A Late Acheulean Culture on the Chinese Loess Plateau: The techno-economic behavior of the Dingcun lithic industry

Abstract

The Chinese Loess Plateau is the largest loess area in the world, and covers ∼400,000 km2, with a loess–palaeosol sequence that is comparable with Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) as a Quaternary terrestrial timescale of climatostratigraphy and chronology. The Dingcun lithic industry was recovered in 1954 in the Loess Plateau, and has been known for its Large Flake Acheulean tools. Technological analysis based on the concept of chaîne opératoire was applied in this paper to update our knowledge of the techno-economic behaviours at this site and in the Loess Plateau area. The results show that there are two chaîne opératoires: 1) one focused on the production of large flake blanks (façonnage) for making Large Cutting Tools (LCTs); and 2) a small to medium débitage to obtain flakes for light duty tools. Experiments were applied to check the knapping technique. The results confirmed the probability that hard hammers were used to produce large flakes on hornfels blanks, and soft-hammer techniques were not used. When compared with the Acheulian LCTs of other sites in China, Dingcun is different from the Acheulian culture of south China (Danjiangkou Reservoir Region [DRR] and the Bose Basin), and more similar to the Luonan Acheulian industry. Therefore, it seems that a Large Flake Acheulean was developed the Loess Plateau area in the Late Middle Pleistocene.