The Lithic Industry And Human Behavior At The Yumidong Site

The Three Gorges is a key area in the research on the origins, evolution and adaption of ancient humans to environment and resources. The Yumidong Site is another major new discovery after the Longgupo Site. The cave deposits of the Yumidong Site covers an area of over 1,000 square meters. The stratigraphic deposits are thick with obvious layers and there are cultural relics excavated in each layer. The initial age-dating and research results show that this site may be established and existing 8-400 Ka ago or earlier and the site were used as a long-term multifunctional central camp. This paper conducts a report and a preliminary research on about 3,000 stoneware, 100 bone, horn and teeth products and numerous mammal fossils excavated in 2013, and explores the behavior modes of ancient humans reflected by the lithic industry in the Yumidong Site in the regional environment and resources conditions.The paper reveals the general features of the lithic industry in Yumidong Site in the aspects of the raw materials, blanks, type assemblage, technology and forms of the lithic, and observes the longitudinal development of lithic industry in Yumidong Site from the perspective of layering research. The research results reveal the unique features of lithic industry of Yumidong Site. Limestone was the main raw material gathered nearby and the natural forms of blanks were flexibly used, so it shows a passive and flexible way of using raw materials and blanks; Cores, Flakes, Chunk and Fragment are rarely seen, and most of the lithic artifacts were retouched tools, including Scrapers, Points, Choppers, Notches, Picks, Borers, etc.; the Lithic technology and forms show that highly efficient and convenient tool making strategies were adopted by ancient humans. They rarely knapped flakes and made full use of original blank through retouching raw blanks into “marginal retouched tools”; layering study suggest that from upper paleolithic to the lower paleolithic,the lithic industry of the site remains almost the same in terms of raw materials, blanks, technology and forms. The only difference between the two stages lies in the assemblage of lithic tools, for there were more types of tools and a few special types made in the lower paleolithic. It shows more inheritance, less innovation and slow continuous development of lithic industry in the Yumidong Site. Moreover, the culture development can be traced back to the same origin without the sign of foreign culture. It is a regional and independent evolution under adaptation to the environment and resource conditions.This paper adopts simulation experiment to interpret and verify some doubts and questions about the lithic products in the Yumidong Site. Burial experiment, tool-making experiment and tool-using experiment are designed based on various purposes. The burial experiment shows that the “fake lithic tools” similar to the lithic tools excavated can’t be made through being treaded by animals or rolled and collided by natural force, it can explain the doubts about whether some lithic tools were made by ancient humans in the Yumidong Site. The tool-making experiment shows that blanks can be obtained through throwing against anvil instead of flaking by hammer. In the tool-making experiment, raw blanks similar with the target objects are used to make tools and it will simplify the manufacture procedure and play a multiplier role in the tool-making;the strategy and processing technology used in the experiment are similar to those used to make the tools excavated in the Site. The tool-using experiment demonstrates that tools made out of limestone are able to cut trees, bamboos, kill sheep and excavate the rootstocks of plants with good effect. It helps to rectify the traditional view that limestone is not a good raw material to make tools. Meanwhile, the tool-using experiment also reflects that there might be some “use tools” made directly from naturally formed blanks in the Site.This paper tries to figure out the relationship between lithic tools, the environment and resources through studying the types and appearance of the lithic tools, as well as the technological factors in the production of them. Moreover, it also tries to reflect the conditions of environment and resources at that time through studying the species, abundance and residual status of animal fossils, so as to explore the survival and adaptive behaviors of ancient humans. The study shows that the appearance and technology of lithic tools highly conform to the environment and resources in the middle-late Pleistocene, demonstrating the technology evolution of environmental determinism. “Ecological adaptation” is the main factor in regional culture features and the site displays the “comprehensive behavioral model” of ancient Chinese humans, including continuous, stable, pragmatic, simple, convenient, flexible, maneuverable, adaptive, environmentally harmonious features, further demonstrating the local features of Chinese ancient culture and the unique ways of humans’ adaption. The excavating situation of animal fossils can reflect both ecological environment and human behaviors. Yumidong Site is a multifunctional cave for long-term settlement. The feeding pattern of ancient humans in the site depends on logistic migration, and it is a dependent food-obtaining way. The broad-spectrum, in-depth and frugal use of animal and plant resources, especially the obtaining of meat and manufacture of wares made of bones, horns and teeth, show the diverse survival wisdom and survival concept of living in harmony with the environment of ancient humans.By comparison with related sites, this paper discusses the cultural orientation and significance of Yumidong Site. The comparison of Yumidong Site with the sites in the Three Gorges shows that the Yumidong Site is a regional varient in the Palaeolithic cultural system of the Three Gorges Region. The lithic tools still has unique features in their appearance, but there is a convergent inclinoction phenomenon between the lithic technology and human behaviors, which is the outcome of adpation of humans to the special forest environment in the Three Gorges Region. Its origin lies in the local culture rooted and thriving in the region. The comparison of Yumidong Site with domestic sites shows that Yumidong Site is highly consistent with the type of cave sites in Pebble-tools system in the Southern China, while it is quite different from the Flake-tools in the north. Similar stone industry forms and convergent human behaviors are formed under the influence of similar geological and geomorphic environment, similar animal and plant resources and similar raw materials of lithic, so it verifies technology evolution in environmental and resource determinism. The comparison of Yumidong Site with foreign sites shows that there are common features in the culture between Yumidong Site and the Site in Southeast Asia, reflecting potential existence of the same cultural origin or cultural exchange and communications. The Palaeolithic culture in Yumidong Site is different from that in the African and European Continent, for they belong to different culture tradition and technical systems. The theory on the 5 patterns of Western prehistoric culture evolution are applied to demonstrate the cultural evolution process and forms of Chinese ancient and this method has no sufficient basis. Yumidong Site shows us a good example of continuous evolution and cultural inheritance of a population in a region and the era of it happens to coincide with the starting time of modern people. Therefore, it provides evidence to support the fact of continuous evolution of modern people in this region and offers an important clue to explore the theory of multiregionl evolution, the regional and diverse features and motivation of continuous evolution of ancient humans.