Abstract
The criteria to define the Middle Paleolithic in East Asia have traditionally been presence/absence of archaic Homo sapiens fossils, biostratigraphy, lithostratigraphy, the Middle-Late Pleistocene transition, and lithic technology. In this paper, we examine the use of the Middle-Late Pleistocene shift as a valid criterion for characterizing the Middle Paleolithic in East Asia. Our review indicates that the most representative “Middle Paleolithic” sites in China (Zhoukoudian Locality 15, Dingcun, Xujiayao, Dali) all have chronometric ages that bracket the Middle-Late Pleistocene transition. However, the age range for these sites is extremely wide, extending from the middle Middle Pleistocene (c. 500 ka) to the middle Late Pleistocene (75 ka). This very large chronometric span suggests that the Middle-Late Pleistocene transition (140–100 ka) is of little use for defining a distinct Middle Paleolithic in East Asia. Other evidence to support a distinct East Asian Middle Paleolithic is also not strong, particularly distinct changes in lithic technology. Accordingly, we argue that an “Early” Paleolithic, representing the originally designated Lower and Middle Paleolithic sites, is more applicable to the uniqueness of the East Asian archaeological record.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bae, K.D., 1997. A review of current Palaeolithic archaeology in Korea. Paleolithic Archaeology 55, 19–24. (in Japanese)
Chen, T.M., Yuan, S.X., Gao, S.J., Wang, L.X., and Zhao, G.Y., 1982, Uranium Series Dating of Xujiayao (Hsu-chia-yao) Site. Acta Anthropologica Sinica 1: 91–95 (in Chinese)
Chen, T.M., Yuan, S.X., Gao, S.J., 1984. The study on uranium-series dating of fossil bones as an absolute age sequence for the main Paleolithic sites of North China. Acta Anthropologica Sinica 3, 259–269. (in Chinese)
Corvinus, G., 2004. Homo erectus in East and Southeast Asia, and the questions of the age of the species and its association with stone artifacts, with special attention to handaxe-like tools. Quaternary International 117, 141–151.
Daniel, G., 1981. A Short History of Archaeology. Norton, New York.
Dong, W., Jin, C.Z., Xu, Q.Q., Liu, J.Y., Tong, H.W., Zheng, L.T., 2000. A comparative analysis on the mammalian faunas associated with Homo erectus in China. Acta Anthropologica Sinica 19 (Supplement), 246–256.
Gao, X., 1999. A discussion of the ‘Chinese Middle Paleolithic.’ Acta Anthropologica Sinica 18, 1–16. (in Chinese)
Gao, X., 2000. Interpretations of Typological Variability within Paleolithic Remains from Zhoukoudian Locality 15, China. Ph.D. dissertation, University of Arizona.
Gao, X., Norton, C.J., 2002. A critique of the Chinese ‘Middle Palaeolithic.’ Antiquity 76, 397–412.
Hou, Y.M., Potts, R., Yuan, B.Y., Guo, Z.T., Deino, A., Wang, W., Clark, J., Xie, G.M., Huang, W.W., 2000. Mid-Pleistocene Acheulean-like stone technology of the Bose Basin, South China. Science 287, 1622–1626.
Jia, L.P., Wei, Q., 1976. Xujiayao Palaeolithic site, in Yanggao County, Shanxi Province. Archaeology Bulletin 2, 97–114. (in Chinese)
Jia, L.P., Wei, Q., Li, C.R., 1979. Report on the excavation of the Hsuchiayao Man site in 1976. Vertebrata PalAsiatica 17, 277–293. (in Chinese)
Klein, R.G., 1999. The Human Career 2nd Edition. University of Chicago Press, Chicago.
Li, Y.X., Fei, X., Shi, J.M., 1991. A preliminary study of the lithic industry from the Banjingzi site at Yangyuan County, Hebei Province. In: IVPP (Ed.), Contributions to the XIII INQUA. Beijing Scientific and Technological Publishing House, Beijing, pp. 74–99. (in Chinese)
Lovlie, R., Su, P., Fan, X.Z., Zhao, Z.J., Liu, C., 2001. A revised paleomagnetic age of the Nihewan Group at the Xujiayao Palaeolithic site, China. Quaternary Science Reviews 20, 1341–1353.
Lycett, S.J., 2007. Why is there a lack of Mode 3 Levallois technologies in East Asia? A phylogenetic test of the Movius–Schick hypothesis. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology 26, 541–575.
Norton, C.J., 2000. The current state of Korean paleoanthropology. Journal of Human Evolution 38, 803–825.
Norton, C.J., Bae, K.D., 2008. The Movius Line sensu lato (Norton et al. 2006) Further assessed and defined. Journal of Human Evolution 55: 1148–50.
Norton, C.J., Bae, K.D., Harris, J.W.K., Lee, H.Y., 2006. Middle Pleistocene handaxes from the Korean Peninsula. Journal of Human Evolution 51, 527–536.
Norton, C.J., Gao, X., 2008a. Hominin-carnivore interactions during the Chinese Early Paleolithic: Taphonomic perspectives from Xujiayao. Journal of Human Evolution 55, 164–178.
Norton, C.J., Gao, X., 2008b. Zhoukoudian Upper Cave Revisited: A Taphonomic Perspective. Current Anthropology 49: 732–745.
