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Human behavioral variability in prehistoric Eurasia
Quaternary International 442 (2017) 1e4
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Quaternary International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint
Editorial
Human behavioral variability in prehistoric Eurasia
This volume is a result of the Symposium “Human Behavioral Variability in Prehistoric Eurasia: Views from the Lithic and Raw Material Perspectives”. It took place on 29 July 2015 as part of the Scientific Program of the XIX-th INQUA Congress held in Nagoya, Japan. The conveners of the Symposium were Akira Ono, Jun Takakura, Yuichi Nakazawa, and Yaroslav V. Kuzmin (see Science Council of Japan, 2015. P. 59, 63). In total, 16 oral and six poster presentations were delivered. Here we give an overview of the content of ten papers by the Symposium's participants, which constitute this Special Issue “Human Behavioral Variability in Prehistoric Eurasia” of Quaternary International. These studies cover a vast areadfrom Mongolia to Alaskadbut concentrate mainly on Northeast Asia (Japan, China, the Russian Far East, and Korea). Kuzmin (2017) reviewed the current state-of-the-art on obsidian provenance studies in Northeast Asia, and their impact on some important issues in prehistoric archaeology and geoarchaeology including the origin of seafaring in the northern Pacific. It was demonstrated once again that the identification of the primary sources for archaeological obsidian serves as solid evidence of human migrations. According to the available data, the range of early movements/contacts in Northeast Asia often exceeds 600e700 km in a straight line. In later prehistory (since the Early Iron Age), the distances between obsidian sources and consumption sites of up to 1000e1500 km were quite common. The striking feature of obsidian provenancing in Northeast Asia as presented by Kuzmin is the use of multiple sources by inhabitants of the same site(s), regardless of the fact that the quality of the raw material (i.e., obsidian) is identical (see also Kuzmin et al., 2008). The cause of this phenomenon is not yet well understood; perhaps, some unknown patterns of human behavior were responsible for the creation of a sophisticated system for the acquisition and use of valuable raw material such as obsidian. Another important implication that became possible with the help of obsidian sourcing is that the earliest evidence of seafaring in the northern Pacific is now dated to at least ca. 34,000 BP (ca. 38,500 cal BP) (e.g., Ikeya, 2015). This is in accord with the latest data on early crossings of the high seas in the region (Fujita et al., 2016). Because of its volcanic origin, the Japanese Archipelago is rich in igneous rocks suitable for making stone tools. Among these rocks, obsidian is the best-studied toolstone because of both frequent occurrences at Upper Paleolithic sites and its homogenous geochemical composition. By taking advantage of obsidian provenance data from 43 Upper Paleolithic sites (517 assemblages with ca. 85,000 specimens) in the central part of Honshu Island (Japan), consisting of the Chubu, Kanto, and AshitakaeHakone regions, Shimada et al.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.06.023 1040-6182/© 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
(2017) describe the dynamics of hunter-gatherers in term of regional obsidian circulation. The frequencies of obsidian artifacts for five major source groups (Takahara, Central Highlands, KozuOnbase Island, Hakone, and Amagi) fluctuated in the assemblages of six core regions in central Honshu. The paper also presents the diachronic change in the use of obsidian sources through the five continuous cultural periodsdfrom the Early Upper Paleolithic to the final Late Upper Paleolithicdgenerally dated to ca. 38,000e16,000 cal BP. Moreover, incorporating the regional environmental data based on pollen records recovered from the highly elevated peat bog of Hiroppara, Central Highlands (1400 m a.s.l.), the decreased use of obsidian in this region just prior to the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is interpreted as the result of ephemeral occupations of the obsidian outcrops. A non-linear relationship between human presence in the Central Highlands and climatic fluctuations as shown by Shimada et al. is therefore evident. This paper is an excellent example of the meticulous analysis achieved for the vast primary evidence on the spatiotemporal patterns of the human use of raw material sources as a proxy to Upper Paleolithic mobility and contacts. This is partly due to the very high degree of obsidian provenance studies in Japan, perhaps the best in the world. It is noteworthy that in the final Late Upper Paleolithic the amount of obsidian from the remote Kozu-Onbase source, located in the open ocean off Honshu Island and accessible only by boat, reached the highest value, ca. 44%. This testifies in favor of well-developed maritime transport at this time (see also Kuzmin, 2017). Ikeya (2017) examines the impact of volcanic eruption and tephra on prehistoric populations of the Tokai region, central Honshu Island (Japan). The case study involves analysis of the InitialeEarly Jomon sites which existed before and after the KikaiAkahoya (KeAh) tephra dated to ca. 7300 year ago. As a result, the Tokai region was covered by volcanic ash and was also greatly affected by this event, especially the local vegetation and marine invertebrates; the latter were one of the staple foods o Jomon huntergatherers. A change in pottery type in the eastern part of the region immediately after the Akahoya ashfall is interpreted as evidence of human migration. In addition, an analysis of clay raw materials from both western and eastern Tokai was conducted, using the Energy-Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence method and microscopic examination of mineral grains from pottery. For comparison, the mineralogical composition of sand from the main rivers in eastern Tokai was employed, assuming that people used sand for tempering the clay paste. Based on these two independent datasets, Ikeya demonstrates that humans transported pottery from the
