The Late Paleolithic industries of southern China (Lingnan region)

Abstract

Late Paleolithic sites are widely distributed in southern China (the Lingnan region), which mainly includes Guangxi, Guangdong and Hainan Provinces. Although the pebble-tool industry continued to exist in this region during the late Pleistocene and Holocene, small flake-tool assemblages also occurred and coexisted with the pebble-tool industry. The pebble-tool industries are characterized by unifacially flaked cobble tools, dominated by choppers, with a lack of handaxes. The small flake-tool industries have the characteristics of retouched tools made on small fakes, a striking platform of cores without preparation, and scrapers dominating the assemblage. Technologically and typologically, pebble tools of the Late Palaeolithic are similar to those of the Early Palaeolithic in this region and belong to the same cultural tradition. The small flake tools, however, are very different from the cobble tools. They belong to a new technology which originated from northern China during the period of the Last Glacial Maximum. The Late Palaeolithic industries in Southern China are similar to those in mainland Southeast Asia.