Oasis
12-28-2023, 08:55 PM
In China, it is thought that the appearance of small flake tools are associated with the emergence of modern humans in China.
“Zhijidong has a very thick cultural deposit ranging from the Middle Paleolithic through to the Upper Paleolithic. It documents repeated human occupations over a long term in the cave, and the change of lithic industry. In the lower unit, local raw materials were exploited and large expedient tools were produced. It is suggested that human activity took place near the cave. However, the lithic industry and human behavior changed remarkably in the upper Unit after layer 7. The occupants exploited chert and quartz from a long distance from the cave, and produced small-sized tools. Human behavior is likely to have become complex: the activity territory expanded to 6 or 7 km away from the cave, and the toolkit became diversified (Wang, 2008a, 2008b). The findings of Laonainaimiao and Zhaoshuang show a similar lithic industry to the upper unit of Zhijidong. In addition, the high frequency of herbivore remains implies specialized hunting practices. The paleoenvironmental record shows a forest-steppe landscape from 50 ka BP to 40 ka BP (Liu et al., 2008). The Zhijidong occupants from the lower unit and upper unit did not witness any major change of environment. Among the various symbols of modern behavior, the transport of raw material over a long distance, the high frequency of well-retouched tools and the expansion of territory are identified in the upper unit of Zhijidong. We suggest the new attributes of human behavior at Zhijidong appeared as a result of the emergence of modern humans in the area.”
Source: New evidence and perspectives on the Upper Paleolithic of the Central Plain in China
Youping Wang*, Tongli Qu
School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, Beijing, China
Unlike this, as for Late Middle Palaeolithic pebble stone tools/gravel stone tools, their makers are described as “hominins” by Chinese researchers:
“According to the analysis of the gravel samples from two exposed sections(less than 1 km straight-line distance from the Fangjiagou site), the hominins mainly chose the rock types with relatively good quality from the gravel layer, and probably procure gravels by collecting ones eroded and peeled from stratum.”
Source: Sources of lithic raw materials of the Fangjiagou site in Dengfeng county, Henan Province
LIN Yi, LIU Tuo, GU Wanfa, WANG Songzhi, WANG Youping
Hence, the Palaeolithic distribution of yDNA NO-M214 population during the period, when there began the separation of yDNA O-M175 and yDNA N-M231*, observed in Peninsular Malaysian Orang Asli (BTQ016 N* M231/Page91(+),CTS11499/L735/M2291(-), BTQ038 N* M231/Page91(+),CTS11499/L735/M2292(-), is characterized by the distribution of small flake tools from the territory of China to Southeast Asia:
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Assemblages of Small Flake Implements from South China and Southeast Asia
In South China (defined here as an area in the south of the Five Ridges) and Southeast Asia, the Paleolithic industries are known as Chopper-Chopping Tool Complex or Pebble-Tool Industry. Stone tools are often made on cobbles, and most of them are choppers. They are large and heavy. However, in the Upper Palaeolithic, small flake implements dominating the assemblage were found at some sites in this region. These sites can be represented by Bailiandong in South China and Nguom, Lang Rongrien in Southeast Asia. Bailiandong cave is located in Liuzhou of central Guangxi, South China. It is a prehistoric site which spans in time from late Palaeolithic age to Neolithic age. Human fossil teeth, stone artifacts, pottery and animal fossils were unearthed from this site, which can be divided into five phases. Phase 1 phase 2 and phase 3 belong to Upper Palaeolithic age, while phase 4 and phase 5 Neolithic age. Two series were identified in the stone artifacts: pebble tools and small flake implements. Technologically and typologically, the pebble tool series belongs to the Pebble-Tool Industry in South China, while the small flake implement series is a new assemblage which is rare in South China. The raw materials for making the small flake implements are nearly flint. Direct percussion and rare pressure technique were used to detach flakes. No prepared platform was found with cores. Retouched flakes are in a small number, and are often unifacially made. The tool types are scrapers, points etc., small in size, often with the length between 2–3 cm. This is in sharp contrast to the pebble tools. Although small flake implements continued to exist in phase 2, it decreased in number, and in phase 3 it dropped to a small number and the pebble tools became predominant. Nguom rockshelter is located in Northern Vietnam. Three assemblages from different stratigraphic layers were identified at this site. Stone artifacts from layer 2 and layer 3 