The contribution of use -wear for stone tool identification at the Upper Paleolithic site Shuidonggou Locality 2, North China

Abstract

In North China, the archaeology of the Late Pleistocene is characterized by the persistence of flake-based lithic assemblages. Little is known about the use of stone tools and the reasons behind the success of a relatively simple core and flake technology are unclear. Most lithic studies in the region are traditionally based on a typological categorization of assemblages with the frequencies of cores and tool-types playing a significant role in the characterization of the site (e.g. residential vs. more logistical occupation). Hence, to discriminate stone tool from byproduct is essential to better understand variables such as site function or mobility but it remains particularly challenging in poorly standardized lithic assemblages. Here we present preliminary results of a study on the newly excavated material from cultural layer 2 and 3 at Shuidonggou Locality 2 (32.6–29.9 ka cal BP). We analyze use-wears on a sample of retouched and unretouched blanks using the low magnification technique and we compared our observations with several experimental referential. Our results can be summarized in two main points. First, we observe a similar frequency of use-wear on retouched tools and unretouched blanks. Second, differences in tool types do not match our basic identification of the working motions. Our results suggest that in Shuidonggou Locality 2, using retouch as a predictor for tool use is problematic (especially with regards to tool functions). Given that tool frequencies and tool diversity are data used to model site function, tool curation and hunter-gatherer mobility, we suggest that this issue should be further investigated in the context of ‘core and flakes’ assemblage.