Experimental flaking in the Danjiangkou Reservoir Region (central China): A rare case of bipolar blanks in the Acheulean

Li, Hao; Li, Chaorong; Sherwood, Nicole L.; Kuman, Kathleen

doi:10.1016/j.jasrep.2017.03.032

Cited by 4 publications

(4 citation statements)

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“…The choice of bipolar debitage on quartz is frequently attributed to raw material constraints (in terms of initial morphology and petrology) and is considered to require less skill than freehand percussion (Barham, ; Shott, ; Stout and Semaw, ; Tallavaara et al ., ; Diez‐Martín et al ., ; Braun, ). However, the bipolar technique indicates the ability of hominins to find technical solutions for breaking ovoid quartz nodules that are difficult to break with freehand percussion, and to produce pieces suitable for use (de la Peña Alonzo and Toscano, ; de la Peña, ; Hiscock, ; Pargeter and Duke, ; Rodríguez‐Álvarez, ; Li et al ., ).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

“…For the experiments, we used the same type of quartz and reproduced similar marks to those described at similar sites (Crabtree, ; Shott, ; Leakey and Roe, ; Curtoni, ; Mourre and Jarry, ; Barsky et al ., ; Hayden, ; de la Torre and Hirata, ; Li, ; Rodríguez‐Álvarez, ; Li et al ., ). Geological data indicate that the pebble layer was a possible source of raw material for hominins.…”

Section: Tests On Anvilsmentioning

confidence: 97%

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The 1‐million‐year‐old quartz assemblage from Pont‐de‐Lavaud (Centre, France) in the European context

Despriée

Moncel

Arzarello

et al. 2018

J Quaternary Science

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The Pont-de-Lavaud site, located in the Centre Region of France (Creuse Valley), yielded a quartz lithic assemblage composed of a few hundred artefacts with cores, pebble tools, flakes and flake-tools, mixed with several thousand debris items and pebbles. The archaeological site is covered by a fossil fluvial deposit from the Creuse River (sheet I, with a relative altitude of þ 90/105 m), dated by Electron Spin Resonance at the site itself to around 1 Ma. We will focus in this paper on the lithic assemblage with clear anthropogenic features to describe the technological strategies applied to quartz pebbles, with the help of experiments. The core technology is based on short 'cha^nes op eratoires' on local quartz aimed at producing pointed end-products on pebbles and flakes. The methods and techniques include both the bipolar technique on an anvil and direct percussion with a hard hammer. The reduction sequences were strongly conditioned by the morphology and the physical characteristics of the raw material. Few flakes are retouched. The Pont-de-Lavaud lithic assemblage is one example of the diversity of the 1-Ma European industries. The assemblage shows techno-cultural behavioural variability at this period and adaptation to raw material constraints. Comparisons with series where the use of quartz is widespread demonstrate the ability of hominins to use stones of varying quality and to adapt technology to the raw material in zones located beyond the 45th parallel north.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 97%

Section: Tests On Anvilsmentioning

confidence: 97%

The 1‐million‐year‐old quartz assemblage from Pont‐de‐Lavaud (Centre, France) in the European context

Despriée

Moncel

Arzarello

et al. 2018

J Quaternary Science

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“…Apart from the cleavers (n = 2), the knives (n = 2), and one pick, the skill on large schist flake production is attested by two unretouched elements (Pit 1 and La Mina). Both the cobble splitting and the management of giant cores resting on the ground appear to have been applied, perhaps involving some throwing technique (Li et al, 2017). However, such giant cores are absent in the record, and the sample of products is too small (n = 7) to raise conclusive observations.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The earliest European Acheulean: new insights into the large shaped tools from the late Early Pleistocene site of Barranc de la Boella (Tarragona, Spain)