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Editorial / Quaternary International 442 (2017) 1e4
western to the eastern part of the region. This is a good example of a geoarchaeological study in a volcanic region rich in archaeological materials. Similar to the late Upper Paleolithic in China (see Kato, 2017), the Upper Paleolithic in Hokkaido, a large island in the north of the Japanese Archipelago, is characterized by the prominence of microblade technology. A critical question among Paleolithic archaeologists in Hokkaido is how to explain the highly diversified microblade core reduction technologies (e.g., Nakazawa et al., 2005). Because microblades in Hokkaido were extant for 10,000 years, from the LGM to probably the end of the Younger Dryas (ca. 24,000e13,000 cal BP), it is likely that the observed diversity in some microblade technologies was created as a response to climatic changes. Considering this prospect, Otsuka (2017) builds his study of the human-environmental relationship on the basis of the variation in microblade technocomplexes in Hokkaido and global climatic changes from the LGM to the Late Glacial when pottery technology appeared at the Taisho 3 site in southeastern Hokkaido, dated to ca. 15,000e14,000 cal BP (Obihiro Board of Education, 2006; Yamahara, 2014). Incorporating the datasets from microblade core size, burin maintenance technique, and stone tool components, “miniaturizations” of stone tools became remarkable in the early Late Glacial when climatic conditions were relatively mild. Otsuka proposes a hypothesis that changes in stone weapon systems (including use and maintenance) are related to fluctuations in the available faunal resources. This conjunctive argument further raises the question: why and how did the early Late Glacial hunter-gatherers maintain two specialized weapon systems (i.e., stone spear technology and microblade technique)? Nakazawa and Akai (2017) selected two microblade technological schemes from Hokkaido Island of Japan, Sakkotsu and Oshorokko, to demonstrate the possible impact of environmental conditions on the subsistence of the Late Glacial hunter-gatherers in the northern Pacific Rim region. Both complexes existed at ca. 14,000e18,000 cal BP (and possibly to ca. 22,000 cal BP); perhaps, they were in use simultaneously, but this is a subject for future studies. Using the Ishikari Lowland of central Hokkaido as a key region, Nakazawa and Akai analyzed microblade lithic technologies from the view of a cost-benefit model in behavioral ecology. They found that the Sakkotsu microblade cores are more than twice as large compared to the Oshorokko ones. Also, the utility to cost ratios for these complexes are quite different: low values are found for the Sakkotsu technology while the Oshorokko one has the higher values. The conclusion of Nakazawa and Akai is that it reflects different goals for each group: the bearers of Sakkotsu technology tried to maximize the production of microblades; people who used the Oshorokko technique pursued efforts to minimize the cost of raw material transportation. These results may be used when one projects the behavioral patterns of microblademaking populations to the process of human movement from the temperate latitudes (40e50 N) to the more northerly terrains of Northeastern Siberia and Beringia, and ultimately the New World (Alaska and the Northwest Coast of North America), with latitudes higher than 50 N. The weaponry system is a critical part of Paleolithic huntergatherers' subsistence and technology. Lithic analysts interested in this topic have conducted experiments to interpret the observed tool breakage patterns (e.g., Barton and Bergman, 1982; Rots and Plisson, 2014; Sano et al., 2012). Yamaoka (2017) focuses on the possible projectile function of trapezoids, a unique and diagnostic stone tool class in the Japanese initial Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) assemblages, while their function has not been fully accounted for. Given the assumption that trapezoids were used as
a hunting weapon, Yamaoka provides an inference on behavioral parameters that created macro-fracture patterns through a comparison of his experimental tools used for throwing, shooting, and stabbing. The observed bending fractures on the EUP trapezoids from Layer BB V of the Doteue site (Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan), dated to ca. 35,000e36,000 BP (see Ikeya, 2015), are similar to the fracturing patterns on the replicated trapezoids used in shooting with a bow and throwing with a spear-thrower. By taking into account the size difference in the basal portion of Paleolithic trapezoids where shafts are attached, the paper concludes that the spear-thrower was most likely a weapon in which trapezoids served as projectile tips, while there is still the possibility that its function was part of the bow-and-arrow technology (e.g., Sano, 2016). Territoriality is a critical concept in hunter-gatherer socio-economic studies. During the late Upper Paleolithic, China sustained one of the largest portions of the mobile hunter-gatherers' oecumene across the Eurasian continent in the middle latitudes (30e50 N). Kato (2017) discusses the late Upper Paleolithic territories by comparing the lithic material compositions (local vs. non-local) among the selected sites from three densely occupied regions in northern China (North China Plain), and two regions in Northeast China. A gross sub-division of lithic materials into local and non-local provides a general picture of regional variations. That is, foragers in northern China obtained local lithic materials (i.e., flint), while those in Northeast China used non-local obsidian, probably from sources such as the Changbaishan Mountains and Inner Mongolia (but see below), suggesting