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Longquan Cave: an early Upper Palaeolithic site in Henan Province, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 July 2016

Shuisheng Du ,
Xuan Li ,
Li Zhou ,
Haijiao Pang ,
Ofer Bar-Yosef  and
Xiaohong Wu
Shuisheng Du*
Affiliation:
School of History, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Dajie, Beijing 100875, China
Xuan Li
Affiliation:
School of History, Beijing Normal University, 19 Xinjiekouwai Dajie, Beijing 100875, China Luoyang Academy of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, 232 Kaiyuan Dadao, Luoyang 471000, China
Li Zhou
Affiliation:
Luoyang Academy of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, 232 Kaiyuan Dadao, Luoyang 471000, China
Haijiao Pang
Affiliation:
Luanchuan Cultural Relics Administrative Institute, 55 Xinghua Xijie, Luanchuan 471500, China
Ofer Bar-Yosef
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, 11 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Xiaohong Wu
Affiliation:
School of Archaeology and Museology, Peking University, Jingchun Road, Haidian District, Beijing 100871, China
*
*Author for correspondence (Email: ssdu@bnu.edu.cn)
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Abstract

The Palaeolithic sequence of East Asia differs from that of western Eurasia in that it is characterised by core-and-flake tools. Blade industries only appear late in the sequence, long after the first appearance of modern humans; bone tools and personal ornaments may therefore function as a better marker of modern human presence. Longquan Cave provides vital new evidence to this effect, with dated hearths indicating an initial occupation around 40 kya cal BP, followed by a second period of activity around 35–31 kya cal BP. They are associated with a polished bone awl and a structured division of settlement space, features typically associated with modern humans.

Keywords

ChinaLongquan CavePalaeolithiclithicsquartzbone toolradiocarbon dating
Type
Research
Information
Antiquity , Volume 90 , Issue 352 , August 2016 , pp. 876 - 893
Copyright
Copyright © Antiquity Publications Ltd, 2016 

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