Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-t5pn6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-18T02:55:27.964Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Neolithisation in the southern Lesser Khingan Mountains: lithic technologies and ecological adaptation

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 July 2019

Jian-Ping Yue
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 142 Xizhimenwai Street, Beijing 100044, P.R. China CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, 142 Xizhimenwai Street, Beijing 100044, P.R. China University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, 19(A) Yuquan Road, Beijing 100049, P.R. China
You-Qian Li
Affiliation:
Heilongjiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, 44 Xuande Street, Harbin 150008, P.R. China
Shi-Xia Yang*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 142 Xizhimenwai Street, Beijing 100044, P.R. China CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, 142 Xizhimenwai Street, Beijing 100044, P.R. China Department of Archaeology, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, 10 Kahlaische Street, Jena 07745, Germany
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: yangshixia@ivpp.ac.cn)

Abstract

North-east China occupies an important geographic position for understanding the process of Neolithisation in East Asia. Although archaeologists have long debated the trajectory of change in this region, a lack of intensive survey and excavation has precluded convincing interpretations. This article presents research on the newly excavated sites of Huayang and Taoshan in the southern Lesser Khingan Mountains, with a particular focus on the lithic assemblages. Comparative and environmental analyses demonstrate the largely uniform trajectory of lithic technologies across north-east China and close correspondence with Late Glacial palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental changes.