that the territorial range in the northeast (300e450 km) was larger than in the north (100e230 km). It is of interest that the estimated territorialities are comparable to the ranges of obsidian circulation by Paleoarchaic hunter-gatherers who inhabited the arid Great Basin of North America (Jones et al., 2003). To portrait a better picture of Upper Paleolithic territorial ranges, it will be necessary to provide a whole set of the compositional data of lithic raw materials, especially by incorporating geochemical analyses of obsidian. It is, however, unlikely that an obsidian source exists in Inner Mongolia as Kato (2017) has suggested, because all previous research in Northeast China and neighboring regions has not revealed an unknown source which was widely used in prehistory, besides the well-known Paektusan (Changbaishan) one (e.g., Jia et al., 2013; Kuzmin, 2010, 2012; Kuzmin and Glascock, 2014; Kuzmin et al., 2002). Also, the absence of direct information (i.e., geochemical or petrographic composition) of the primary sources of other raw materials in both regions under study makes the conclusions by Kato (2017) not fully substantiated according to modern standards in provenance studies (e.g., Rapp, 2009). The transition from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic and the origin of modern behavior in Asia are among the most important topics in prehistoric archaeology of this continent (e.g., Kaifu et al., 2015). In their paper, Khatsenovich et al. (2017) introduce new data from northern Mongolia, a region still not adequately studied. At the Kharganyan Gol 5 site, several cultural layers were distinguished. The most important for Paleolithic research is the bottom part of the sequence. The lowermost components, layers 7 and 6, are dated to ca. 43,300e46,200 BP. The earliest lithic assemblages are most probably of the terminal Middle Paleolithic (Levallois) type. In Layer 5 above layers 6e7, the first evidence of the Upper Paleolithic occurred in the form of volumetric blade cores, end and side scrapers, backed bladelets, burins, and borers. This assemblage is dated to ca. 38,700 BP. In Layer 5, a rare kind of artifactda rectangular piece of muscovite mica with a hole in the middledwas discovered. Based on the general geological
Editorial / Quaternary International 442 (2017) 1e4
structure of Mongolia, Khatsenovich et al. conclude that the primary source of this item could be 170e200 km away from the site. It is known, however, that muscovite is a common mineral in igneous rocks, and it seems that more efforts are necessary to pinpoint its most probable primary source. Petrographic examination of lithic raw materials from Kharganyan Gol 5 shows that rocks from outcrops in the vicinity of the site were used for tool-making. The most important implication of this study is that it demonstrates the intrusive origin of the Upper Paleolithic in northern Mongolia. It is also clear that the Tolbor River basin with a cluster of Upper Paleolithic sites (including Kharganyan Gol 5) is one of the key areas in Mongolia for survey and excavations in the near future. In their paper, Grebennikov and Kuzmin (2017) make an attempt to identify unknown obsidian sources in the Kamchatka Peninsula (northern part of the Russian Far East), using geological and spatial approaches. This is a continuation of work that began in the early 2000s (Grebennikov et al., 2010, 2014). Recent progress in geochemical zoning and absolute age of volcanic glasses in Kamchatka, and spatiotemporal patterns for the distribution of utilization sites compared to obsidian sources, allows researchers to suggest the position of unknown primary obsidian locales more precisely than before (e.g., Grebennikov et al., 2014). One of the features of obsidian exploitation by prehistoric people of Kamchatka was the simultaneous acquisition of raw material from several sources (see also Kuzmin, 2017). It is important to keep in mind that distances between these sources are in the order of hundreds of kilometers, as demonstrated for the well-studied Ushki cluster (Kuzmin et al., 2008) and other sites (Grebennikov and Kuzmin, 2017). There is a high potential for Kamchatka in terms of both geological and geoarchaeological studies of obsidian sources and its use by ancient people, and this paper is one of the first steps in this direction. Issues related to microblade assemblages in the North Pacific region remain an important part of human adaptation studies (e.g., Kuzmin et al., 2007). In northernmost North America, the microblade complex at the Swan Point, Alaska, is the earliest example mez Coutouly, of microblade technology (e.g., Ackerman, 2007; Go 2012). Hirasawa and Holmes (2017) recognize two methods of microblade production at Swan Point: Yubetsu (in Cultural Zone CZ4b, dated to ca. 14,200 cal BP) and Campus (cultural zones CZ2 and CZ1b; with median calendar ages of ca. 7900 cal BP and ca. 4200 cal BP, respectively), although these techniques are to some extent similar to each other. Statistical analysis of Yubetsu and Campus assemblages led to the conclusion that while there are slight differences in the morphology of microblades made by these methods, they are quite uniform (in terms of maximum width and thickness) throughout the final Late Pleistocene e Middle Holocene. The reason for this can be found in the function of microblade-equipped artifacts, inset points used for hunting large prey. It is suggested that despite changes in the faunal composition of central Alaska from the terminal Late Pleistocene to the Middle Holocene, effective osseous points with microblade insets continued to be used as a hunting weapon. We hope that current and future scholars will use this volume as a source of information concerning the role of raw material in the study the human behavior, one of the most interesting and difficult subjects in world prehistory. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the following individuals and organizations: participants of the Symposium, especially those who contributed their papers to this Special Issue; anonymous reviewers who helped greatly to improve the quality of the original manuscripts; the INQUA Secretariat and the Organizing Committee of Nagoya for including our Symposium into the Scientific Program
