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On the Processes of Diversification in Microblade Technocomplexes in the Late 29 Glacial Hokkaido Yuichi Nakazawa and Satoru Yamada

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On the Processes of Diversification in Microblade Technocomplexes in the Late 29 Glacial Hokkaido Yuichi Nakazawa and Satoru Yamada Nakazawa and Yamada On the Processes of Diversification in Microblade Technocom- plexes in the Late Glacial Hokkaido On the Processes of Diversification in Microblade Technocomplexes in the Late 29 Glacial Hokkaido Yuichi Nakazawa and Satoru Yamada ABSTRACT Microblade technology was a newly invented technology sented by the emergence of various technocomplexes in among modern humans in northeastern Asia during the the Late Glacial. The diversification processes occurred terminal Pleistocene. Because of its pan-regional distri- gradually at a millennial scale, suggesting that the tech- bution, wedge- shaped microblade cores have long been nological changes in microblade technocomplexes and regarded as a cultural marker and a technology critical tool assemblages resulted from demographic pressure. to debates concerning the peopling of the New World. In Hokkaido, where numerous Late Glacial archaeological Introduction sites are recorded, microblade assemblages exhibit nota- ble variability in stone tool classes and the morphotech- The past three decades have witnessed consistent debate nological characteristics of microblade cores. This paper focused on the origin of modern humans. As McBrearty addresses the questions of how and why the variability and Brooks (2000) demonstrated in Africa, the archaic in microblade technocomplexes emerged in Late Gla- to modern behavioral transition was gradual and is ex- cial Hokkaido (northern Japan). By employing a large pressed in certain aspects of the archaeological record data set of microblade technocomplexes from Hokkaido, (i.e., abstract thinking; planning depth; behavioral, eco- we measure richness and evenness of stone tool classes nomic, and technological innovativeness; and symbolic among four continuous phases (i.e., pre–Last Glacial behavior) that vary according to geographic region. Even Maximum [LGM], LGM, early Late Glacial, and late Late in Europe, where the Old Stone Age has been investi- Glacial) and among five technocomplexes (i.e., early Late gated for more than a century, contradictory views on the Glacial technocomplex with bifacial microblade cores, origin of modern human behavior are prominent—for late Late Glacial technocomplex with bifacial microblade example, an abrupt transition from the Neanderthal to cores, late Late Glacial technocomplex with nonbifacial modern humans (Middle to Upper Paleolithic) has been microblade cores, late Late Glacial technocomplex with proposed based on archaeological records in southwest- small boat-shaped tools, and late Late Glacial techno- ern France (e.g., Klein 2008; Mellars 1989), while grad- complex with stemmed points). The frequencies of tool ual and stepwise transitions have been observed in other classes in the assemblages are also compared among the regions of Europe (e.g., Kuhn and Bietti 2000; Straus four phases. Although the small sample size of the pre- 2005, 2012; Straus and Heller 1988). In northeast Asia, LGM and LGM assemblages makes it difficult to evaluate the origin of modern humans and the transition from tool assemblage variability, a gradual increase in tool as- Middle to Upper Paleolithic is complex (Brantingham semblage variability after the end of the LGM toward the et al. 2001; Derevianko 2011). This is partly a result of end of Late Glacial are coupled with the diversification its vast geographic range. Northeastern Asia—northern processes of microblade core reduction methods repre- China, Korea, Mongolia, eastern Siberia, Russian Far 418 TAM Kaifu 13791.indd 418 9/3/14 3:44 PM East, and northern Japan—is a large geographic block high. A total of 233 sites have yielded microblade assem- occupying the eastern end of the northern hemisphere blages in Hokkaido (Tsutsumi 2011). This sample size and is situated on the northern Pacific Rim between the could be partly due to the difference between regions in Old and New Worlds. With respect to the Late Glacial and outside Hokkaido, but could also reflect behavioral archaeological records, northeastern Asia has been char- factors including Late Pleistocene hunter–gatherer pop- acterized by microblade technology used in composite ulation dynamics, rate of technological innovations, and tools, which has been commonly recognized as a formal hunter–gatherer technological strategies, as well as en- stone tool technology invented and maintained by termi- vironmental factors that include changes in climate and nal Pleistocene hunter–gatherer societies (Bar- Yosef and density of prey resources in human habitats. Given the Kuhn 1999; Elston and Brantigham 2002; Goebel 1999, current status of Paleolithic archaeology in Hokkaido, this 2002; Yi and Clark 1985). Microblade technology also paper addresses the question of why the observed mor- serves as the major lithic weapon system that was car- photechnological variability in microblade assemblages ried over Beringia and into the New World (e.g., Dixon in Hokkaido emerged during the Late Glacial. 