TY - JOUR
T1 - Raw material quality and prepared core technologies in Northeast Asia
AU - Brantingham, P. Jeffrey
AU - Olsen, John W.
AU - Rech, Jason A.
AU - Krivoshapkin, Andrei I.
N1 - Funding Information:
We would like to thank S. Kuhn, T. Goebel, M. Baumler and M. Rockman for their extremely helpful comments on earlier drafts of this paper. This research was carried out with generous financial support provided by the Ministry of Science and Technical Policy of the Russian Federation, the Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, the National Geographic Society (U.S.A.), the L.S.B. Leakey Foundation (U.S.A.), the NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program and the Diebold Foundation, Inc. (U.S.A.). We are also most appreciative of the invaluable support provided by A. R. Diebold, Jr. and A. Fallon. The ongoing administrative support of B. Chadraa and A. Ochir of the Mongolian Academy of Sciences, H. M. Smith of the University of Arizona (U.S.A.), and representatives of the local governments of Bayan Lig, Bayan Oendoer, and Shine Jinst districts (Bayan Hongor province, Mongolia), warrants our special thanks.
PY - 2000/3
Y1 - 2000/3
N2 - The design and assembly of lithic toolkits is mediated by a number of factors including the abundance and quality of raw materials available. In general, low raw material abundance and high raw material quality are thought to lead to formal tool designs, whereas high raw material abundance and low raw material quality lead to informal designs. Low raw material quality is seen as the overriding factor producing informal tool designs, even where low raw material abundance would favour formal designs. In North China, the predominance of simple flake and core technologies, based on relatively poor quality raw materials, and the near absence of sophisticated prepared core technologies seems to corroborate the importance of raw material quality in toolkit design. Recent studies of a late Pleistocene lithic assemblage from the Lower Grotto at Tsagaan Agui cave, Mongolia, suggest however that raw material quality is not an absolute constraint on the development of sophisticated core reduction strategies. Levallois-like and other prepared core forms based on large flake blanks are conspicuous in the Lower Grotto assemblage, despite the poor quality of raw material available at the site. Contrary to expectations, these core forms appear to have developed directly in response to poor raw material quality. The implication is that raw material quality alone cannot explain the apparent technological simplicity of the North Chinese Middle and Upper Paleolithic. (C) 2000 Academic Press.
AB - The design and assembly of lithic toolkits is mediated by a number of factors including the abundance and quality of raw materials available. In general, low raw material abundance and high raw material quality are thought to lead to formal tool designs, whereas high raw material abundance and low raw material quality lead to informal designs. Low raw material quality is seen as the overriding factor producing informal tool designs, even where low raw material abundance would favour formal designs. In North China, the predominance of simple flake and core technologies, based on relatively poor quality raw materials, and the near absence of sophisticated prepared core technologies seems to corroborate the importance of raw material quality in toolkit design. Recent studies of a late Pleistocene lithic assemblage from the Lower Grotto at Tsagaan Agui cave, Mongolia, suggest however that raw material quality is not an absolute constraint on the development of sophisticated core reduction strategies. Levallois-like and other prepared core forms based on large flake blanks are conspicuous in the Lower Grotto assemblage, despite the poor quality of raw material available at the site. Contrary to expectations, these core forms appear to have developed directly in response to poor raw material quality. The implication is that raw material quality alone cannot explain the apparent technological simplicity of the North Chinese Middle and Upper Paleolithic. (C) 2000 Academic Press.
KW - Archaeology
KW - China
KW - Middle paleolithic
KW - Mongolia
KW - Raw material quality
KW - Technological design
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U2 - 10.1006/jasc.1999.0456
DO - 10.1006/jasc.1999.0456
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:0034051096
SN - 0305-4403
VL - 27
SP - 255
EP - 271
JO - Journal of Archaeological Science
JF - Journal of Archaeological Science
IS - 3
ER -