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of the XIX-th Congress; and the journal's Editor-in-Chief Prof. MinTe Chen and Assistant Editor Dr. Florent Rivals for their assistance in assembling this collection. This research was supported by the Tomsk State University Competitiveness Improvement Program, 2015e2017. References Ackerman, R.E., 2007. The microblade complexes of Alaska and the Yukon: early interior and coastal adaptations. In: Kuzmin, Y.V., Keates, S.G., Shen, C. (Eds.), Origin and Spread of Microblade Technology in Northern Asia and North America. Archaeology Press, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B. C., pp. 147e170 Barton, R.N.E., Bergman, C.A., 1982. Hunters at Hengistbury: some evidence from experimental archaeology. World Archaeol. 14, 237e248. Fujita, M., Yamasaki, S., Katagiri, C., Oshiro, I., Sano, K., Kurozumi, T., Sugawara, H., Kunikita, D., Matsuzaki, H., Kano, A., Okumura, T., Sone, T., Fujita, H., Kobayashi, S., Naruse, T., Kondo, M., Matsu’ura, S., Suwa, G., Kaifu, Y., 2016. Advanced maritime adaptation in the western Pacific coastal region extends back to 35,000e30,000 years before present. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 113, 11184e11189. mez Coutouly, Y.A., 2012. Pressure microblade industries in PleistoceneeHolocene Go interior Alaska: current data and discussions. In: Desrosiers, P.M. (Ed.), The Emergence of Pressure Blade Making. Springer, New York, pp. 347e374. Grebennikov, A.V., Kuzmin, Y.V., 2017. The identification of archaeological obsidian sources on Kamchatka Peninsula (Russian Far East) using geochemical and geological data: current progress. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 95e103. Grebennikov, A.V., Popov, V.K., Glascock, M.D., Speakman, R.J., Kuzmin, Y.V., Ptashinsky, A.V., 2010. Obsidian provenance studies on Kamchatka peninsula (Far Eastern Russia): 2003e9 results. In: Kuzmin, Y.V., Glascock, M.D. (Eds.), Crossing the Straits: Prehistoric Obsidian Source Exploitation in the North Pacific Rim. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 89e120. Grebennikov, A.V., Popov, V.K., Kuzmin, Y.V., 2014. Geochemistry of volcanic glasses and the search strategy for unknown obsidian sources on Kamchatka Peninsula (Russian Far East). In: Ono, A., Glascock, M.D., Kuzmin, Y.V., Suda, Y. (Eds.), Methodological Issues for Characterisation and Provenance Studies of Obsidian in Northeast Asia. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 95e108. Hirasawa, Y., Holmes, C.E., 2017. The relationship between microblade morphology and production technology in Alaska from the perspective of the Swan Point site. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 104e117. Ikeya, N., 2015. Maritime transport of obsidian in Japan during the upper paleolithic. In: Kaifu, Y., Izuho, M., Goebel, T., Ono, A. (Eds.), Emergence and Diversity of Modern Human Behavior in Paleolithic Asia. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, pp. 362e375. Ikeya, N., 2017. Group migration and cultural change following the Akahoya volcanic ashfall: identifying the pottery production centers at the beginning of the Early Jomon period of Japan. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 23e32. Jia, P.W., Doelman, T., Torrence, R., Glascock, M.D., 2013. New pieces: the acquisition and distribution of volcanic glass sources in Northeast China during the Holocene. J. Archaeol. Sci. 40, 971e982. Jones, G.T., Beck, C., Jones, E.E., Hughes, R.E., 2003. Lithic source use and paleoarchaic territories in the great Basin. Am. Antiq. 68, 5e38. Kaifu, Y., Izuho, M., Goebel, T., Sato, H., Ono, A. (Eds.), 2015. Emergence and Diversity of Modern Human Behavior in Paleolithic Asia. Texas A&M University Press, College Station. Kato, S., 2017. The use of lithic raw materials during the Upper Paleolithic in eastern China: a focus on microblade industries. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 66e77. Khatsenovich, A.M., Rybin, E.P., Gunchinsuren, B., Olsen, J.W., Shelepaev, R.A., Zotkina, L.V., Bolorbat, T., Popov, A.Y., Odsuren, D., 2017. New evidence for Paleolithic human behavior in Mongolia: the Kharganyn Gol 5 site. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 78e94. Kuzmin, Y.V., 2010. Crossing mountains, rivers, and straits: a review of the current evidence for prehistoric obsidian exchange in Northeast Asia. In: Kuzmin, Y.V., Glascock, M.D. (Eds.), Crossing the Straits: Prehistoric Obsidian Source Exploitation in the North Pacific Rim. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 137e153. Kuzmin, Y.V., 2012. Long-distance obsidian transport in prehistoric Northeast Asia. Bull. Indo-Pacific Prehist. Assoc. 32, 1e5. Kuzmin, Y.V., 2017. Obsidian as a commodity to investigate human migrations in the upper paleolithic, neolithic, and paleometal of Northeast Asia. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 5e11. Kuzmin, Y.V., Glascock, M.D., 2014. The neutron activation analysis of volcanic glasses in the Russian Far East and neighbouring Northeast Asia: a summary of the first 20 years of research. In: Ono, A., Glascock, M.D., Kuzmin, Y.V., Suda, Y. (Eds.), Methodological Issues for Characterisation and Provenance Studies of Obsidian in Northeast Asia. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 85e93. Kuzmin, Y.V., Keates, S.G., Shen, C. (Eds.), 2007. Origin and Spread of Microblade Technology in Northern Asia and North America. Archaeology Press, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C. Kuzmin, Y.V., Popov, V.K., Glascock, M.D., Shackley, M.S., 2002. Sources of archaeological volcanic glass in the primorye (Maritime) province, Russian Far East. Archaeometry 44, 505e515. Kuzmin, Y.V., Speakman, R.J., Glascock, M.D., Popov, V.K., Grebennikov, A.V., Dikova, M.A., Ptashinsky, A.V., 2008. Obsidian use at the Ushki lake complex,
