Variations in the Upper Paleolithic adaptations of North China: A review of the evidence and implications for the onset of food production

Abstract

The Upper Paleolithic (UP) of North China has the richest archaeological data and longest history of research in the Paleolithic archaeology of China, but there is a relative lack of systematic studies addressing human adaptations. This paper explores the spatial and temporal variability of human adaptations in terms of mobility, the key variable in the adaptive systems of hunter-gatherers. We find that before the UP, little adaptive differentiation is shown in the archaeological record of North China. The early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) is distinguished by four distinctive modes of mobility and subsistence organized roughly along lines of habitat variation. These modes persisted in the Late Upper Paleolithic (LUP), underlying the widespread prevalence of microblade technology throughout North China. This pattern significantly influenced adaptive changes during the transition from the terminal Pleistocene to early Holocene. Earliest food production emerged in hilly flank habitats where EUP

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

“…Some of these foraging groups eventually developed into sedentary populations. Chen and Yu (2017) suggest that this may have been true for those groups who inhabited the hilly region of northern China.…”

Rethinking the Disappearance of Microblade Technology in the Terminal Pleistocene of Hokkaido, Northern Japan: Looking at Archaeological and Palaeoenvironmental Evidence

“…This may have been the trigger for the end of microblade technology in Hokkaido. As suggested from the palaeoenvironment and archaeological evidence, the exploitations of large mammals and long-distance foraging could be maintained during the Younger Dryas in North China and Siberia [21,49,99], but not in Hokkaido.…”

“…It is widely known that microblade technology was distributed across regions of northeast Asia, such as North China, the Korean peninsula, the Russian Far East, Mongolia and Siberia [13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20][21][22]. Many researchers have made advances with comparing the techno-typological features of microblade assemblages and accumulating radiocarbon dates.…”

“…Techno-typological comparisons and some radiocarbon dates show that microblade technology disappeared in Hokkaido during the terminal Pleistocene [2][3][4]26,27]. To explain the background of the disappearance of microblade technology in terms of relationship to palaeoenvironment change would offer valuable insights into the nature of the technological and behavioural characteristics of microblade technology in Hokkaido, as would identifying the differences with regions such as Siberia, Mongolia and North China, where microblade technology continued after the onset of the Holocene [8,21]. Furthermore, recent archaeological research in eastern Hokkaido shows that different techno-complexes, including not microblades but various bifacial points and burins associated with potteries, emerged during the terminal Pleistocene [27][28][29].…”

Re-thinking the evolution of microblade technology in East Asia: Techno-functional understanding of the lithic assemblage from Shizitan 29 (Shanxi, China)

“…In China, for instance, while there are limited examples of blade production, the early Upper Paleolithic (ca. 40/35–25/26 Ka cal BP) primarily features core and flake industries; these can be defined as “Upper Paleolithic” technologically and behaviorally because they co-occur with varying amounts of polished bone tools, grinding stones and handstones likely for processing wild plants and perhaps ochre [1], and small amounts of body ornamentations (e.g., shell and eggshell beads) [1,6–8]: thus in sum the lithics can be seen to be part of distinctive material patterns of modern behavior in East Asia. Beginning ca.…”