Late Pleistocene Human Migrations in China

Abstract

Many archaeological and paleoanthropological discoveries have been made in China over the last 2 decades. Among these findings, I particularly note the recently excavated Late Pleistocene sites in the loess plateau in northern China and others found in a number of river basins in southern China. They all provide significant new information concerning Late Pleistocene human migrations across this vast region. A result of these excavations is the confirmation that flake- and pebble-tool industries dominated the region before the late marine isotope stage (MIS) 3. Small-flake-tool assemblages emerged suddenly during the late MIS 3 in South China. Blade industry first arrived in northwest China at the end of MIS 3, and microblade assemblages appeared in the loess plateau and the surrounding areas at a later stage. In this paper I briefly introduce the progress in Chinese Paleolithic archaeology and discusses Late Pleistocene human migrations and related issues.