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Kamchatka peninsula (northeastern Siberia): implications for terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene human migrations in Beringia. J. Archaeol. Sci. 35, 2179e2187. Nakazawa, Y., Akai, F., 2017. Late-Glacial bifacial microblade core technologies in Hokkaido: an implication of human adaptation along the northern Pacific Rim. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 43e54. Nakazawa, Y., Izuho, M., Takakura, J., Yamada, S., 2005. Toward an understanding of technological variability in microblade assemblages in Hokkaido, Japan. Asian Persp. 44, 276e292. Obihiro Board of Education, 2006. In: Obihiro Taisho Iseki Gun 2 (Obihiro Taisho Sites 2). Obihiro Board of Education, Obihiro (in Japanese). Otsuka, Y., 2017. The background of transitions in microblade industries in Hokkaido, northern Japan. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 33e42. Rapp, G., 2009. Archaeomineralogy, second ed. Springer, BerlineHeidelberg. Rots, V., Plisson, H., 2014. Projectile and the abuse of the use-wear method in a search for impact. J. Archaeol. Sci. 48, 154e165. Sano, K., 2016. Evidence for the use of the bow-and-arrow technology by the first modern humans in the Japanese islands. J. Archaeol. Sci. Rep. 10, 130e141. Sano, K., Denda, Y., Oba, M., 2012. Projectile experiments for identifying hunting methods (1). Kyusekki Kenkyu 8, 45e63 (in Japanese with English abstract). Science Council of Japan, 2015. In: XIX INQUA Congress: Quaternary Perspectives on Climate Change, Natural Hazards and Civilization. Program Book. Science Council of Japan, Nagoya. Shimada, K., Yoshida, A., Hashizume, J., Ono, A., 2017. Human responses to climate change on obsidian source exploitation during the Upper Paleolithic in the Central Highlands, central Japan. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 12e22. Yamahara, T., 2014. Kyusekki kara Jomon he: Taisho 3 iseki no hyoka (From Paleolithic to Jomon: an evaluation of the Taisho 3 site). In: Hokkaido Archaeological Society (Ed.), Hokkaido No Jomon Bunka Kenkyu No Ima. Hokkaido Archaeological Society, Sapporo, pp. 1e10 (in Japanese).
Yamaoka, T., 2017. Shooting and stabbing experiments using replicated trapezoids. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 55e65.
Yaroslav V. Kuzmin* Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia Laboratory of Mesozoic and Cenozoic Continental Ecosystems, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, 634050, Russia Yuichi Nakazawa Division of Human Evolution Studies, Faculty of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 066-8638, Japan Akira Ono Center for Obsidian and Lithic Studies, Meiji University, Tokyo, 1018301, Japan *
Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (Y.V. Kuzmin).
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Quaternary International journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/quaint
Editorial
Human behavioral variability in prehistoric Eurasia
This volume is a result of the Symposium “Human Behavioral Variability in Prehistoric Eurasia: Views from the Lithic and Raw Material Perspectives”. It took place on 29 July 2015 as part of the Scientific Program of the XIX-th INQUA Congress held in Nagoya, Japan. The conveners of the Symposium were Akira Ono, Jun Takakura, Yuichi Nakazawa, and Yaroslav V. Kuzmin (see Science Council of Japan, 2015. P. 59, 63). In total, 16 oral and six poster presentations were delivered. Here we give an overview of the content of ten papers by the Symposium's participants, which constitute this Special Issue “Human Behavioral Variability in Prehistoric Eurasia” of Quaternary International. These studies cover a vast areadfrom Mongolia to Alaskadbut concentrate mainly on Northeast Asia (Japan, China, the Russian Far East, and Korea). Kuzmin (2017) reviewed the current state-of-the-art on obsidian provenance studies in Northeast Asia, and their impact on some important issues in prehistoric archaeology and geoarchaeology including the origin of seafaring in the northern Pacific. It was demonstrated once again that the identification of the primary sources for archaeological obsidian serves as solid evidence of human migrations. According to the available data, the range of early movements/contacts in Northeast Asia often exceeds 600e700 km in a straight line. In later prehistory (since the Early Iron Age), the distances between obsidian sources and consumption sites of up to 1000e1500 km were quite common. The striking feature of obsidian provenancing in Northeast Asia as presented by Kuzmin is the use of multiple sources by inhabitants of the same site(s), regardless of the fact that the quality of the raw material (i.e., obsidian) is identical (see also Kuzmin et al., 2008). The cause of this phenomenon is not yet well understood; perhaps, some unknown patterns of human behavior were responsible for the creation of a sophisticated system for the acquisition and use of valuable raw material such as obsidian. Another important implication that became possible with the help of obsidian sourcing is that the earliest evidence of seafaring in the northern Pacific is now dated to at least ca. 34,000 BP (ca. 38,500 cal BP) (e.g., Ikeya, 2015). This is in accord with the latest data on early crossings of the high seas in the region (Fujita et al., 2016). Because of its volcanic origin, the Japanese Archipelago is rich in igneous rocks suitable for making stone tools. Among these rocks, obsidian is the best-studied toolstone because of both frequent occurrences at Upper Paleolithic sites and its homogenous geochemical composition. By taking advantage of obsidian provenance data from 43 Upper Paleolithic sites (517 assemblages with ca. 85,000 specimens) in the central part of Honshu Island (Japan), consisting of the Chubu, Kanto, and AshitakaeHakone regions, Shimada et al.