et al. 2023

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Since the oldest known Acheulean lithic techno-typological features in Europe were reported at the site of Barranc de la Boella (Tarragona, Spain), continuous fieldwork has been conducted there in archeological deposits of the late Early Pleistocene age (0.99–0.78 Ma). As a result, excavations in two of the three open-air localities have significantly expanded the collection of lithic and faunal remains, allowing us to make progress in the interpretation of the hominin behaviors in an open-air fluvial-deltaic sedimentary environment. This includes examples of cumulative palimpsests, such as those found at the locality of La Mina, in which hominins only had a minimal role as modifying agents, as well as the extraordinary mammoth butchery site recorded at the Pit 1 locality. The aim of this paper is to present a comprehensive update of the collection of large shaped tools and to assess its significance in the framework of the earliest occurrence of the Acheulean in Europe. This cultural entity is increasingly well-documented for the early Middle Pleistocene, but very little is known about its presence in Europe before the Brunhes–Matuyama boundary. Large shaped tools appear in the three localities explored in the Unit II of Barranc de la Boella, including choppers (unifacial and bifacial) and standard Acheulean forms, such as picks, knives, and cleaver-like forms. Techno-typological and morphometrical analyses revealed a basic heavy-duty component obtained through simple shaping sequences coupled with significantly more elaborate tools produced on various large blanks (cobbles, slabs, or flakes). The complete bifacial and bilateral shapings have yet to be documented, but the present specific tool assemblage attests to the Early Acheulean technological threshold. Hence, the archaeological data from Barranc de la Boella provide insights into the first appearance of the Acheulean technology in Europe and add critical information to the debate on the technological variability of the Early Pleistocene hominin occupation of the continent. The results of this study revealed a technological assemblage unique in the known late Early Pleistocene archeological record from Europe, different from the rest of ancient Acheulean sites in this continent, which are dated at the Middle Pleistocene. This lends support to the hypothesis that Barranc de la Boella may represent a previously unrecognized Early Acheulean dispersion out of Africa connected to its first evidence at the gates of Eurasia, potentially moving over the northern Mediterranean coastal road to reach Western Europe.

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“…Similar to the situation of northChina, 468 very few southern China sites have been reported to contain bipolar products and, where 469 present, the proportion is also significantly low. An interesting pattern, as revealed 470 recently byLi et al (2017), is that bipolar knapping was also used to obtain large 471 Acheulean flakes at the Danjiangkou Reservoir Region, as a flexible technological 472 adaptation to the local poor-quality raw material of quartz phyllite. In addition, a 473 particular bipolar technique similar to the non-axial bipolar technique described in 474western Europe (eg., de Lombera-Hermida et al 2016), is known in China as Ruileng cobbles with tabular shapes, which are placed on the anvil obliquely (rather than 477 axially), similar to the motions shown inFig 2 cexcept that the cores were exclusively 478 made on cobbles with tabular shapes.…”

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confidence: 99%

Technological adaptations of early humans at the Lower Pleistocene Nihewan Basin, North China: the case of the bipolar technique

Pei

Torre³

et al. 2020

Archaeol Anthropol Sci

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The Nihewan Basin in North China has proved to be a key area for the study of human 16 evolution outside of Africa due to its continuous record of hominin occupation since 17 the Early Pleistocene. Lower Palaeolithic lithic assemblages at Nihewan are attributed 18 to the East Asian Mode 1 techno-complex, which is often defined by the widespread 19 use of freehand knapping techniques. However, our ongoing investigation of several 20 early Pleistocene archaeological sites at Nihewan has revealed a higher prevalence of 21 bipolar stone artefacts than previously considered, which may have been 22 underestimated in the past due to the disparity of analytical techniques applied to Early 23 Stone Age assemblages and the poor quality of the Nihewan Basin raw materials. This 24 has constrained the identification of bipolar attributes and their differentiation from 25 freehand knapping products. This study aims to investigate technological and 26 economical differences between the two techniques based on experimental results of 27 chert from the Nihewan Basin, creating a referential framework for the study of bipolar 28 Manuscript Click here to access/download;Manuscript;Ma et al. manuscript_R2_clear.docx 2 artefacts that we apply, to the Early Pleistocene assemblages of Xiaochangliang and 29 Cenjiawan. Our results highlight morphological and technological differences between 30 bipolar and freehand products, but they also demonstrate that both techniques share 31 significant similarities in terms of dimensions and productivity. Overall, our results help 32 to contextualize the technological flexibility of East Asian Mode 1 assemblages in the Nihewan Basin, where early hominins employed alternative flaking techniques, often 34 in the same assemblage, to overcome constrains imposed by the poor quality of most 35 of the raw materials available. 36

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Experimental flaking in the Danjiangkou Reservoir Region (central China): A rare case of bipolar blanks in the Acheulean

Cited by 4 publications

References 18 publications

The 1‐million‐year‐old quartz assemblage from Pont‐de‐Lavaud (Centre, France) in the European context

The 1‐million‐year‐old quartz assemblage from Pont‐de‐Lavaud (Centre, France) in the European context

The earliest European Acheulean: new insights into the large shaped tools from the late Early Pleistocene site of Barranc de la Boella (Tarragona, Spain)

Technological adaptations of early humans at the Lower Pleistocene Nihewan Basin, North China: the case of the bipolar technique

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