Lithic Technology Research Articles

Origine des différentes traditions culturelles au Paléolithique supérieur ancien en Europe Centrale

In the early phase of the Upper Palaeolithic the cultural traditions that were expressed in lithic technology, way of life, also in various elements of symbolic culture had a complex nature. They can be divided in terms of derivation, occupied territory, chronology, and – partially – the anthropological type of a given population. The traditions whose origins were local were in all likelihood related to the Neanderthals, whereas those whose origins were exogeneous were connected with Anatomically Modern Humans. In terms of technologal-stylistics in the initial phase of the Upper Palaeolithic, we can distinguish autochthonous traditions rooted in a local Levallois or Moustero-Levallois substratum, traditions developped from a local Micoquian substratum with bifacial technology, and traditions rooted in the industries with blade and bifacial technologies of the Middle Palaeolithic. These are opposed to allochtonous traditions that can be related to the migrations of Anatomically Modern Humans from the Near East.

Lithic Technology, and Origin of the Stone Raw Material Guenfouda Cave (Jerada Province, Eastern Morocco)

Lithic Technology, and Origin of the Stone Raw Material Guenfouda Cave (Jerada Province, Eastern Morocco)

Neanderthal palaeoecology in the late Middle Palaeolithic of western Iberia: a stable isotope analysis of ungulate teeth from Lapa do Picareiro (Portugal)

ABSTRACTAdaptation to Late Pleistocene climate change is an oft‐cited potential contributor to Neanderthal disappearance in Eurasia. Accordingly, research on Neanderthal behaviour – including subsistence strategies, mobility, lithic technology, raw material procurement and demography – often focuses on linking changes observable in the archaeological record to specific phases of climate and environmental change. However, these correspondences are often tenuous because palaeoclimatic and archaeological records are rarely available on the same scale. In Iberia, a critical location for understanding the demise of Neanderthals, some research indicates that Neanderthal populations were unable to recover from environmental degradations known as Heinrich Events, while other studies suggest that enclaves of Neanderthal populations survived for several millennia longer in refugial zones. Here, we present a palaeoenvironmental reconstruction study using analysis of δ13C and δ18O of herbivore tooth enamel recovered from two Mousterian deposits at Lapa do Picareiro, a site located in Portuguese Estremadura. We then use these data, combined with other site‐based palaeoenvironmental indicators, to assess whether central Portugal acted as a refugium during periods of unfavourable climate, and to test whether Neanderthals in Portuguese Estremadura reorganised their mobility strategies after severe climate episodes.

Quaternary diatoms and palaeoenvironments of the Koora Plain, southern Kenya rift

The Koora Basin (south Kenya Rift) preserves a continental, tropical, one-million-year record of environmental change driven by global climate, regional tectonism and volcanism. Diatom-based reconstructions from Olorgesailie Drilling Project (ODP) cores indicate lakes that expanded and contracted with conductivities ranging between ∼200 and > 25,000 μS.cm−1 and pH of 7.9–11.2. Benthic and planktonic diatoms document mostly shallow fresh water between 1 Ma and 870 ka with deeper freshwater lakes from 870 to 470 ka. After the Mid-Brunhes Event at about 430 ka, diatoms record many transgression-regression cycles with both freshwater and saline-alkaline lakes present. Palaeosols also indicate episodes of desiccation and lower water tables. Carbonates and zeolites are present in younger sediments, especially after 400 ka. Many high-lake-level stages correlate with low values in ocean benthic δ18O stack data. Most, but not all, low lake levels occurred during higher δ18O MIS intervals, suggesting tectonic and/or volcanic events, in addition to climatic forcing, influenced the drainage, outlet heights and accommodation space.The 870–470 ka period of deeper freshwater lakes at Koora correlates well with the neighbouring Lake Magadi pollen record that suggests generally wetter conditions at this time. Wet-dry cycles after 470 ka at Koora developed when the Magadi record indicates a change towards drier conditions, but with many wetter intervals. High lake level periods at Koora also correlate with phases of diatom-inferred flooding at Magadi. Outcrops north of Koora also document several large lakes during deposition of parts of the Olorgesailie Formation prior to ∼500 ka. The Koora environmental history helps to fill an environmental gap (500–320 ka) encompassing critical changes in hominin lithic technology caused by a hiatus at Olorgesailie. During the first part of this interval (470–390 ka), Koora was occupied by a shallow alkaline lake, suggesting relatively dry conditions. The second part (390–320 ka) was characterised by fluctuating deeper lakes that imply greater variability and wetter conditions. Subsequently, both the Olorgesailie and Koora records indicate variable environments.