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2017.06.023 1040-6182/© 2017 Published by Elsevier Ltd.
(2017) describe the dynamics of hunter-gatherers in term of regional obsidian circulation. The frequencies of obsidian artifacts for five major source groups (Takahara, Central Highlands, KozuOnbase Island, Hakone, and Amagi) fluctuated in the assemblages of six core regions in central Honshu. The paper also presents the diachronic change in the use of obsidian sources through the five continuous cultural periodsdfrom the Early Upper Paleolithic to the final Late Upper Paleolithicdgenerally dated to ca. 38,000e16,000 cal BP. Moreover, incorporating the regional environmental data based on pollen records recovered from the highly elevated peat bog of Hiroppara, Central Highlands (1400 m a.s.l.), the decreased use of obsidian in this region just prior to the onset of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) is interpreted as the result of ephemeral occupations of the obsidian outcrops. A non-linear relationship between human presence in the Central Highlands and climatic fluctuations as shown by Shimada et al. is therefore evident. This paper is an excellent example of the meticulous analysis achieved for the vast primary evidence on the spatiotemporal patterns of the human use of raw material sources as a proxy to Upper Paleolithic mobility and contacts. This is partly due to the very high degree of obsidian provenance studies in Japan, perhaps the best in the world. It is noteworthy that in the final Late Upper Paleolithic the amount of obsidian from the remote Kozu-Onbase source, located in the open ocean off Honshu Island and accessible only by boat, reached the highest value, ca. 44%. This testifies in favor of well-developed maritime transport at this time (see also Kuzmin, 2017). Ikeya (2017) examines the impact of volcanic eruption and tephra on prehistoric populations of the Tokai region, central Honshu Island (Japan). The case study involves analysis of the InitialeEarly Jomon sites which existed before and after the KikaiAkahoya (KeAh) tephra dated to ca. 7300 year ago. As a result, the Tokai region was covered by volcanic ash and was also greatly affected by this event, especially the local vegetation and marine invertebrates; the latter were one of the staple foods o Jomon huntergatherers. A change in pottery type in the eastern part of the region immediately after the Akahoya ashfall is interpreted as evidence of human migration. In addition, an analysis of clay raw materials from both western and eastern Tokai was conducted, using the Energy-Dispersive X-ray Fluorescence method and microscopic examination of mineral grains from pottery. For comparison, the mineralogical composition of sand from the main rivers in eastern Tokai was employed, assuming that people used sand for tempering the clay paste. Based on these two independent datasets, Ikeya demonstrates that humans transported pottery from the
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western to the eastern part of the region. This is a good example of a geoarchaeological study in a volcanic region rich in archaeological materials. Similar to the late Upper Paleolithic in China (see Kato, 2017), the Upper Paleolithic in Hokkaido, a large island in the north of the Japanese Archipelago, is characterized by the prominence of microblade technology. A critical question among Paleolithic archaeologists in Hokkaido is how to explain the highly diversified microblade core reduction technologies (e.g., Nakazawa et al., 2005). Because microblades in Hokkaido were extant for 10,000 years, from the LGM to probably the end of the Younger Dryas (ca. 24,000e13,000 cal BP), it is likely that the observed diversity in some microblade technologies was created as a response to climatic changes. Considering this prospect, Otsuka (2017) builds his study of the human-environmental relationship on the basis of the variation in microblade technocomplexes in Hokkaido and global climatic changes from the LGM to the Late Glacial when pottery technology appeared at the Taisho 3 site in southeastern Hokkaido, dated to ca. 15,000e14,000 cal BP (Obihiro Board of Education, 2006; Yamahara, 2014). Incorporating the datasets from microblade core size, burin maintenance technique, and stone tool components, “miniaturizations” of stone tools became remarkable in the early Late Glacial when climatic conditions were relatively mild. Otsuka proposes a hypothesis that changes in stone weapon systems (including use and maintenance) are related to fluctuations in the available faunal resources. This conjunctive argument further raises the question: why and how did the early Late Glacial hunter-gatherers maintain two specialized weapon systems (i.e., stone spear technology and microblade technique)? Nakazawa and Akai (2017) selected two microblade technological schemes from Hokkaido Island of Japan, Sakkotsu and Oshorokko, to demonstrate the possible impact of environmental conditions on the subsistence of the Late Glacial hunter-gatherers in the northern Pacific Rim region. Both complexes existed at ca. 14,000e18,000 cal BP (and possibly to ca. 22,000 cal BP); perhaps, they were in use simultaneously, but this is a subject for future studies. Using the Ishikari Lowland of central Hokkaido as a key region, Nakazawa and Akai analyzed microblade