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

Abstract

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.

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

“…On the other hand, the Lingjing case further highlights the inability of lithic technology to adequately describe the whole breath of behavioural variability for the humanities that preceded us. Careful consideration of the faunal assemblages, both from a taphonomic and a technological perspective, especially in East Asia, now allow us to perceive a level of technological complexity that is entirely comparable to penecontemporaneous evidence from other regions of the Old World (Wei et al, 2016;Zhang et al, 2016Zhang et al, , 2018Pitarch Martí et al, 2017;d'Errico et al, 2018;Li et al, 2020).We can only hope the recent discoveries from Lingjing and other sites will encourage a careful re-examination of faunal assemblages from these perspectives to further our understanding of the cultural trajectories of the technological systems before and after the dispersal of our species in the region.…”

“…1). An active water spring is present in the southern portion of the site and a water cistern was built over its opening in 1958 (Li et al, 2020). eleven geological layers were identified and three archaeological horizons yielded cultural remains.…”

“…Layer 5 and the spoil heap left by well diggers in 1958 were identified solely in the southern portion of the site. This layer and the sediments originating from it yielded a rich microcore and microblade industry made of high-quality black chert (Li et al, 2014;Li and Ma, 2016;, a small amount of quartz tools, some very fragile, thick, crude, simple-shaped pottery sherds with plain surfaces (Li et al, 2017a), burnt and unburnt faunal remains, charcoals, ostrich egg shell fragments, including one transformed into a perforated pendant, and the oldest sculpture discovered in China, a bird figurine carved from a mammalian long bone fragment that had likely been heated in an anaerobic environment prior to shaping the artwork (Li et al, 2020). The C dating of burnt bones, charcoals and charred residues recovered on the pottery sherds suggests three human occupations spanning from the LGM to the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, i.e., a first occupation between ~13.8 -13.0 kyr by Late Glacial hunter-gatherers bearing microlithic technologies who made the bird figurine, and two human occupations by ceramics users between ~11 -10 kyr and ~9.6 -8.7 kyr respectively.…”

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

“…Layer 5 and the spoil heap left by well diggers in 1958 were identified solely in the southern portion of the site. This layer and the sediments originating from it yielded a rich microcore and microblade industry made of high-quality black chert [118][119][120], a small amount of quartz tools, some very fragile, thick, crude, simple-shaped pottery sherds with plain surfaces [121], burnt and unburnt faunal remains, charcoals, ostrich egg shell fragments, including one transformed into a perforated pendant, and the oldest sculpture discovered in China, a bird figurine carved from a mammalian long bone fragment that had likely been heated in an anaerobic environment prior to shaping the artwork [116]. The 14 C dating of burnt bones, charcoals and charred residues recovered on the pottery sherds suggests three human occupations spanning from the Tardiglacial to the Pleistocene-Holocene transition, i.e., a first occupation between~13.8-13.0 kyr by Tardiglacial hunter-gatherers bearing microlithic technologies who made the bird figurine, and two human occupations by ceramics users between~11-10 kyr and~9.6-8.7 kyr respectively.…”

“…On the other hand, the Lingjing case further highlights the inability of lithic technology to adequately describe the whole breadth of behavioural variability for the humanities that preceded us. Careful consideration of the faunal assemblages, both from a taphonomic and a technological perspective, especially in East Asia, now allow us to perceive a level of technological complexity that is entirely comparable to penecontemporaneous evidence from other regions of the Old World [23,116,143,[161][162][163][164][165].We can only hope the recent discoveries from Lingjing and other sites will encourage a careful re-examination of faunal assemblages from these perspectives to further our understanding of the cultural trajectories of the technological systems before and after the dispersal of our species in the region.…”