Abstract
The transition from the Early to Late Paleolithic in Korea is characterized by the introduction of blade technology, stemmed points, end scrapers, burins, denticulates, and higher proportions of finer grained materials. Stemmed points have been considered a representative tool that led this set of changes. In this study, we examine the possible role that stemmed points played during this technological transition, as well as throughout the Late Paleolithic period (approx. 40~12 ka). Our main questions are as follows: What were the best-fit ballistic probabilities for the stemmed points if they were hafted as weapon tips? How diverse were their likely uses? What are the temporal and spatial patterns of stemmed point use? We measured tip cross-sectional area (TCSA) to distinguish different likely use classes of projectile points, for example, as poisoned arrow tips or as stabbing spears. We analyzed TCSA with other variables, including raw materials, weight, radiocarbon dates, and locations. Our results show that the stemmed points likely served as javelin tips and stabbing spear tips, with smaller numbers as dart tips and un-poisoned arrow tips. TCSA values were controlled mostly by size rather than raw material types. We found different TCSA ranges of stemmed points at different sites, which could indicate people used stemmed points in different ways depending on the local environment. Some sites show a wide range of TCSA values that represent multi-purpose usage of stemmed points. The temporal pattern of TCSA values is one of little change throughout the Late Paleolithic period, but points were predominantly produced before the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). We observed that stemmed points were mostly located in certain ecoregions in Korea, but no clear spatial pattern was apparent. We conclude that stemmed points were multi-functional tools, with many likely designed for use as javelin and stabbing spear tips.
Similar content being viewed by others
Data Availability
The raw data, R code for data analysis and visualization, figures, and tables for this paper are openly available at https://doi.org/10.17605/osf.io/dqna8 to enable re-use of materials and improve reproducibility and transparency.
References
Abe, S. (2005). Why did Hakuhen-sentoki disappear. Cultura Antiqua, 79, 37–70.
Akoshima, K., & Hong, H. (2018). Use-wear analysis of tanged points from the Suyanggae Site, Locality I and Locality VI. In Report on the excavation of Suyanggae Site (Loc, I and VI) (pp. 103–142). Institute of Korean Prehistory.
Angelbeck, B., & Cameron, I. (2014). The Faustian bargain of technological change: Evaluating the socioeconomic effects of the bow and arrow transition in the Coast Salish past. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 36, 93–109.
Bae, K. (2010). Origin and patterns of the Upper Paleolithic industries in the Korean Peninsula and movement of modern humans in East Asia. Quaternary International, 211, 103–112.
Bae, C. J. (2017). Late Pleistocene human evolution in eastern Asia: Behavioral perspectives. Current Anthropology, 58, S514–S526.
Bae, C. J., & Bae, K. (2012). The nature of the Early to Late Paleolithic transition in Korea: Current perspectives. Quaternary International, 281, 26–35.
Bae, C. J., Bae, K., & Kim, J. C. (2013). The Early to Late Paleolithic transition in Korea: A closer look. Radiocarbon, 55, 1341–1349.
Bae, C. J., Douka, K., & Petraglia, M. D. (2017). On the origin of modern humans: Asian perspectives. Science, 358, eaai9067.
Bettinger, R. L. (2013). Effects of the bow on social organization in western North America. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 22, 118–123.
Bettinger, R. L., & Grote, M. N. (2016). Marginal value theorem, patch choice, and human foraging response in varying environments. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 42, 79–87.
Bird, D. W., & O’Connell, J. F. (2006). Behavioral ecology and archaeology. Journal of Archaeological Research, 14, 143–188.
Chang, Y. (2002). The study on pointed stone tools in Korea. Journal of Korean Paleolithic Society, 37–46.
Chang, Y. (2013). Human activity and lithic technology between Korea and Japan from MIS 3 to MIS 2 in the Late Paleolithic period. Quaternary International, 308, 13–26.