lithic technologies from the view of a cost-benefit model in behavioral ecology. They found that the Sakkotsu microblade cores are more than twice as large compared to the Oshorokko ones. Also, the utility to cost ratios for these complexes are quite different: low values are found for the Sakkotsu technology while the Oshorokko one has the higher values. The conclusion of Nakazawa and Akai is that it reflects different goals for each group: the bearers of Sakkotsu technology tried to maximize the production of microblades; people who used the Oshorokko technique pursued efforts to minimize the cost of raw material transportation. These results may be used when one projects the behavioral patterns of microblademaking populations to the process of human movement from the temperate latitudes (40e50 N) to the more northerly terrains of Northeastern Siberia and Beringia, and ultimately the New World (Alaska and the Northwest Coast of North America), with latitudes higher than 50 N. The weaponry system is a critical part of Paleolithic huntergatherers' subsistence and technology. Lithic analysts interested in this topic have conducted experiments to interpret the observed tool breakage patterns (e.g., Barton and Bergman, 1982; Rots and Plisson, 2014; Sano et al., 2012). Yamaoka (2017) focuses on the possible projectile function of trapezoids, a unique and diagnostic stone tool class in the Japanese initial Early Upper Paleolithic (EUP) assemblages, while their function has not been fully accounted for. Given the assumption that trapezoids were used as
a hunting weapon, Yamaoka provides an inference on behavioral parameters that created macro-fracture patterns through a comparison of his experimental tools used for throwing, shooting, and stabbing. The observed bending fractures on the EUP trapezoids from Layer BB V of the Doteue site (Shizuoka Prefecture, Japan), dated to ca. 35,000e36,000 BP (see Ikeya, 2015), are similar to the fracturing patterns on the replicated trapezoids used in shooting with a bow and throwing with a spear-thrower. By taking into account the size difference in the basal portion of Paleolithic trapezoids where shafts are attached, the paper concludes that the spear-thrower was most likely a weapon in which trapezoids served as projectile tips, while there is still the possibility that its function was part of the bow-and-arrow technology (e.g., Sano, 2016). Territoriality is a critical concept in hunter-gatherer socio-economic studies. During the late Upper Paleolithic, China sustained one of the largest portions of the mobile hunter-gatherers' oecumene across the Eurasian continent in the middle latitudes (30e50 N). Kato (2017) discusses the late Upper Paleolithic territories by comparing the lithic material compositions (local vs. non-local) among the selected sites from three densely occupied regions in northern China (North China Plain), and two regions in Northeast China. A gross sub-division of lithic materials into local and non-local provides a general picture of regional variations. That is, foragers in northern China obtained local lithic materials (i.e., flint), while those in Northeast China used non-local obsidian, probably from sources such as the Changbaishan Mountains and Inner Mongolia (but see below), suggesting that the territorial range in the northeast (300e450 km) was larger than in the north (100e230 km). It is of interest that the estimated territorialities are comparable to the ranges of obsidian circulation by Paleoarchaic hunter-gatherers who inhabited the arid Great Basin of North America (Jones et al., 2003). To portrait a better picture of Upper Paleolithic territorial ranges, it will be necessary to provide a whole set of the compositional data of lithic raw materials, especially by incorporating geochemical analyses of obsidian. It is, however, unlikely that an obsidian source exists in Inner Mongolia as Kato (2017) has suggested, because all previous research in Northeast China and neighboring regions has not revealed an unknown source which was widely used in prehistory, besides the well-known Paektusan (Changbaishan) one (e.g., Jia et al., 2013; Kuzmin, 2010, 2012; Kuzmin and Glascock, 2014; Kuzmin et al., 2002). Also, the absence of direct information (i.e., geochemical or petrographic composition) of the primary sources of other raw materials in both regions under study makes the conclusions by Kato (2017) not fully substantiated according to modern standards in provenance studies (e.g., Rapp, 2009). The transition from the Middle to the Upper Paleolithic and the origin of modern behavior in Asia are among the most important topics in prehistoric archaeology of this continent (e.g., Kaifu et al., 2015). In their paper, Khatsenovich et al. (2017) introduce new data from northern Mongolia, a region still not adequately studied. At the Kharganyan Gol 5 site, several cultural layers were distinguished. The most important for Paleolithic research is the bottom part of the sequence. The lowermost components, layers 7 and 6, are dated to ca. 43,300e46,200 BP. The earliest lithic assemblages are most probably of the terminal Middle Paleolithic (Levallois) type. In Layer 5 above layers 6e7, the first evidence of the Upper Paleolithic occurred in the form of volumetric blade cores, end and side scrapers, backed bladelets, burins, and borers. This assemblage is dated to ca. 38,700 BP. In Layer 5, a rare kind of artifactda rectangular piece of muscovite mica with a hole in the middledwas discovered. Based on the general geological