Stone affordances as potential for action expression in object play in long-tailed macaques (Macaca fascicularis).

Object affordances play a major role in action expression: (a) providing opportunities to generate potential solutions to instrumental problems and (b) shaping and constraining the motor actions available to an individual. The playful manipulation of objects can facilitate individual acquisition of functional object-assisted actions through affordance learning. We tested the "object affordance" hypothesis in free-ranging long-tailed macaques. This hypothesis holds that the physical properties associated with stone size afford different stone-directed actions, in the context of stone handling (SH) behavior, a form of culturally maintained stone play from which stone tool use can emerge. We predicted that higher SH versatility (i.e., total number of different SH behavioral elements expressed) and higher duration of the SH behavioral element "Pound" would be associated with the manipulation of medium-sized stones, followed by small stones, and then large stones. Our data partly supported these predictions. Both medium-sized and small-sized stones afforded the highest SH versatility, and a higher duration of "Pound" than large stones. As expected, duration of "Pound" was higher with medium than small stones, but the difference was not statistically significant. Our results were consistent with Newell's constraint model, which emphasizes the role of objects' physical properties in limiting and enhancing the expression of actions directed to these objects. The relaxed selective pressures acting on SH behavior may enhance the expression of a range of actions directed toward stones of different sizes that could facilitate the emergence of instrumental solutions and may contribute to explaining the evolution of lithic technology in early humans. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Lower and Early Middle Palaeolithic of Southern Britain: the Evidence from the River Test

Fluvial terrace sequences of Pleistocene rivers provide a chronological framework for examining broad patterns of change in the Palaeolithic record. Collections of artefacts recovered from individual terraces represent a time-averaged sample of the range of lithic technology discarded in a river valley over thousands of years. These can be compared and contrasted with other terraces to identify the timing of the appearance of key technological innovations and chronological variation in lithic technology. In Britain, the punctuated nature of human presence during the Pleistocene means that archaeological variation across a river terrace sequence is likely to relate in part to successive phases of occupation by human groups derived from populations in mainland Europe. This paper presents an analysis of the Lower and early Middle Palaeolithic record of the River Test, Hampshire, which was a tributary river of the former River Solent. The timing of the first appearance of handaxes and Levallois technology is established, and chronological patterning in handaxe typology and technology is identified. The Test record is placed in its regional context, and its implications for understanding the human occupation history of northwest Europe during the Middle Pleistocene are discussed.

Naïve, unenculturated chimpanzees fail to make and use flaked stone tools.

BackgroundDespite substantial research on early hominin lithic technologies, the learning mechanisms underlying flake manufacture and use are contested. To draw phylogenetic inferences on the potential cognitive processes underlying the acquisition of both of these abilities in early hominins, we investigated if and how one of our closest living relatives, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes), could learn to make and use flakes.MethodsAcross several experimental conditions, we tested eleven task-naïve chimpanzees (unenculturated n=8, unknown status n=3) from two independent populations for their abilities to spontaneously make and subsequently use flakes as well as to use flakes made by a human experimenter.ResultsDespite the fact that the chimpanzees seemed to understand the requirements of the task, were sufficiently motivated and had ample opportunities to develop the target behaviours, none of the chimpanzees tested made or used flakes in any of the experimental conditions.ConclusionsThese results differ from all previous ape flaking experiments, which found flake manufacture and use in bonobos and one orangutan. However, these earlier studies tested human-enculturated apes and provided test subjects with flake making and using demonstrations. The contrast between these earlier positive findings and our negative findings (despite using a much larger sample size) suggests that enculturation and/or demonstrations may be necessary for chimpanzees to acquire these abilities. The data obtained in this study are consistent with the hypothesis that flake manufacture and use might have evolved in the hominin lineage after the split between Homo and Pan 7 million years ago, a scenario further supported by the initial lack of flaked stone tools in the archaeological record after this split. We discuss possible evolutionary scenarios for flake manufacture and use in both non-hominin and hominin lineages.

