Lithic technological transition in MIS3 revealed by the lithic assemblages of Liujia Locality 2, Central China

• The first dated Middle to Late Pleistocene site in Chaohu region of Central China is presented. • Samples were dated by Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL). • The site recorded the transition of raw materials and toolkits manufacture shifts in MIS3. Liujia Locality 2, located at Central China, is a Paleolithic site with two cultural units. The luminescence dating results revealed that the lower unit ranges from MIS7 or 6 to MIS5, and the upper unit corresponds to MIS3. The lower cultural unit is characterized by heavy duty tools on large flakes of quartzite and quartz sandstone. In the upper cultural unit, rhyolitic tuff became the preferential raw material, and was used to produce small tools. Debitage products from the upper unit were mainly angular chunks caused by the internal flaws of the rhyolitic tuff, and plentiful small tools, some of which contain different patterns of edge modification with shallow retouch scars, were made on these chunks. The toolkits manufacture and raw material preferences of Liujia Loc.2 changed dramatically from lower to upper unit. This transition documented in Liujia Loc.2 is probably related to the behavioral variability of Homo sapiens during their wide dispersal during MIS3, though other potential driving mechanisms cannot be ruled out.