belong to Hoabinh Culture and Sonvi Culture respectively, while those from layer 4 and layer 5 belong to a new industry which was termed as Nguom Culture which was dated between 40 000BP and 23 000BP. Raw materials of the stone artifacts are mainly flint. Direct percussion is the only method for tool making. Retouched implements are many, small in size, and most of them were unifacially made on flake. Tools include choppers, scrapers and points with scrapers predominant. Lang Rongrien rockshelter is located in southwestern Thailand near the Malaysian border. Excavation of this site uncovered a 3.5-m-thick deposit comprising 10 stratigraphic units with a time span from 2 530 to 43 000BP. Three phases were identified among the cultural remains. Phase1 is corresponding to Upper levels (unit 1–4) and belongs to the latter half of Holocene. Phase 2 is corresponding to Middle levels (unit 5-6) and belongs to the Hoabinian. Phase 3 is corresponding to Lower levels (unit 8–9) and belongs to Upper Palaeolithic. The stone assemblage of Phase 3 is primarily of small flake tools. Raw materials of the stone artifacts are mainly chert. Direct percussion is the only method for tool making. Retouched implements and utilized flakes consist of the majority of the stone artifacts. Types of the tools are choppers, scrapers, knives and gravers with scraper predominant. Most of the tools were unifacially made on flake. Contrary to the long-standing, uninterrupted Chopper-Chopping Tool Complex or Pebble-Tool Industry in South China and Southeast Asia, the aforementioned assemblages from this region are primarily of flake tools. These assemblages are characterized by an extensive use of small, irregular flake implements. The occurrence of small flake implements in the Upper Palaeolithic in South China and Southeast Asia may be due to the change of climate and migration of prehistoric men. Data from the Niah Cave in Malaysia, the Tabon Cave in Philippines and the Nguom Rock shelter in Vietnam indicates that a cold and arid phase took place from 32000–23000BP. But the degree of climate change was enough to change the subsistence (which resulted in the change of the tool-kit) or not remain to be questioned, for in South China and Southeast Asia, sites from which small flake implements were found are few and far between. Assemblages from many sites of this period, especially the open-air sites in this vast region belong to the Pebble-Tool Industry. The reasonable interpretation may be that groups of the prehistoric men from the northern areas (southwestern China and north of the Five Ridges) migrated into South China and Southeast Asia during the cold phase, bringing their technology with them and made these small flake implements which were suitable to the somewhat changed subsistence strategies at this period.
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The Vietnamese and Thailand Upper Palaeolithic locations of small flake tool makers, migrating via the territory of Southwestern China from the territory north of the Five Ridges (that is, north of the Wuling Mountains of the Hunan Province), mentioned in the text above, are not far from the Southeast Asian place in Indochina, where the most ancient part of Japan Jomon autosomal component started to form, according to the model of human dispersals by Naoyuki Takahata, supported by the grant from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Nonetheless, these “Japanese” Palaeolithic migrations “Via Iran => via India => via Southeast Asia to China”, proposed by Naoyuki Takahata, are only viewed as migrations of yDNA K2b* Tianyuan-related and Papuan-like yDNA C populations by Chinese researchers as well as they are viewed as the source of (44%Tianyuan+56%Papuan) component in "40,000-Year-Old Individual from Asia Provides Insight into Early Population Structure in Eurasia".
It is not a big loss, since Japanese-devised Palaeolithic migrations presupposed that only Japanese ancestors should have been unadmixed with archaic humans.
Unlike this, Homo Sapiens makers of medium-sized stone flakes appeared to be related to the yDNA DE*-related population, surviving in the Upper Yantze River basin ( “New perspectives on the Late Pleistocene peopling of the Tibetan Plateau: the core-and-flake industry from the Tongtian River Valley”). Unlike their 40000-year-old ancestral populations, Boshan-Bianbian populations were already admixed with such 73300-year-old yDNA DE* populations in "Human population history at the crossroads of East and Southeast Asia since 11,000 years ago" (11% admixture in https://i.ibb.co/Vjqjf9D/php-Icy-JRX.png) . The mixture of Upper Yangtzean yDNA DE* population with Boshan-Bianbian-related populations is consistent with the appearance of Late Palaeolithic medium-sized stone flakes in the Yi river basin of the Huai river system, to where Bianbian ancestors migrated after the contact with the Upper Yangtzean yDNA DE* population.