Integrated multidisciplinary ecological analysis from the Uluzzian settlement at the Uluzzo C Rock Shelter, south‐eastern Italy

ABSTRACTThe Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition, between 50 000 and 40 000 years ago, is a period of important ecological and cultural changes. In this framework, the Rock Shelter of Uluzzo C (Apulia, southern Italy) represents an important site due to Late Mousterian and Uluzzian evidence preserved in its stratigraphic sequence. Here, we present the results of a multidisciplinary analysis performed on the materials collected between 2016 and 2018 from the Uluzzian stratigraphic units (SUs) 3, 15 and 17. The analysis involved lithic technology, use‐wear, zooarchaeology, ancient DNA of sediments and palaeoproteomics, completed by quartz single‐grain optically stimulated luminescence dating of the cave sediments. The lithic assemblage is characterized by a volumetric production and a debitage with no or little management of the convexities (by using the bipolar technique), with the objective to produce bladelets and flakelets. The zooarchaeological study found evidence of butchery activity and of the possible exploitation of marine resources, while drawing a picture of a patchy landscape, composed of open forests and dry open environments surrounding the shelter. Ancient mitochondrial DNA from two mammalian taxa were recovered from the sediments. Preliminary zooarchaeology by mass spectrometry results are consistent with ancient DNA and zooarchaeological taxonomic information, while further palaeoproteomics investigations are ongoing. Our new data from the re‐discovery of the Uluzzo C Rock Shelter represent an important contribution to better understand the meaning of the Uluzzian in the context of the Middle/Upper Palaeolithic transition in south‐eastern Italy.

The Role of Different Raw Materials in Lithic Technology and Settlement Patterns During the Middle Stone Age of Southern Africa

The study of raw materials is an essential step in lithic analysis, regardless of the age, provenance, and technology of the assemblages. As in many other contexts of the Paleolithic, researchers of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) in southern Africa have often focused their attention on fine-grained, non-local rock types, such as silcrete. Here, I spotlight raw materials considered to be of lower suitability for knapping and frequently acquired from local sources. Due to their coarse-grained nature, artifacts from rock types such as calcrete, sandstone, and quartzite might show attributes that are different from finer-grained materials. Some of these knapped stones even constitute the substrate of the sites they are from, at times resulting in their neglect or not being recognized as anthropogenic artifacts. Knapped vein quartz features sharp and durable edges, but its complicated fracture mechanics hamper comparative analysis and provide methodological challenges. In this study, raw materials from different transport distances and with different presumed qualities are compared in terms of their roles in MSA lithic technology and settlement patterns. In the first step, the article focuses on the open-air special-purpose camp of Hoedjiespunt 1 (HDP1, Western Cape) and the rockshelter residential site of Sibudu (KwaZulu-Natal), especially on assemblages dated between ~ 130–100 and ~ 58 ka. Subsequently, I review relevant materials for the southern African MSA. At HDP1 and Sibudu, local raw materials of lower knapping suitability assume several roles, from the “staple” material for all manufacturing stages to special-purpose and “add-on” functions. In the broader southern African region, MSA knappers also used these rock types in a flexible manner with gradual differences but also similarities to their use of finer-grained raw material. These differences depend on a complex interaction of raw material availability, differential site use, and the position of the localities in the settlement system.

Luminescence chronology for the Paleolithic site of Xinmiaozhuang Locality 1 (XMZ1) in the Nihewan Basin, northern China, and its paleoenvironmental and archaeological implications

In contrast to the prevailing view that the Chinese Paleolithic has been dominated by the Mode 1 technology―with a slow and conservative development from the Early to the Late Pleistocene―recent discoveries indicate that the lithic technology might have developed into an ‘advanced’ phase in some parts of China, at least since the early Late Pleistocene. The Xinmiaozhuang Locality 1 (XMZ1), located on the southern edge of the Nihewan Basin in northern China, is one of the examples belonging to such an ‘advanced’ phase. Although the stone artifacts at this site still belong to the long-existing ‘small-tool’ industry (core-and-flake) in this basin, some ‘advanced’ traits, including discoidal cores, elongated flakes, and ‘Mousterian-like’ triangular points and scrapers, are present. We provide a dating of the XMZ1 using the multiple elevated temperatures (MET) post infrared (pIR) infrared stimulated luminescence (IRSL) procedure (MET-pIRIR) on both multigrained single aliquots and ‘individual’ grains of potassium-rich feldspars (K-feldspars). The consistency between the single-aliquot and single-grain K-feldspar equivalent dose results mutually confirmed the reliability of the obtained ages. Our chronology indicates that the cultural layer falls within the period of ca. 63–75 ka, corresponding to the early stage of the Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4. Based on the correlation of the cultural age to the environmental proxies of loess and stalagmites from China, we suggest that the site might have witnessed dramatic fluctuations of paleoclimate during the site formation. Additionally, based on the discoidal cores distribution, a potential corridor along the Xuefeng-Wu-Tainhang-Great Khingan Mountains for ancient humans migrating between South and North China is suggested. However, more archaeological and chronological studies are required to figure out the origin and the dispersal patterns of the discoidal core associated with lithic assemblage and the tool-makers in East Asia.

