Environmental change and raw material selection strategies at Taoshan: a terminal Late Pleistocene to Holocene site in north-eastern China

Abstract

The Lesser Khingan Mountains of north-eastern China are heavily forested, making archaeological site identification difficult owing to poor ground surface visibility. Nevertheless, several prehistoric archaeological site discoveries have been made in recent years and a limited number of excavations have been initiated. One of the most important sites to emerge is Taoshan, which has yielded stratified stone tool assemblages dating from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the mid-Holocene. Pollen profiles indicate significant changes in vegetation, fluctuating from steppe conditions during the LGM to forested conditions in the Bølling–Allerød interstadial (B–A) and the mid-Holocene. The stone tool assemblages from Taoshan were primarily produced from varieties of volcanic tuff, rhyolite, hornfels and agate. Geological prospecting and petrological analyses were performed to document procurement sources and changes in raw material exploitation strategies. During the LGM, the predominant raw material was vitric tuff, available from a source ca. 5–10 km from Taoshan. In the B–A and mid-Holocene layers, emphasis was on the exploitation of raw materials in gravel bars, although stone tool reduction techniques and raw material preferences changed considerably during this time interval. Diachronic changes in raw materials and exploitation strategies correspond to changes in vegetation and human adaptations.