Quina lithic technology indicates diverse Late Pleistocene human dynamics in East Asia

The Late Pleistocene of Eurasia is key for understanding interactions between early modern humans and different types of archaic human groups. During this period, lithic technology shows more diversity and complexity, likely indicating flexible adaptative strategies. However, cultural variability as expressed by technological types remains vague in large parts of eastern Eurasia, like in China. Here, we report a complete Quina technological system identified from the study of the Longtan site in Southwest China. The site has been securely dated to ca. 60 to 50 thousand years ago (ka), with compelling evidence of core exploitation, production of large and thick flakes, shaping and maintenance of scrapers exhibiting the whole Quina concept, typical of contemporary European Middle Paleolithic technologies developed by Neanderthal groups adapted to climatic oscillations during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 and early MIS 3. The finding of a Quina lithic assemblage in China not only demonstrates the existence of a Middle Paleolithic technology in the region but also shows large-scale analogies with Neanderthal behaviors in western Europe. Longtan substantially extends the geographic distribution of this technical behavior in East Asia. Although its origin remains unclear, implications for Pleistocene hominin dispersal and adaptation to diverse ecological settings are considered. The Longtan lithic evidence also provides perspectives for understanding the cultural evolutionary situation before the large-scale arrivals of early modern humans in East Asia predating ~45 ka.

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Publication Details

Journal
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Published
2025-03-31
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2418029122
Citations
8
Primary Topic
Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
Type
article
Field-Weighted Citation Impact
90.77

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article

Quina lithic technology indicates diverse Late Pleistocene human dynamics in East Asia

Peiyuan Xiao, Alexandra Sumner, Fahu Chen, Zhenxiu Jia et al.
8 citations
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
90.77
article

Quina lithic technology indicates diverse Late Pleistocene human dynamics in East Asia

Peiyuan Xiao, Alexandra Sumner, Fahu Chen, Zhenxiu Jia, Qijun Ruan, Davide Delpiano, Ben Marwick, Marie-Hélène Moncel, Marco Peresani, Keliang Zhao, Hao Li, Bo Li, Youping Wang, Chunxin Wang, Anchuan Fan, Jian-Hui Liu, Hélène Monod
article en
8 citations

Abstract

The Late Pleistocene of Eurasia is key for understanding interactions between early modern humans and different types of archaic human groups. During this period, lithic technology shows more diversity and complexity, likely indicating flexible adaptative strategies. However, cultural variability as expressed by technological types remains vague in large parts of eastern Eurasia, like in China. Here, we report a complete Quina technological system identified from the study of the Longtan site in Southwest China. The site has been securely dated to ca. 60 to 50 thousand years ago (ka), with compelling evidence of core exploitation, production of large and thick flakes, shaping and maintenance of scrapers exhibiting the whole Quina concept, typical of contemporary European Middle Paleolithic technologies developed by Neanderthal groups adapted to climatic oscillations during Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 4 and early MIS 3. The finding of a Quina lithic assemblage in China not only demonstrates the existence of a Middle Paleolithic technology in the region but also shows large-scale analogies with Neanderthal behaviors in western Europe. Longtan substantially extends the geographic distribution of this technical behavior in East Asia. Although its origin remains unclear, implications for Pleistocene hominin dispersal and adaptation to diverse ecological settings are considered. The Longtan lithic evidence also provides perspectives for understanding the cultural evolutionary situation before the large-scale arrivals of early modern humans in East Asia predating ~45 ka.

Proceedings of the National Academy of SciencesVol. 122(14)
King University (US), DePaul University (US), University of Science and Technology of China (CN), Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (FR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), University of Ferrara (IT), University of Washington (US), Peking University (CN), University of Wollongong (AU), Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (CN), Institute of Environmental Geology and Geoengineering (IT), Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (FR), Yunnan Archaeology (CN), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research (CN), Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology (CN), National Museum of Natural History (BG), National Research Council (IT), University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN), Universitat Rovira i Virgili (ES)
National Natural Science Foundation of China, Università degli Studi di Ferrara, Australian Research Council
Life below water
Openalex Percentile: Top 0%
Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology
90.77
DOIOpen Access PDFOpenAlex
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