Landscape-scale perspectives on Stone Age behavioural change from the Tankwa Karoo, South Africa

ABSTRACT Southern Africa is an ecologically highly varied region, yet many generalisations about past human behaviour are drawn from rock shelter sites in coastal and montane Fynbos Biome environments. The Tankwa Karoo region offers the opportunity to extend our archaeological knowledge from the well-researched Western Cape into the arid interior Karoo in order to better capture behavioural variability and identify specific adaptations to more marginal conditions. This research presents the results of off-site surveys in the Tankwa Karoo, which spans the Cape to Karoo transition, mapping surface stone artefacts from the Earlier and Middle Stone Ages. The observed patterns in landscape use and lithic technology for each time-period were tested against a set of expectations based on previous research in the Western Cape and the Upper Karoo. The results indicate that in the Earlier Stone Age the most arid parts of the Tankwa Karoo saw only ephemeral use, with the better-watered mountain fringes preferred. In contrast, various strategies in the Middle Stone Age allowed groups to occupy these marginal parts of the landscape, including new kinds of technological behaviour suggestive of specific adaptations to this environment.

Lithic technology at the Early Dabban in Hagfet ed Dabba (Cyrenaica, Libya)

Lithic technology at the Early Dabban in Hagfet ed Dabba (Cyrenaica, Libya)

The Initial Upper Paleolithic in Central and East Asia: Blade Technology, Cultural Transmission, and Implications for Human Dispersals

Archaeological assemblages labeled as Initial Upper Paleolithic are often seen as possible evidence for dispersals of Homo sapiens populations in Eurasia, ca. 45,000 years ago. While most authors agree that the IUP can be recognized by a set of shared features, there is far less consensus on what these features are, and what they mean. Because of methodological challenges inherent to long distance comparisons, documenting and establishing a firm connection between archaeological assemblages remain difficult and often draw legitimate skepticism. There could be many reasons why Paleolithic hunter-gatherers used comparable technologies, but it usually comes down to two kinds of processes: cultural transmission or convergence. In other words, technological similarities may illustrate a cultural link between regions or may be caused by mechanisms of independent reinvention between more distantly related populations. Here, I focus on three assemblages from the Siberian Altai, Zabaikal region, and North Mongolia to address one main question: is there such thing as a united IUP in Central and East Asia, or are we looking at unrelated yet comparable adaptive processes? First, I describe the common structure of lithic blade production at the sites, with special attention to derived features relative to the regional sequence. After comparing the complexity of the production system with those of other lithic technologies, I suggest that this coherent, intricate, yet unprecedented technological pattern found across contiguous regions in Asia is better explained by transmission processes than by multiple unrelated reinventions, or local developments. The blade production system described in Siberia and Mongolia reoccur as a package, which is consistent with indirect bias and/or conformist cultural transmission processes. Overall, the results point toward close contact between individuals and hunter gatherer populations, and supports the recognition of a broad cultural unit to encapsulate Asian IUP assemblages. Considering other lines of evidence, the geographical and chronological distribution of Asian IUP lithic technology is consistent with a dispersal of Homo sapiens populations in Central and East Asia during the Marine Isotopic Stage 3, although the geographical origin of such movement is less clear.