Type
Research
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2019 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bar-Yosef, O. 2011. Climatic fluctuations and early farming in West and East Asia. Current Anthropology 52(S4): 175–93. https://doi.org/10.1086/659784Google Scholar
Boaretto, E., Wu, X., Yuan, J., Bar-Yosef, O., Chu, V., Pan, Y., Liu, K., Cohen, D., Jiao, T., Li, S., Gu, H., Goldberg, P. & Weiner, S.. 2009. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal and bone collagen associated with early pottery at Yuchanyan Cave, Hunan Province, China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA 106: 9595–600. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.0900539106Google Scholar
Ramsey, Bronk, C. 2009. Bayesian analysis of radiocarbon dates. Radiocarbon 51: 337–60. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200033865Google Scholar
Chang, Y., Hou, Y.M., Yang, S.X., Zhang, W., Li, Y.Q., Hao, H.D., Wang, X.D., Qiu, L.M., Yue, J.P. & Hu, Y.. 2016. A preliminary report on the 2013 excavation of the Taoshan site, Yichun, Heilongjiang Province. Acta Anthropologica Sinica 35: 223–37 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Chen, Q.J. & Wang, C.X.. 2008. Recent discoveries and studies in Paleolithic archaeology in north-east China, in School of Archaeology and Museology of Peking University (ed.) A collection of studies on archaeology 7: 183204. Beijing: Science (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Chen, Q.J., Zhao, H.L., Fang, Q. & Wang, C.X.. 2010. A preliminary excavation of the Shirengou Paleolithic site, Helong County, Yanbian city in 2005. Acta Anthropologica Sinica 29: 106–14 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Craig, O.E., Saul, H., Lucquin, A., Nishida, Y., Taché, K., Clarke, L., Thompson, A., Altoft, D.T., Uchiyama, J., Ajimoto, M., Gibbs, K., Isaksson, S., Heron, C.P. & Jordan, P.. 2013. Earliest evidence for the use of pottery. Nature 496: 351–54. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12109Google Scholar
Dibble, H.L. & McPherron, S.P.. 2007. Truncated-faceted pieces: hafting modification, retouch, or cores?, in McPherron, S.P. (ed.) Tools versus cores: new approaches in the analysis of stone tool assemblages: 7590. Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publications.Google Scholar
Gibbs, K. & Jordan, P.. 2016. A comparative perspective on the ‘western’ and ‘eastern’ Neolithics of Eurasia: ceramics; agriculture and sedentism. Quaternary International 419: 2735. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.01.069Google Scholar
Igarashi, Y. & Zharow, A.E.. 2011. Climate and vegetation change during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene in Sakhalin and Hokkaido, North-east Asia. Quaternary International 237: 2431. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.01.005Google Scholar
Iizuka, F. & Izuho, M.. 2017. Late Upper Paleolithic–Initial Jomon transitions, southern Kyushu, Japan: regional scale to macro processes a close look. Quaternary International 441: 102–12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.040Google Scholar
Kononenko, N.A. 2001. Ecology and cultural dynamics of archeological sites in the Zerkalnaya River Valley at the Terminal Pleistocene–Early Holocene (the Ustinovka complex, Russian Far East). Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 1: 4059.Google Scholar
Kudo, Y. & Kumon, F.. 2012. Paleolithic cultures of MIS 3 to MIS 1 in relation to climate changes in the central Japanese islands. Quaternary International 248: 2231. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2011.02.016Google Scholar
Kunikita, D., Shevkomud, I., Yoshida, K., Onuki, S., Yamahara, T. & Matsuzaki, H.. 2013. Dating charred remains on pottery and analyzing food habits in the Early Neolithic period in North-east Asia. Radiocarbon 55: 1334–40. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200048244Google Scholar
Kunikita, D., Wang, L., Onuki, S., Sato, H. & Matsuzaki, H.. 2017. Radiocarbon dating and dietary reconstruction of the Early Neolithic Houtaomuga and Shuangta sites in the Song-Nen Plain, north-east China. Quaternary International 441: 6268. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.01.031Google Scholar
Kuzmin, Y.V. (ed.). 1998. Radiocarbon chronology of the Stone Age of North-east Asia. Vladivostok: Pacific Institute of Geography (in Russian).Google Scholar
Kuzmin, Y.V. 2013. Two trajectories in the Neolithization of Eurasia: pottery versus agriculture (spatiotemporal patterns). Radiocarbon 55: 1304–13. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200048219Google Scholar
Kuzmin, Y.V. & Jull, A.J.T.. 1997. AMS radiocarbon dating of the Paleolithic–Neolithic transition in the Russian Far East. Current Research in the Pleistocene 14: 4648.Google Scholar
Kuzmin, Y.V. & Orlova, L.A.. 2000. The Neolithization of Siberia and the Russian Far East: radiocarbon evidence. Antiquity 74: 356–64. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003598X00059433Google Scholar