Chong, D. (2021). Tanged point morphology and behavioral diversity of the Upper Paleolithic assemblages in Korea (Master’s Thesis). Department of History, Kyung Hee University (in Korea).
Eren, M. I., Bebber, M. R., Knell, E. J., Story, B., & Buchanan, B. (2022). Plains Paleoindian projectile point penetration potential. Journal of Anthropological Research, 78, 84–112.
Erlandson, J. M., Watts, J. L., & Jew, N. P. (2014). Darts, arrows, and archaeologists: Distinguishing dart and arrow points in the archaeological record. American Antiquity, 79, 162–169.
Fenenga, F. (1953). The weights of chipped stone points: A clue to their functions. Southwestern Journal of Anthropology, 9, 309–323.
Hamilton, M. J., Lobo, J., Rupley, E., Youn, H., & West, G. B. (2016). The ecological and evolutionary energetics of hunter-gatherer residential mobility. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 25, 124–132.
Hughes, S. S. (1998). Getting to the point: Evolutionary change in prehistoric weaponry. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 5, 345–408.
Kelly, R. J. (2007). The foraging spectrum: Diversity in hunter-gatherer lifeways. ISD LLC.
Kim, H.-I. (2004). Yongsan-dong Paleolithic site, Daejeon. Hanguk Guseoki Hakbo, 10, 83–94.
Kim, E. (2017). Morphological diversity and functional differentiation of tanged-point: Focused on Suyanggae, Jingeuneul and Yongsandong site. Journal of Korean Paleolithic Society, 29–47.
Kim, J. C., & Chang, Y. (2021). Evidence of human movements and exchange seen from curated obsidian artifacts on the Korean Peninsula. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 39, 103184.
Kim, S.-J., Kim, J.-W., & Kim, B.-M. (2015). Last glacial maximum climate over Korean Peninsula in PMIP3 simulations. Quaternary International, 384, 52–81.
Kizaki, Y., & Association of Kyushu Palaeolithic Culture. (1994). Hakuhen-sentoki to sekki bunka ni tsuite [A review on Hakuhen-sentoki stemmed points] (pp. 194–190). Kyushu Kyusekki Jidai Kankei Siryo Syusei III.
Lee, Y. (1985). Excavation report on Suyang-gae site in Dang-yang County. Extended excavation reports of submerged area by construction of the Chung-ju dam. Chungbuk National University Museum, Cheongju.
Lee, G. (2012). Characteristics of Paleolithic industries in Southwestern Korea during MIS 3 and MIS 2. Quaternary International, 248, 12–21.
Lee, G. (2015). The characteristics of Upper Paleolithic industries in Korea. Emergence and diversity of modern human behavior in Paleolithic Asia, 270–286.
Lee, H. W. (2016). Patterns of transitions in Paleolithic stages during MIS 3 and 2 in Korea. Quaternary International, 392, 44–57.
Lee, H.-J., & Jang, D. (2011). A study on the function and restoration of tanged tools in the Upper Palaeolithic of Korea. Journal of the Korean Palaeolithic Society, 23, 103–120.
Lee, Y., & Kong, S. (2002). New analysis results of Suyanggae tanged tools in Korea. J Korean Paleol Society, 6, 13–24.
Lee, G.-K., & Sano, K. (2019). Were tanged points mechanically delivered armatures? Functional and morphometric analyses of tanged points from an Upper Paleolithic site at Jingeuneul, Korea. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 11, 2453–2465.
Lee, B., Song, J., Lee, M., & Chung, J. (2008). The relationship between characteristics of forest fires and spatial patterns of forest types by the ecoregions of South Korea. Journal of Korean Society of Forest Science, 97, 1–9.
Lee, H. W., Bae, C. J., & Lee, C. (2017). The Korean Early Late Paleolithic revisited: A view from Galsanri. Archaeological and Anthropological Sciences, 9, 843–863.
Lee, Y., Woo, J., Lee, S., An, J., Yun, B., Park, J., Otani, K., Kim, M., Kim, E., Han, S., Jang, H., & Choi, D. (2018). Report on the excavation of Suyanggae site(loc. I and VI). Institute of Korean Prehistory.