The absolute chronology of Boker Tachtit (Israel) and implications for the Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition in the Levant

The Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) is a crucial lithic assemblage type in the archaeology of southwest Asia because it marks a dramatic shift in hominin populations accompanied by technological changes in material culture. This phase is conventionally divided into two chronocultural phases based on the Boker Tachtit site, central Negev, Israel. While lithic technologies at Boker Tachtit are well defined, showing continuity from one phase to another, the absolute chronology is poorly resolved because the radiocarbon method used had a large uncertainty. Nevertheless, Boker Tachtit is considered to be the origin of the succeeding Early Upper Paleolithic Ahmarian tradition that dates in the Negev to ∼42,000 y ago (42 ka). Here, we provide 14C and optically stimulated luminescence dates obtained from a recent excavation of Boker Tachtit. The new dates show that the early phase at Boker Tachtit, the Emirian, dates to 50 through 49 ka, while the late phase dates to 47.3 ka and ends by 44.3 ka. These results show that the IUP started in the Levant during the final stages of the Late Middle Paleolithic some 50,000 y ago. The later IUP phase in the Negev chronologically overlaps with the Early Upper Paleolithic Ahmarian of the Mediterranean woodland region between 47 and 44 ka. We conclude that Boker Tachtit is the earliest manifestation of the IUP in Eurasia. The study shows that distinguishing the chronology of the IUP from the Late Middle Paleolithic, as well as from the Early Upper Paleolithic, is much more complex than previously thought.

Procurement, Reduction, and Use of Lithic Technology from ca. 9500–11,800 Years Ago at Niidhaayh Na’, Central Alaska

ABSTRACT The middle Tanana Valley near Fairbanks, Alaska has been the subject of nearly a century of archaeological research focused on the earliest inhabitants of the region. Recent research at Niidhaayh Na’ (XBD-110) provides new information about human behavior and technological organization at the Pleistocene-Holocene transition. This multicomponent site is located on the Delta moraine and overlooks Delta Creek (Niidhaayh Na’). The results of the first seasons of full-scale excavation research at the site, begun in 2017, reveal two lithic workshops dating to ca. 11,800 and 9500 calendar years ago, associated with core fragments, tools, debitage, and intact faunal remains. Future research at the site will advance archaeological understandings of human adaptive decision-making during the late glacial period in central Alaska, with implications for our understanding of the first Americans and human behavior more generally.

Clovis Technology is not Unique to Clovis

ABSTRACT We previously showed that stone-tool technological attributes thought to be unique to the Clovis period were present in a radiocarbon and OSL dated middle Holocene-age stratum at Goodson Shelter, Oklahoma (Eren et al. 2018a. “Is Clovis Technology Unique to Clovis?” PaleoAmerica 4:202–228). Consequently, we argued that technological attributes alone should not be used to assign assemblages to Clovis times. Huckell, Haynes, and Holliday (2019. “Comments on the Lithic Technology and Geochronology of the Goodson Rock Shelter.” PaleoAmerica 6:131–134) proposed two alternative hypotheses: that material we identified as Clovis-like was not, or that it was Clovis but had been mixed with younger deposits. They called for more information on the Clovis-like assemblage at Goodson, and additional dating of the site's lowest deposits. We provide that information, which confirms that stone-tool technologies ostensibly unique to Clovis were indeed in use in the middle Holocene.

Diet, Mobility, Technology, and Lithics: Neolithization on the Andean Altiplano, 7.0–3.5 ka

Neolithization was a complex, protracted process of domestication, sedentarization, and technology change that occurred in various combinations in various times and places around the world. Understanding the causal relationships among those and other important human behaviors remains an analytical challenge. This study examines Neolithization through the lens of lithic artifact variation in the Lake Titicaca Basin, Peru. Drawing on previous lithics research, we outline a synthetic model linking changing diet, mobility, and projectile technology to predicted trends in lithic assemblages. The expectations are then compared to two large, well-dated lithic assemblages from the Titicaca Basin—one from the Middle/Late Archaic forager site of Soro Mik’aya Patjxa (8.0–6.5 cal. ka) and the other from the Terminal Archaic horticultural site of Jiskairumoko (5.2–3.4 cal. ka). We find that the strongest signal in lithic technology change is related to the introduction of archery technology. Signals for subsistence change and declining mobility are relatively weak. The results suggest an early but unconfirmed adoption of archery technology in the Terminal Archaic Period with major transitions in mobility and diet likely to have occurred subsequently in the Terminal Archaic or Formative periods. The findings are consistent with a behavioral model in which changes in projectile technology played a prominent role in the evolution of resource intensification and residential sedentism as well as resource privatization and sexual division of labor in the high Andes.

