第四紀研究 (The Quaternary Research) 42 (6) p. 427-439 Dec. 2003 Review The Relationship between Culture and Environment of the Upper Paleolithic in Southern China Bao-quan Cai*1 and Keiichi Takahashi*2 The area of the upper Paleolithic in Southern China can be divided into five regions: the Area south of Wuling; Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau Region; West Sichuan Plateau Region; Sichuan Basin the Hilly Regions south of the Yangtze River; the Plain of the Middle and Lower Reaches of the Yangtze River. Regional differences of cultural features and economic forms of the upper Paleolithic in Southern China are consistent with the change of "Ailuropoda-Stegodon fauna" assemblages, and display a close relationship between culture and environment during that time. Key Words: Culture and Environment, Upper Paleolithic, Southern China, Ailuropoda-Stegodon fauna I. Introduction II. Regional differences of cultural features Cultures of the upper Paleolithic in Southern China are complex and diverse. Some scholars The analysis of differences in cultural fea- have summarized the types and techniques of tures should cover every aspect of cultural stone artifacts (Zhang, 1983, 1988; Huang, 1989; meaning. With regard to the relationship be- Li, 1993) or made general discussions in terms tween culture and environment, not all cultur- of the environmental evolution and cultural al factors are related to the environment; development of the entire Pleistocene (Wang, while some are closely related, others are the 1997). In this article a detailed analysis is made reflection of man's initiatives. According to the of the cultures of the upper Paleolithic and production needs at that time, ancient man mammalian assemblages of this period with would have chosen suitable stone materials for a view to detecting any relationships which making tools. For instance, gravel is the first- might exist between culture and environment choice raw material for making chopping tools, during this period in Southern China. while the gravel or calculus of flint is the ideal The analysis is based on the rich cultural material for making small stone artifacts, be- sites and mammalian fossil sites, and incorpo- cause this kind of stone is usually smaller in rates the latest absolute dating results of these size, pure in quality and hard and brittle so sites, with a time range of around 40,000- that it can be easily struck into flakes. The 9,000 years ago and a spatial dimension of characteristic of stone-flake blanks is limited to 99°-122°E and 21°-32°N (excluding Taiwan various stone materials, and this property will and Tibet). determine to a great extent the size of tools and the types of stone tool made or repaired by Received January 24, 2003. Accepted May 10, 2003. *1 Department of History , Xiamen University. Xiamen, The Peoples Republic of China. E-mail: *2 Cultural History and Geoscience Research Group , Scientific Research Department, Lake Biwa Museum. 1091 Oroshimo Kusatsu, Shiga, 525-0001, Japan. 428 B. Cai and K. Takahashi Dec. 2003 men. The tool size and type assemblage of 1986) and Chuandong cave (Zhang, 1983) of stone artifacts reflects ancient man's produc- Puding, Guizhou Province; Laolongdong cave tion activities. Different environments deter- of Eshan (Bai, 1998), Zhangkoudong cave of mine different production patterns, and also Yiliang (Hu, 1995) and Longtanshan of Cheng- determine different economic forms. When the gong (Hu, 1977), Yunnan Province. These sites environment is suitable for food gathering, are located at 960-2, 170m above sea level. large choppers play a dominant role among The common features of stone artifacts are man's tools. In comparison, when the environ- that the stone materials are composed of ment is suitable for hunting, small scrapers and quartz, flint stone and silica; the percussion points comprise the major stone artifacts. with hammers plays a major role in flaking, Therefore, cultural factors such as the type of while the bipolar technique plays a minor role stone materials, tool size and type assemblage or is used only occasionally; tools are small or are closely associated with the environment, medium-small in general and mostly retouched while man's objectives will play a major role in by flakes, with scrapers being the main form, flake production and repairing skill. Hence the followed by choppers and points; the use of analysis and comparison of cultural features flakes accounts for a certain proportion in this should take into account the environment- case, moreover, there is still some bone arti- related cultural factors mentioned above as fact. They all contained features typical of "Ma'anshan (Zhang well as blanks for stone artifacts and economic Culture" , 1988), primarily forms. characterized by a hunting economy, which Prior to the analysis: The criterion to judge existed 30,000-10,000 years ago. Caohai site the age of the sites is the existing dating data, in Weining County, Guizhou (Wu et al., 1983), of though sometimes this does not