Neolithisation in the southern Lesser Khingan Mountains: lithic technologies and ecological adaptation

Abstract

Abstract

Combining sedentism and mobility in the Palaeolithic–Neolithic transition of northern China: the site of Shuidonggou locality 12

“…The feather-and-snap scars on its cutting edge indicate that it was used to chop wood, according to lithic use-wear experiments (Gao & Shen 2008). Although not polished as exquisitely as the axe in Figure 6, similar contemporaneous axes/adzes associated with microblade assemblages are known from Yujiagou, Lijiagou, Donghulin, Huayang and Taoshan (Xie et al 2006;Zhao 2006;Mei 2007;Wang et al 2015;Yue et al 2019).…”

“…The presence of this technology indicates that the Late Pleistocene ancestors of sedentary, Neolithic communities were related to earlier microblade-using populations. Although some Younger Dryas sites indicate a clear hiatus in occupation (Wang et al 2019;Yue et al 2019), which may suggest that mobile foragers sometimes abandoned these sites or decreased their exploitation of resources, most, if not all, sites of this date in northern China were occupied by microblade-using foragers. While microblades may have been an important tool in a broad range of subsistence strategies (Cohen 2003;Yi et al 2013), it is widely accepted that they were used by highly mobile foragers as composite weapons in order to improve hunting yields in the harsh environment of North and East Asia, where hunting failures during the region's severe winters could have fatal consequences (Elston & Brantingham 2002).…”

“…Although not polished as exquisitely as the axe in Figure 6, similar contemporaneous axes/adzes associated with microblade assemblages are known from Yujiagou, Lijiagou, Donghulin, Huayang and Taoshan (Xie et al . 2006; Zhao 2006; Mei 2007; Wang et al 2015; Yue et al 2019).

Figure 5.Grinding stones from Shuidonggou locality 12 (figure by the authors).

Figure 6.Artefacts from Shuidonggou locality 12: a) axe; b) spindle whorl; c) ornament (figure by the authors).

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“…The precise trajectory of the Palaeolithic-Neolithic transition and the associated technological and economic diversity that arose among human societies in East Asia are topics of ongoing debate (e.g. An 1978;Lu 1999;Bettinger et al 2010;Bar-Yosef 2011;Liu et al 2013;Wang et al 2015;Yue et al 2019). Many researchers have investigated the origins of food production in East Asia as a marker of Neolithisation (e.g.…”

“…2013; Wang et al 2015; Yue et al . 2019). Many researchers have investigated the origins of food production in East Asia as a marker of Neolithisation (e.g.…”