Further Evidence of Organic Soft Hammer Percussion and Pressure Retouch from Lingjing (Xuchang, Henan, China)

Luc Doyon,Hao Li,Zhanyang Li,Hua Wang,Qingpo Zhao

doi:10.1080/01977261.2019.1589926

Abstract

ABSTRACTOpinions on the nature and distinctiveness of the Chinese Paleolithic differ between those who assign early Late Pleistocene lithic technologies to some peculiar facies of the Middle Paleolithic, and those who interpret them as reflecting the persistence of essentially Lower Paleolithic traditions. The absence of Levallois debitage and organic soft hammers are often used as arguments, amongst others, in favor of the second hypothesis. Here, we report new supporting data for the use of bone retouchers and pressure flakers in knapping activities. The specimens were found at the Lingjing site, Xuchang County, Henan, in a layer dated between 105 and 125 ka. This discovery emphasizes the importance of combining evidence from a variety of aspects of material culture, including anthropogenically modified faunal remains, in order to accurately define Chinese Paleolithic technological traditions.

Highlights

Owing to the ubiquitous presence of lithics in the archaeological record, the elaboration of interpretative framework in Old World archeology heavily relied on the association of lithic assemblages to specific stages of cultural development, i.e. Early or Lower, Middle, and Late or Upper
Two contrasting views are confronted. There are those who interpret early Late Pleistocene lithic technologies as reflecting the persistence of essentially Lower Paleolithic traditions (Gao, 2013; Gao & Norton, 2002; Ikawa-Smith, 1978; Li, 2014; Norton & Jin, 2009; Norton, Gao, & Feng, 2009; Seong & Bae, 2016), and those who assign them to some peculiar facies of the Middle Paleolithic (Yee, 2012; Li, 2018; Li, Li, Gao, Kuman, & Sumner, 2019; Zhang, 1985)
We describe four additional bone retouchers as well as two pressure flakers (French: compresseur) recovered from Lingjing, layer 11

Summary

Introduction

Owing to the ubiquitous presence of lithics in the archaeological record, the elaboration of interpretative framework in Old World archeology heavily relied on the association of lithic assemblages to specific stages of cultural development, i.e. Early or Lower, Middle, and Late or Upper. This tripartite subdivision was thought to correlate with human behavioral and cognitive development, from simpler to more complex (Klein, 2009; Trigger, 1989). There are those who interpret early Late Pleistocene lithic technologies as reflecting the persistence of essentially Lower Paleolithic traditions (Gao, 2013; Gao & Norton, 2002; Ikawa-Smith, 1978; Li, 2014; Norton & Jin, 2009; Norton, Gao, & Feng, 2009; Seong & Bae, 2016), and those who assign them to some peculiar facies of the Middle Paleolithic (Yee, 2012; Li, 2018; Li, Li, Gao, Kuman, & Sumner, 2019; Zhang, 1985)

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Conclusion