Mobility and settlement strategies in southern Iberia during the Last Glacial Maximum: Evaluating the region’s refugium status

The emergence and distribution of the Solutrean technocomplex in Western Europe is credited as a direct result of climatic changes associated with the Last Glacial Maximum. Across Iberia, spatial clusters of sites are considered to reflect the deliberate occupation of regional refugia which enabled human survival. In southern Iberia in particular, it is commonly thought that benign climatic conditions made it a regional refugium that was especially attractive for human settlement. However, this perspective has endured without a critical examination of its refugium status, thereby hindering a more comprehensive understanding of hunter-gatherer mobility and settlement in the region.Drawing on the relationship between lithic technology, land-use strategies and ecology, this paper tests the assumption that mobility and settlement strategies in southern Iberia conform to expectations of hunter-gatherer behaviour in an ecological refugium. This is achieved using statistical analyses of retouched stone tool assemblages which serve as a proxy for site function and related strategies of mobility. The results demonstrate a considerable use of logistical mobility strategies which likely sought to overcome problems arising from unevenly distributed resources. These findings undermine the refugium status of southern Iberia and question the validity of a ‘refugium’ concept for understanding the regional Solutrean record and beyond.

Early Alpine occupation backdates westward human migration in Late Glacial Europe

Before the end of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM, ∼16.5 ka ago)1 set in motion major shifts in human culture and population structure,2 a consistent change in lithic technology, material culture, settlement pattern, and adaptive strategies is recorded in Southern Europe at ∼18-17 ka ago. In this time frame, the landscape of Northeastern Italy changed considerably, and the retreat of glaciers allowed hunter-gatherers to gradually recolonize the Alps.3-6 Change within this renewed cultural frame (i.e., during the Late Epigravettian phase) is currently associated with migrations favored by warmer climate linked to the Bølling-Allerød onset (14.7 ka ago),7-11 which replaced earlier genetic lineages with ancestry found in an individual who lived ∼14 ka ago at Riparo Villabruna, Italy, and shared among different contexts (Villabruna Cluster).9 Nevertheless, these dynamics and their chronology are still far from being disentangled due to fragmentary evidence for long-distance interactions across Europe.12 Here, we generate new genomic data from a human mandible uncovered at Riparo Tagliente (Veneto, Italy), which we directly dated to 16,980-16,510 cal BP (2σ). This individual, affected by focal osseous dysplasia, is genetically affine to the Villabruna Cluster. Our results therefore backdate by at least 3 ka the diffusion in Southern Europe of a genetic component linked to Balkan/Anatolian refugia, previously believed to have spread during the later Bølling/Allerød event. In light of the new genetic evidence, this population replacement chronologically coincides with the very emergence of major cultural transitions in Southern and Western Europe.

Towards improved identification of obsidian microblade and microblade-like debitage knapping techniques: A case study from the Last Glacial Maximum assemblage of Kawanishi-C in Hokkaido, Northern Japan

Until recently, several hypotheses on the origin(s) and dispersion of microblade technology in Northeast Asia have been presented and discussed. Although various definitions of microblade and bladelet have been proposed in diverse geographic and chronological contexts, several researchers may agree that the pressure knapping technique for microblade production plays a paramount role in the process of significant changes in lithic technology and human behaviours between marine isotope stages (MIS) 3 and 2. One of the main topics in the study of microblade technology in Northeast Asia is establishing a systematic and reliable method for identifying microblade knapping techniques that are quantitatively verified. This paper attempts to present a more improved method for identifying microblade knapping techniques by dealing with the analysis of fracture wings which are the reliable indicators of the crack velocity. The focus of this paper is on identifying obsidian microblade-like debitage knapping techniques in the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) assemblage of Kawanishi-C in Hokkaido, Northern Japan. The results of fracture wing analysis show that the microblade-like longitudinal debitage production at the Kashiwadai-C site was employed by not pressure but percussion techniques. This gives new insights into the diversity of microblade and microblae-like debitage reduction sequences in the LGM Hokkaido and complex process of significant changes in lithic technology, especially in relation to the emergence of microblade technology. In addition, this study shows that the analysis of fracture wings can allow appropriate technological evaluation of the microblades and microblade-like longitudinal debitage production in the period before and around the LGM in Northeast Asia.