knife-shaped tool culture" is the technocomplex that is extensively distributed from Kyushu to southern Hokkaido (e.g., Ambiru 1986;Morisaki 2012;Naganuma 2010;Ono 1988;Yoshikawa 2010). In the Korean Peninsula, the Upper Paleolithic industry has tanged points (Seumbe Chireugae) from its initial stage with the emergence of blade technology (C. Bae 2017, in this issue; K. Bae 2010; Lee 2015Seong 2008Seong , 2009Seong and Bae 2016). Tanged points also appeared in Japan in the late Upper Paleolithic, around 30,000 years ago, mainly in the Kyushu region; however, they occur rather briefly, perhaps in response to small-scale human migrations from Korea or cultural transmission after the collapse of the regional environment in Kyushu, caused by the large explosive event of the Aira Volcano, which occurred some 30,000 years ago (Matsufuji 1987;Morisaki 2015).…”

Section: Paleolithic Chronologies In Japan: Short-versus Long-term Chmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…A substantial number of EUP assemblages (∼500) dated to 38,000 to 30,000 years ago further indicate that modern H. sapiens mi-grated into the Japanese Archipelago around 40,000 years ago, bringing the new lithic technological complex (Izuho and Kaifu 2015). Culture-chronological division between the Early and Late Paleolithic to characterize lithic industries in East Asia (Gao and Norton 2002;Ikawa-Smith 1978;Seong and Bae 2016) may also be validly applicable to the current Japanese Paleolithic record, although it is necessary to address the question of whether there was Paleolithic human occupation before 40 ka Figure 3. Examples of the major stone tools from the early Upper Paleolithic assemblages.…”

Section: Paleolithic Chronologies In Japan: Short-versus Long-term Chmentioning

confidence: 99%

On the Pleistocene Population History in the Japanese Archipelago

Nakazawa¹

2017

Current Anthropology

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This paper provides a current understanding of human population history in the Pleistocene Japanese Archipelago, particularly with respect to the routes and timing of hunter-gatherer migrations, by incorporating multiple lines of evidence from the records of archaeology, human paleontology, and genetic studies. The human fossil remains are concentrated on the Ryukyu Islands in southwestern Japan, suggesting that there may have been a northward migration via the Ryukyu Islands. In contrast, studies of ancient mitochondrial DNA demonstrate genetic continuity among Holocene hunter-gatherer populations in the Paleo-Sakhalin-Hokkaido-Kurile Peninsula, whereas the Pleistocene genetic history is little explored. Although it is largely supported, the assumed population continuity from the Pleistocene to the Holocene inside the Japanese Archipelago is also challenged by an examination of the Paleolithic record and a comparison of the short-and long-term chronologies of the Japanese Paleolithic, implying that the Japanese Paleolithic record was created by hunter-gatherer population migrations from the north and south with substantial time lag and endemic technological invention and transformation during the Late Pleistocene. [ynakazawa@med.hokudai.ac.jp]). This paper was submitted 12 X 16, accepted 7 VII 17, and electronically published 9 XI 17.

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The eastern Asian ‘Middle Palaeolithic’ revisited: a view from Korea

Abstract: Abstract

Cited by 23 publications

References 31 publications

Further Evidence of Organic Soft Hammer Percussion and Pressure Retouch from Lingjing (Xuchang, Henan, China)

Further Evidence of Organic Soft Hammer Percussion and Pressure Retouch from Lingjing (Xuchang, Henan, China)

Discovery of circa 115,000-year-old bone retouchers at Lingjing, Henan, China

On the Pleistocene Population History in the Japanese Archipelago

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