Li, Y.Q. 2012. The preliminary report on the survey and test-excavation of Xiaolongshan Paleolithic site, Tieli, Yichun. Northern Cultural Relics 3: 37 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Li, Y.Q. 2014. The preliminary report on the survey and test-excavation of Limin Paleolithic site, Yichun, Heilongjiang Province. Steppe Cultural Relics 2: 14 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Li, Y.Q. 2016. Discoveries and researches of the Paleolithic sites found in the central mountainous area of Heilongjiang Province. Steppe Cultural Relics 1: 6269 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Mokhova, L., Tarasov, P., Bazarova, V. & Klimin, M.. 2009. Quaternary biome reconstruction using modern and Late Quaternary pollen data from the southern part of the Russian Far East. Quaternary Science Reviews 28: 2913–26. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quascirev.2009.07.018Google Scholar
Morisaki, K. & Natsuki, D.. 2017. Human behavioral change and the distributional dynamics of early Japanese pottery. Quaternary International 441: 91101. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.09.040Google Scholar
Morisaki, K., Izuho, M., Terry, K. & Sato, H.. 2015. Lithics and climate: technological responses to landscape change in Upper Palaeolithic northern Japan. Antiquity 89: 554–72. https://doi.org/10.15184/aqy.2015.23Google Scholar
Naoe, Y. 2014. Chronology and radiocarbon dates from the Early Upper Paleolithic to the Incipient Jomon in Hokkaido. Paleolithic Research 10: 2339 (in Japanese).Google Scholar
Otsuka, Y. 2016. The background of transitions in microblade industries in Hokkaido, northern Japan. Quaternary International 442: 3342. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.07.023Google Scholar
Reimer, P.J. et al. 2013. IntCal13 and Marine13 radiocarbon age calibration curves 0–50 000 years cal BP. Radiocarbon 55: 1869–87. https://doi.org/10.2458/azu_js_rc.55.16947Google Scholar
Sato, H. & Natsuki, D.. 2017. Human behavioral responses to environmental condition and the emergence of the world's oldest pottery in East and North-east Asia: an overview. Quaternary International 441: 1228. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2016.12.046Google Scholar
Shalagina, A.V., Krivoshapkin, A.I. & Kolobova, K.A.. 2015. Truncated-faceted pieces in the Paleolithic of Northern Asia. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia 43(4): 3345.Google Scholar
Stebich, M., Mingram, J., Han, J. & Liu, J.. 2009. Late Pleistocene spread of (cool-) temperate forests in north-east China and climate changes synchronous with the North Atlantic region. Global and Planetary Change 65: 5670. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gloplacha.2008.10.010Google Scholar
Tian, C., Xu, T., Guan, Y. & Gao, X.. 2017. A study on the microblade cores from Fenglin, a Late Paleolithic site in Jilin Province, north-east China. Acta Anthropologica Sinica 36: 138–51 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Uchiyama, J., Gillam, J.C., Hosoya, L.A., Lindström, K. & Jordan, P.. 2014. Investigating Neolithization of cultural landscapes in East Asia: the NEOMAP project. Journal of World Prehistory 27: 197223. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10963-014-9079-8Google Scholar
Wu, J. & Liu, Q.. 2013. Charcoal-recorded climate changes from Moon Lake in Late Glacial. Chinese Journal of Geology 48: 860–69 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Wu, J. & Shen, J.. 2010. Paleoenvironmental and paleoclimatic changes in Lake Xingkai inferred from stable carbon and nitrogen isotopes of bulk organic matter since 28 ka BP. Acta Sedimentologica Sinica 28: 365–72 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Wu, J., Liu, Q., Wang, L., Chu, G.Q. & Liu, J.Q.. 2016. Vegetation and climate change during the last deglaciation in the Great Khingan Mountain, north-eastern China. PLoS ONE 11: e0146261. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0146261Google Scholar
Wu, X., Zhang, C., Goldberg, P., Cohen, D., Pan, Y., Arpin, T. & Bar-Yosef, O.. 2012. Early pottery at 20 000 years ago in Xianrendong Cave, China. Science 336: 1696–700. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1218643Google Scholar
Yang, S.X., Zhang, Y.X., Li, Y.Q., Zhao, C., Li, X.Q., Yue, J.P., Hou, Y.M., Deng, C.L., Zhu, R.X. & Petraglia, M.D.. 2017. Environmental change and raw material selection strategies at Taoshan: a terminal Late Pleistocene to Holocene site in north-eastern China. Journal of Quaternary Science 32: 553–63. https://doi.org/10.1002/jqs.2950Google Scholar
Yoshida, K., Kunikita, D., Miyazaki, Y., Nishida, Y., Miyao, T. & Matsuzaki, H.. 2013. Dating and stable isotope analysis of charred residues on the Incipient Jomon pottery (Japan). Radiocarbon 55: 1322–33. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200048232Google Scholar
Yue, J.P., Hou, Y.M., Yang, S.X., Chang, Y., Zhang, W., Li, Y.Q., Hao, H.D., Wang, X.D. & Qiu, L.M.. 2017. A preliminary report on the 2014 excavation at Taoshan site in Heilongjiang Province, north-east China. Acta Anthropologica Sinica 36: 113 (in Chinese).Google Scholar
Yue, J.P., Yang, S.X., Hou, Y.M., Potter, B.A., Li, Y.Q. & Chang, Y.. 2018. Late Pleistocene lithic technology and human adaptation in north-east China: a case study from Taoshan site. Quaternary International. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2018.11.030Google Scholar