“Zhijidong has a very thick cultural deposit ranging from the Middle Paleolithic through to the Upper Paleolithic. It documents repeated human occupations over a long term in the cave, and the change of lithic industry. In the lower unit, local raw materials were exploited and large expedient tools were produced. It is suggested that human activity took place near the cave. However, the lithic industry and human behavior changed remarkably in the upper Unit after layer 7. The occupants exploited chert and quartz from a long distance from the cave, and produced small-sized tools. Human behavior is likely to have become complex: the activity territory expanded to 6 or 7 km away from the cave, and the toolkit became diversified (Wang, 2008a, 2008b). The findings of Laonainaimiao and Zhaoshuang show a similar lithic industry to the upper unit of Zhijidong. In addition, the high frequency of herbivore remains implies specialized hunting practices. The paleoenvironmental record shows a forest-steppe landscape from 50 ka BP to 40 ka BP (Liu et al., 2008). The Zhijidong occupants from the lower unit and upper unit did not witness any major change of environment. Among the various symbols of modern behavior, the transport of raw material over a long distance, the high frequency of well-retouched tools and the expansion of territory are identified in the upper unit of Zhijidong. We suggest the new attributes of human behavior at Zhijidong appeared as a result of the emergence of modern humans in the area.”
Source: New evidence and perspectives on the Upper Paleolithic of the Central Plain in China
Youping Wang*, Tongli Qu
School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, Beijing, China
Unlike this, as for Late Middle Palaeolithic pebble stone tools/gravel stone tools, their makers are described as “hominins” by Chinese researchers:
“According to the analysis of the gravel samples from two exposed sections(less than 1 km straight-line distance from the Fangjiagou site), the hominins mainly chose the rock types with relatively good quality from the gravel layer, and probably procure gravels by collecting ones eroded and peeled from stratum.”
Source: Sources of lithic raw materials of the Fangjiagou site in Dengfeng county, Henan Province
LIN Yi, LIU Tuo, GU Wanfa, WANG Songzhi, WANG Youping
Hence, the Palaeolithic distribution of yDNA NO-M214 population during the period, when there began the separation of yDNA O-M175 and yDNA N-M231*, observed in Peninsular Malaysian Orang Asli (BTQ016 N* M231/Page91(+),CTS11499/L735/M2291(-), BTQ038 N* M231/Page91(+),CTS11499/L735/M2292(-), is characterized by the distribution of small flake tools from the territory of China to Southeast Asia:
---------
Assemblages of Small Flake Implements from South China and Southeast Asia
In South China (defined here as an area in the south of the Five Ridges) and Southeast Asia, the Paleolithic industries are known as Chopper-Chopping Tool Complex or Pebble-Tool Industry. Stone tools are often made on cobbles, and most of them are choppers. They are large and heavy. However, in the Upper Palaeolithic, small flake implements dominating the assemblage were found at some sites in this region. These sites can be represented by Bailiandong in South China and Nguom, Lang Rongrien in Southeast Asia. Bailiandong cave is located in Liuzhou of central Guangxi, South China. It is a prehistoric site which spans in time from late Palaeolithic age to Neolithic age. Human fossil teeth, stone artifacts, pottery and animal fossils were unearthed from this site, which can be divided into five phases. Phase 1 phase 2 and phase 3 belong to Upper Palaeolithic age, while phase 4 and phase 5 Neolithic age. Two series were identified in the stone artifacts: pebble tools and small flake implements. Technologically and typologically, the pebble tool series belongs to the Pebble-Tool Industry in South China, while the small flake implement series is a new assemblage which is rare in South China. The raw materials for making the small flake implements are nearly flint. Direct percussion and rare pressure technique were used to detach flakes. No prepared platform was found with cores. Retouched flakes are in a small number, and are often unifacially made. The tool types are scrapers, points etc., small in size, often with the length between 2–3 cm. This is in sharp contrast to the pebble tools. Although small flake implements continued to exist in phase 2, it decreased in number, and in phase 3 it dropped to a small number and the pebble tools became predominant. Nguom rockshelter is located in Northern Vietnam. Three assemblages from different stratigraphic layers were identified at this site. Stone artifacts from layer 2 and layer 3 belong to Hoabinh Culture and Sonvi Culture respectively, while those from layer 