tally with the the same period in the same region is regarded boundary (i.e. the upper or the lower limit) of as another regional cultural pattern because its the site's age; the data of the cave sites' age in stone artifacts are large or medium-sized, only the region of Guangdong Province and Guan- scrapers and points existed, and the forms are gxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, especially very simple without any use of flakes (Zhang, the error of 14C dating value estimated from 1988). However the range of tools' length is shells, is large, and therefore more-reliable 40-73mm, and actually they are medium dating data was adopted for reference (Li, S., small-sized tools and not large medium-sized; 1991). The type of stone materials, tool size and furthermore, the stone artifacts present in nod- blanks for stone artifacts all refer to the ular strata of siderite ore, while siderite ore was numerically dominant items, e. g. in cases formed in the lentic reduction environment. where pebble tools are discussed, it does not Why do the stone artifacts co-occur within necessarily imply that there are no flake stone these sedimentary strata? Considering the artifacts present (Li, Y., 1991). In some regions fragmentary mammal fossils, we think that the there are less data about the sites of stone cultural relics were transported and selected artifacts. These problems might affect the by man, and hence the evidence is insufficient analysis of differences of cultural features and upon which to separate the Caohai site from "Ma'anshan Culture" and to regard it as anoth- therefore the conclusions drawn here are pre- liminary. er distinct regional cultural pattern. Based on the analysis of related cultural In the Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau Region the "Maomaodong Culture" replaced the "Ma'an- factors noted above, it is clear that regional differences existed in the cultural features of shan Culture". The characteristic of stone arti- the upper Paleolithic in Southern China, and facts of this culture is that stone materials that these can be grouped into five distinct consist of sandstone and silicic chalkstone regions as follows (Fig. 1). gravel; flakes were made primarily by a sharp- The Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau sites of the angle bipolar technique; large medium-sized upper Paleolithic include Ma'anshan of Tongzi flake stone artifacts account for a major por- (Zhang, 1988), Baiyanjiaodong cave (Li and Cai, tion of tools, with retouching to the fracture 2003年12月 Culture and environment of the upper Paleolithic in Southern China 429 Fig. 1 The regional differences of the upper Paleolithic culture in Southern China side being the main means; there were many the "Maomaodong Culture" can be categorized scrapers and points and some choppers, and as "post Paleolithic". Obviously, the distribu- some striking gravel and bone or antler imple- tion of the "Maomaodong Culture" is centered ments. They show that this culture was at the around southwest Guizhou and its influence stage of the economy of hunter-gatherers. The covers the entire Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau distribution range of the "Maomaodong Cul- Region. The age is early Holocene. Only Da- ture" was once thought to be limited within banqiao site in Kunming, Yunnan Province is southwest Guizhou (Zhang, 1988). However, peculiar with regard to the "post Paleolithic" the culture was subsequently discovered in sites in the early Holocene in the Yunnan- Laolongdong cave (Bai, 1998), Zhangkoudong Guizhou Plateau Region (Yang, 1993). All the cave (Hu, 1995), and Tangzigou and Maludong stone artifacts of Dabanqiao site are small- caves in Yunnan (Zhang, 1991), and in the west sized, and flakes are made primarily by a bipo- part of Yuanshui drainage area in Hunan Prov- lar technique. We think that Dabanqiao site ince (Yuan, 1992). Owing to its period of exist- was a place where stone artifacts were pro- ence, from around 10,000-7,000 years ago, duced, because among the 616 pieces of stone 430 B. Cai and K. Takahashi Dec. 2003 Fig. 2 Stone artifacts from Fulin site(富 林 遺 跡) artifacts unearthed, only 14 pieces belong to tools (accounting for 2.3%). Therefore, any conclusion drawn from an analysis based on these stone artifacts will not reflect the genu- ine cultural features. The "Fulin Culture" represented West Si- chuan Plateau Region in the upper Paleolithic. It has been found that the two sites, namely Fulin (Zhang, 1977) and Shizishan (Chen, 1991) in Hanyuan County, Sichuan Province, face Fig. 3 Stone artifacts from Tongliang site(銅 梁 遺 跡) each other from opposite sides of the river, at an altitude of 790m above sea level. This cul- ture is characterized by small flake stone arti- facts made from flint stone, quartz, agate and other materials. The type of stone artifacts is centered on food gathering and supplemented simple, such as scrapers, points and gravers, by hunting during a period around 40,000- and the length is usually under 30mm.