Norton, C.J., Jin, C.Z., Wang, Y., and Zhang, Y.Q., 2009, Rethinking the Palearctic-Oriental biogeographic boundary in Quaternary China. In Asian Paleoanthropology: From Africa to China and Beyond, edited by C.J. Norton and D. Braun. Vertebrate Paleobiology and Paleoanthropology Series, Springer Press, Dordrecht, The Netherlands. (in press)
Petraglia, M.D., Shipton, C., 2008. Large cutting tool variation west and east of the Movius Line. Journal of Human Evolution 55, 962–966.
Qiu, Z.L., 1985. The Middle Palaeolithic of China. In: Wu, R.K., Olsen, J.W. (Eds.), Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic Archaeology in the People’s Republic of China. Academic Press, Orlando, pp. 187–210.
Qiu, Z.L., 1989. The Middle Paleolithic of China. In: Wu, R.K., Wu, X.Z., Zhang, S.S. (Eds.), Early Humankind in China. Science Press, Beijing, pp. 195–219. (in Chinese)
Schick, K.D., Toth, N., 1993. Making Silent Stones Speak: Human Evolution and the Dawn of Technology. Simon and Schuster, New York.
Schick, K.D., Toth, N., 2001. Paleoanthropology at the millennium: In: Feinman, G.M., Price, T.D. (Eds.), Archaeology at the Millennium: A Sourcebook. Kluwer Academic/Plenum, New York, pp. 39–108.
Shen, G.J., Ku, T.L., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., Yuan, Z.X., Wang, Q., 2001. High-precision U-series dating of Locality 1 at Zhoukoudian, China. Journal of Human Evolution 41, 676–688.
Shen, G.J., Gao, X. Zhao, J.X., Collerson, K.D., 2004a. U-series dating of Locality 15 at Zhoukoudian, China, and implications for hominid evolution. Quaternary Research 62, 208–213.
Shen, G.J., Cheng, H., Edwards, R.L., 2004b. Mass spectrometric U-series datng of New Cave at Zhoukoudian, China. Journal of Archaeological Science 31, 337–342.
Toth, N., Schick, K.D., 1986. The first million years: The archaeology of protohuman culture. In Schiffer, M.B. (Ed.), Advances in Archaeological Method and Theory, Vol. 9. Academic Press, Orlando, pp. 1–96.
Toth, N., Schick, K.D., 2005. African origins. In: Scarre, C. (Ed.), The Human Past: World Prehistory and the Development of Human Socieities. Thames & Hudson, London, pp. 46–83.
Trigger, B.G., 2006. A History of Archaeological Thought 2nd Edition. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge.
Wang, S.J., 2005. Perspectives on hominid behaviour and settlement patterns: a study of the Lower Palaeolithic sites in the Luonan Basin, China. Archaeopress, Oxford.
Wang, S.J., 2006. Cleavers collected from the open-air sites in Luonan Basin, China. Acta Anthropologica Sinica 25, 332–342. (in Chinese)
Wang, W., Mo, J.Y., Huang, Z.T., 2006. Recent discovery of handaxes associated with tektites in the Nanbanshan locality of the Damei site, Bose basin, Guangxi, south China. Chinese Science Bulletin 51, 2161–2165. (in Chinese)
Wu, X.Z., Poirier, F.E., 1995. Human Evolution in China. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
Wu, X.Z., Wang, L.H., 1985. Chronology in Chinese palaeoanthropology. In: Wu, R.K., Olsen, J.W. (Eds.), Palaeoanthropology and Palaeolithic Archaeology in the People’s Republic of China. Academic Press, Orlando, pp. 107–133.
Yin, G.M., Sun, Y.J., Ye, Y.G., Liu, W., 2001. The ESR age of shells from the bed of Dali with human fossil. Acta Anthropologica Sinica 20, 34–38. (in Chinese)
Zhang, S.S., 1985. A preliminary study on Middle Paleolithic cultures in North China. Shiqian Yanjiu 1, 8–16. (in Chinese)
Zhang, S.S., 1987. Paleolithic Cultures in China. Science and Technology Press, Tianjin. (in Chinese)
Zhang, S.S., 2004. A comparative study of Paleolithic assemblages at various localities of the Zhoukoudian region. In: Gao, X., Liu, W. (Eds.), Essays in Honor of Prof. Pei Wenzhong on the Hundredth Anniversary of his Birth. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, pp. 118–129. (in Chinese)
Zhang, S.S., Zhou, C.M., 1984. A preliminary study of the second excavation of Dali Man locality. Acta Anthropologica Sinica 3, 19–29. (in Chinese)
Zhu, R.X., An, Z.S., Potts, R., Hoffman, K.A., 2003. Magnetostratigraphic dating of early humans in China. Earth-Science Reviews 61, 341–359.
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Marta Camps and Parth Chauhan for inviting us to contribute this manuscript. The writing of this manuscript was supported in part by the Major Basic Research Projects of MST of China Grant (2006CB806400). We thank the editors and one anonymous reviewer for comments on a previous draft of this manuscript. We take full responsibility for the ideas presented here and for any errors that may exist.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2009 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Norton, C.J., Gao, X., Feng, X. (2009). The East Asian Middle Paleolithic Reexamined. In: Camps, M., Chauhan, P. (eds) Sourcebook of Paleolithic Transitions. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-76487-0_15
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-76487-0_15
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-0-387-76478-8
Online ISBN: 978-0-387-76487-0
eBook Packages: Humanities, Social Sciences and LawSocial Sciences (R0)