Large Cutting Tools from the Danjiangkou Reservoir Region, central China: Comparisons and contrasts with western and south Asian Acheulean

Abstract

The Danjiangkou Reservoir Region (DRR) in central China has been studied since 1994 and is known for its Large Cutting Tools (LCTs), with similarities to both western and south Asian LCTs of the Acheulean industrial complex. However, the origins of LCT technology in China is a much debated topic. In this paper, we address several of the major arguments used to support an indigenous development for eastern LCTs—greater thickness, a poorer Refinement Index, greater weight, and a preference for cobbles over flakes for LCT blanks. In comparisons based on a large database of Acheulean LCTs, DRR examples are shown to compare well with Acheulean technology in terms of thickness and ‘refinement,’ traits which we here link to raw material shapes and flaking properties. A relatively more frequent use of cobbles for blanks, however, characterizes the DRR and other Chinese LCTs, but there is also regional variability in this feature. Weight, on the other hand, is consistently larger for all Chinese LCTs, including those from DRR, although these fall at the low end of the range. Nevertheless, there are important features in common between Acheulean and Chinese LCTs which indicate either a common origin or periods of admixture culturally and probably physically. These features include the use of large flake blanks, the presence of cleavers in some industries, and the shaping of handaxes by both primary and secondary flaking. The influence of regional cultural traditions on Chinese material, geographic distance and limited migration routes, cultural drift, differences in subsistence ecology, and the demographics of small population sizes seem ultimately to be responsible for the differences, and they should not be used to obscure the commonalities.