4 and layer 5 belong to a new industry which was termed as Nguom Culture which was dated between 40 000BP and 23 000BP. Raw materials of the stone artifacts are mainly flint. Direct percussion is the only method for tool making. Retouched implements are many, small in size, and most of them were unifacially made on flake. Tools include choppers, scrapers and points with scrapers predominant. Lang Rongrien rockshelter is located in southwestern Thailand near the Malaysian border. Excavation of this site uncovered a 3.5-m-thick deposit comprising 10 stratigraphic units with a time span from 2 530 to 43 000BP. Three phases were identified among the cultural remains. Phase1 is corresponding to Upper levels (unit 1–4) and belongs to the latter half of Holocene. Phase 2 is corresponding to Middle levels (unit 5-6) and belongs to the Hoabinian. Phase 3 is corresponding to Lower levels (unit 8–9) and belongs to Upper Palaeolithic. The stone assemblage of Phase 3 is primarily of small flake tools. Raw materials of the stone artifacts are mainly chert. Direct percussion is the only method for tool making. Retouched implements and utilized flakes consist of the majority of the stone artifacts. Types of the tools are choppers, scrapers, knives and gravers with scraper predominant. Most of the tools were unifacially made on flake. Contrary to the long-standing, uninterrupted Chopper-Chopping Tool Complex or Pebble-Tool Industry in South China and Southeast Asia, the aforementioned assemblages from this region are primarily of flake tools. These assemblages are characterized by an extensive use of small, irregular flake implements. The occurrence of small flake implements in the Upper Palaeolithic in South China and Southeast Asia may be due to the change of climate and migration of prehistoric men. Data from the Niah Cave in Malaysia, the Tabon Cave in Philippines and the Nguom Rock shelter in Vietnam indicates that a cold and arid phase took place from 32000–23000BP. But the degree of climate change was enough to change the subsistence (which resulted in the change of the tool-kit) or not remain to be questioned, for in South China and Southeast Asia, sites from which small flake implements were found are few and far between. Assemblages from many sites of this period, especially the open-air sites in this vast region belong to the Pebble-Tool Industry. The reasonable interpretation may be that groups of the prehistoric men from the northern areas (southwestern China and north of the Five Ridges) migrated into South China and Southeast Asia during the cold phase, bringing their technology with them and made these small flake implements which were suitable to the somewhat changed subsistence strategies at this period.
---------
The Vietnamese and Thailand Upper Palaeolithic locations of small flake tool makers, migrating via the territory of Southwestern China from the territory north of the Five Ridges (that is, north of the Wuling Mountains of the Hunan Province), mentioned in the text above, are not far from the Southeast Asian place in Indochina, where the most ancient part of Japan Jomon autosomal component started to form, according to the model of human dispersals by Naoyuki Takahata, supported by the grant from the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Nonetheless, these “Japanese” Palaeolithic migrations “Via Iran => via India => via Southeast Asia to China”, proposed by Naoyuki Takahata, are only viewed as migrations of yDNA K2b* Tianyuan-related and Papuan-like yDNA C populations by Chinese researchers as well as they are viewed as the source of (44%Tianyuan+56%Papuan) component in "40,000-Year-Old Individual from Asia Provides Insight into Early Population Structure in Eurasia".
It is not a big loss, since Japanese-devised Palaeolithic migrations presupposed that only Japanese ancestors should have been unadmixed with archaic humans.
Unlike this, Homo Sapiens makers of medium-sized stone flakes appeared to be related to the yDNA DE*-related population, surviving in the Upper Yantze River basin ( “New perspectives on the Late Pleistocene peopling of the Tibetan Plateau: the core-and-flake industry from the Tongtian River Valley”). Unlike their 40000-year-old ancestral populations, Boshan-Bianbian populations were already admixed with such 73300-year-old yDNA DE* populations in "Human population history at the crossroads of East and Southeast Asia since 11,000 years ago" (11% admixture in https://i.ibb.co/Vjqjf9D/php-Icy-JRX.png) . The mixture of Upper Yangtzean yDNA DE* population with Boshan-Bianbian-related populations is consistent with the appearance of Late Palaeolithic medium-sized stone flakes in the Yi river basin of the Huai river system, to where Bianbian ancestors migrated after the contact with the Upper Yangtzean yDNA DE* population.