1999; Hamilton and Goebel 1999; Hoffecker et al. 1993). Given its complexity, in terms of both manufacture and Geographic Setting of Hokkaido use, doubtless microblades were a technology newly in- vented by modern humans. Hokkaido is a large island located at the northern mar- Because of the large geographic region and differences gin of the Japanese Archipelago, extending from 42°N in trajectories of research among various countries, the to 46°N latitude and between 140°E and 146°E longitude quantity and quality of archaeological data vary region- (figure 29.1). The total land surface measures 83,456 km2 ally in northeastern Asia. Hokkaido, located at the east- (2097 acres). The geography of Hokkaido is largely di- ern edge of northeastern Asia, is characterized by both a vided into western and eastern regions by the Hidaka rich Late Glacial microblade industry and dense distri- and Kitami Mountains, which run in a north–south di- bution of Late Glacial (Upper Paleolithic) sites. Micro- rection along the center of the island. An estimation of blade technology, notably characterized by wedge- shaped low surface- water salinity in the Sea of Japan, based on microblade cores, is widely distributed across the north- the planktonic delta oxygen isotopic values, suggests that ern Eurasia. This microblade technology, known as the the sill depths of the straits during the LGM were shal- “Yubetsu method,” was originally recognized from speci- lower than they are at present (Tada 1999). The Tsushima mens found at the Shirataki site, northeastern Hokkaido Strait, situated between the Korean Peninsula and the Sea (Yoshizaki 1961). While scholars have investigated the of Japan, was only 10 km across and 10 m deep (Ono behavioral significance of the pan- geographic distribu- 1990). Therefore, the Sea of Japan was a nearly closed tion of wedge- shaped microblade cores (e.g., Kajiwara environment. Because of the global glacioeustatic drop 2008; Yi and Clark 1985), Japanese Paleolithic archaeolo- in sea level, the four major islands were combined into gists have mostly devoted time and energy to extracting two landmasses: the Paleo- Sakhalin–Hokkaido–Kuril patterns of morphotechnological characteristics in lithic Peninsula that was connected to Sakhalin Island and the artifacts, to build cultural chronologies. The increased Russian Far East. During the Pleistocene, Hokkaido was number of assemblages in Japan resulting from the rush the southern end of this narrow peninsula, stretching of salvage projects over the past four decades provided from the Russian Far East (figure 29.1). The western part an opportunity for this wave of analyses (Nakazawa 2010; of Japan was a large island referred to as Paleo-Honshu Tsurumaru 2001). After decades of research, we now share Island. In addition to large terrestrial mammals, includ- the common perception that microblade assemblages in ing mammoths, horses, and bison, humans could also Hokkaido exhibit technological diversification (Izuho migrate back and forth between Eastern Siberia and et al. 2012; Nakazawa et al. 2005; Yamada 2006). The num- Hokkaido. Despite the ability to reconstruct the mam- ber of sites with microblades and the variability observed mal community, the Pleistocene archaeological sites in in microblade assemblages from Hokkaido is remarkably the Japanese Archipelago normally lack organic remains On the Processes of Diversification in Microblade Technocomplexes in the Late Glacial Hokkaido 419 TAM Kaifu 13791.indd 419 9/3/14 3:44 PM was around the LGM or before (Adachi et al. 2011). How- ever, scarce evidence of the Late Pleistocene hominin fos- sil records from northeastern Asia and Hokkaido makes it difficult to further test the timing of migrations and degree of interactions among Paleolithic populations in northeastern Asia. Phylogenetic relationships of technol- ogies among Late Pleistocene humans in northeastern Asia are characterized by blades and microliths, namely Mode 4 and 5 technologies (Clark 1969; Foley and Lahr 1997). At the regional level, such as the Korean Peninsula, Sakhalin, and Hokkaido, archaeological records paint complex pictures of the evolution of technology, beyond the simple labeling of Modes 4 and 5. Microblade Assemblages in Hokkaido Contrary to the macrogeographical view of human col- onization in northern Eurasia, insight into microblade technology has been centered on morphotechnological issues since the beginning of the archaeological research in Hokkaido, especially on the reconstructions of mi- croblade core reductions and types of microblade cores.
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