Lombard, M. (2004). Distribution patterns of organic residues on Middle Stone Age points from Sibudu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The South African Archaeological Bulletin, 37–44.
Lombard, M. (2005). Evidence of hunting and hafting during the Middle Stone Age at Sibidu Cave, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa: A multianalytical approach. Journal of Human Evolution, 48, 279–300.
Lombard, M. (2020). The tip cross-sectional areas of poisoned bone arrowheads from southern Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science: Reports, 33, 102477.
Lombard, M. (2021). Variation in hunting weaponry for more than 300,000 years: A tip cross-sectional area study of Middle Stone Age points from southern Africa. Quaternary Science Reviews, 264, 107021.
Lombard, M. (2022). A standardized approach to the origins of lightweight-javelin hunting. Lithic Technology, 1–11.
Lombard, M., & Moncel, M.-H. (2023). Neanderthal hunting weapons re-assessed: A tip cross-sectional area analysis of Middle Palaeolithic point assemblages from south eastern France. Quaternary, 6, 17.
Lombard, M., & Shea, J. J. (2021). Did Pleistocene Africans use the spearthrower-and-dart? Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 30, 307–315.
Lombard, M., Lotter, M. G., & Caruana, M. V. (2022). The tip cross-sectional area (TCSA) method strengthened and constrained with ethno-historical material from sub-Saharan Africa. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 1–25.
Marwick, B. (2017). Computational reproducibility in archaeological research: Basic principles and a case study of their implementation. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 24, 424–450.
McPherron, S. P., Braun, D. R., Dogandžić, T., Archer, W., Desta, D., & Lin, S. C. (2014). An experimental assessment of the influences on edge damage to lithic artifacts: A consideration of edge angle, substrate grain size, raw material properties, and exposed face. Journal of Archaeological Science, 49, 70–82.
Metz, L., Lewis, J. E., & Slimak, L. (2023). Bow-and-arrow, technology of the first modern humans in Europe 54,000 years ago at Mandrin, France. Science Advances, 9, eadd4675.
Morisaki, K., Shiba, K., & Choi, D. (2022). Examining frequency and directionality of Palaeolithic sea-crossing over the Korea/Tsushima Strait: a synthesis. World Archaeology, 54, 162–186.
Nakazawa, Y., & Bae, C. J. (2018). Quaternary paleoenvironmental variation and its impact on initial human dispersals into the Japanese archipelago. Palaeogeography Palaeoclimatology Palaeoecology, 512, 145–155.
Norton, C. J., & Jin, J. J. (2009). The evolution of modern human behavior in East Asia: Current perspectives. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews: Issues, News, and Reviews, 18, 247–260.
O’Driscoll, C. A., & Thompson, J. C. (2018). The origins and early elaboration of projectile technology. Evolutionary Anthropology: Issues, News, and Reviews, 27, 30–45.
Park, G. (2013). A study on the stemmed points of the Late Paleolithic in the Korean Peninsula. Yeongnam Archaeological Review, 64, 39–69.
Park, G., & Marwick, B. (2022). How did the introduction of stemmed points affect mobility and site occupation during the Late Pleistocene in Korea? Quaternary Science Reviews, 277, 107312.
Prates, L., Rivero, D., & Perez, S. I. (2022). Changes in projectile design and size of prey reveal the central role of Fishtail points in megafauna hunting in South America. Scientific Reports, 12, 1–13.
Pratt, J., Goebel, T., Graf, K., & Izuho, M. (2020). A Circum-Pacific perspective on the origin of stemmed points in North America. PaleoAmerica, 6, 64–108.
R Core Team. (2021). R: A language and environment for statistical computing (p. 2015).
Rorabaugh, A. N., & Fulkerson, T. J. (2015). Timing of the introduction of arrow technologies in the Salish Sea, Northwest North America. Lithic Technology, 40, 21–39.
Sahle, Y., & Brooks, A. S. (2019). Assessment of complex projectiles in the Early Late Pleistocene at Aduma, Ethiopia. PLoS One, 14, e0216716.
Seong, C. (2004). Quartzite and vein quartz as lithic raw materials reconsidered: A view from the Korean Paleolithic. Asian Perspective, 73–91.
Seong, C. (2006). A comparative and evolutionary approach to the Korean Paleolithic assemblages. Journal of the Korean Ancient Historical Society, 5–42.
Seong, C. (2008). Tanged points, microblades and Late Palaeolithic hunting in Korea. Antiquity, 82, 871–883.
Seong, C. (2009). Emergence of a blade industry and evolution of Late Paleolithic technology in the Republic of Korea. Journal of Anthropological Research, 65, 417–451.
Seong, C. (2015). Diversity of lithic assemblages and evolution of Late Palaeolithic culture in Korea. Asian Perspective, 91–112.
Seong, C., & Bae, C. J. (2016). The eastern Asian ‘Middle Palaeolithic’revisited: A view from Korea. Antiquity, 90, 1151–1165.
Shea, J. J. (2006). The origins of lithic projectile point technology: Evidence from Africa, the Levant, and Europe. Journal of Archaeological Science, 33, 823–846.
Shea, J. J. (2009). The impact of projectile weaponry on Late Pleistocene hominin evolution. The evolution of hominin diets Springer, 189–199.
Sisk, M. L., & Shea, J. J. (2011). The African origin of complex projectile technology: An analysis using tip cross-sectional area and perimeter. International Journal of Evolutionary Biology 2011.
Sitton, J., Story, B., Buchanan, B., & Eren, M. I. (2020). Tip cross-sectional geometry predicts the penetration depth of stone-tipped projectiles. Scientific Reports, 10, 1–9.
Sohn, P. (1967). Seokjang-ri Paleolithic culture (pp. 379–397). Yeoksahakbo.
Song, M., & Zhong, H. (2020). Efficient weighted univariate clustering maps outstanding dysregulated genomic zones in human cancers. Bioinformatics, 36, 5027–5036.
Thomas, D. H. (1978). Arrowheads and atlatl darts: How the stones got the shaft. American Antiquity, 43, 461–472.
Wadley, L., & Mohapi, M. (2008). A segment is not a monolith: Evidence from the Howiesons Poort of Sibudu, South Africa. Journal of Archaeological Science, 35, 2594–2605.
Wang, H., & Song, M. (2011). Ckmeans. 1d. Dp: Optimal k-means clustering in one dimension by dynamic programming. The R journal, 3, 29.
Yi, S., & Kim, S.-J. (2010). Vegetation changes in western central region of Korean Peninsula during the last glacial (ca. 21.1–26.1 cal kyr BP). Geosciences Journal, 14, 1–10.
Yim, Y.-J., & Kira, T. (1975). Distribution of forest vegetation and climate in the Korean Peninsula.: I. Distribution of some indices of thermal climate. Japanese Journal of Ecology, 25, 77–88.
Acknowledgements
We are grateful for the insightful feedback provided on an early draft of this paper by Ben Fitzhugh and Peter Lape. Their valuable input greatly enhanced the quality of our work.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
Gayoung Park: software, validation, formal analysis, resources, data curation, writing — original draft, writing — review and editing, visualization, project administration
Marlize Lombard: conceptualization, methodology, supervision
Donghee Chong: data curation
Ben Marwick: software, validation, formal analysis, investigation, writing — review and editing, visualization, supervision
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethical Approval
Not applicable.
Competing Interests
The authors declare no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher’s Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.
About this article
Cite this article
Park, G., Lombard, M., Chong, D. et al. Variation in Use of East Asian Late Paleolithic Weapons: a Study of Tip Cross-sectional Area of Stemmed Points from Korea. J Paleo Arch 6, 36 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-023-00163-x
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s41982-023-00163-x