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structure of Mongolia, Khatsenovich et al. conclude that the primary source of this item could be 170e200 km away from the site. It is known, however, that muscovite is a common mineral in igneous rocks, and it seems that more efforts are necessary to pinpoint its most probable primary source. Petrographic examination of lithic raw materials from Kharganyan Gol 5 shows that rocks from outcrops in the vicinity of the site were used for tool-making. The most important implication of this study is that it demonstrates the intrusive origin of the Upper Paleolithic in northern Mongolia. It is also clear that the Tolbor River basin with a cluster of Upper Paleolithic sites (including Kharganyan Gol 5) is one of the key areas in Mongolia for survey and excavations in the near future. In their paper, Grebennikov and Kuzmin (2017) make an attempt to identify unknown obsidian sources in the Kamchatka Peninsula (northern part of the Russian Far East), using geological and spatial approaches. This is a continuation of work that began in the early 2000s (Grebennikov et al., 2010, 2014). Recent progress in geochemical zoning and absolute age of volcanic glasses in Kamchatka, and spatiotemporal patterns for the distribution of utilization sites compared to obsidian sources, allows researchers to suggest the position of unknown primary obsidian locales more precisely than before (e.g., Grebennikov et al., 2014). One of the features of obsidian exploitation by prehistoric people of Kamchatka was the simultaneous acquisition of raw material from several sources (see also Kuzmin, 2017). It is important to keep in mind that distances between these sources are in the order of hundreds of kilometers, as demonstrated for the well-studied Ushki cluster (Kuzmin et al., 2008) and other sites (Grebennikov and Kuzmin, 2017). There is a high potential for Kamchatka in terms of both geological and geoarchaeological studies of obsidian sources and its use by ancient people, and this paper is one of the first steps in this direction. Issues related to microblade assemblages in the North Pacific region remain an important part of human adaptation studies (e.g., Kuzmin et al., 2007). In northernmost North America, the microblade complex at the Swan Point, Alaska, is the earliest example mez Coutouly, of microblade technology (e.g., Ackerman, 2007; Go 2012). Hirasawa and Holmes (2017) recognize two methods of microblade production at Swan Point: Yubetsu (in Cultural Zone CZ4b, dated to ca. 14,200 cal BP) and Campus (cultural zones CZ2 and CZ1b; with median calendar ages of ca. 7900 cal BP and ca. 4200 cal BP, respectively), although these techniques are to some extent similar to each other. Statistical analysis of Yubetsu and Campus assemblages led to the conclusion that while there are slight differences in the morphology of microblades made by these methods, they are quite uniform (in terms of maximum width and thickness) throughout the final Late Pleistocene e Middle Holocene. The reason for this can be found in the function of microblade-equipped artifacts, inset points used for hunting large prey. It is suggested that despite changes in the faunal composition of central Alaska from the terminal Late Pleistocene to the Middle Holocene, effective osseous points with microblade insets continued to be used as a hunting weapon. We hope that current and future scholars will use this volume as a source of information concerning the role of raw material in the study the human behavior, one of the most interesting and difficult subjects in world prehistory. Finally, we would like to acknowledge the following individuals and organizations: participants of the Symposium, especially those who contributed their papers to this Special Issue; anonymous reviewers who helped greatly to improve the quality of the original manuscripts; the INQUA Secretariat and the Organizing Committee of Nagoya for including our Symposium into the Scientific Program
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of the XIX-th Congress; and the journal's Editor-in-Chief Prof. MinTe Chen and Assistant Editor Dr. Florent Rivals for their assistance in assembling this collection. This research was supported by the Tomsk State University Competitiveness Improvement Program, 2015e2017. References Ackerman, R.E., 2007. The microblade complexes of Alaska and the Yukon: early interior and coastal adaptations. In: Kuzmin, Y.V., Keates, S.G., Shen, C. (Eds.), Origin and Spread of Microblade Technology in Northern Asia and North America. Archaeology Press, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B. C., pp. 147e170 Barton, R.N.E., Bergman, C.A., 1982. Hunters at Hengistbury: some evidence from experimental archaeology. World Archaeol. 14, 237e248. Fujita, M., Yamasaki, S., Katagiri, C., Oshiro, I., Sano, K., Kurozumi, T., Sugawara, H., Kunikita, D., Matsuzaki, H., Kano, A., Okumura, T., Sone, T., Fujita, H., Kobayashi, S., Naruse, T., Kondo, M., Matsu’ura, S., Suwa, G., Kaifu, Y., 2016. Advanced maritime adaptation in the western Pacific coastal region extends back to 35,000e30,000 years before present. Proc. Nat. Acad. Sci. U. S. A. 113, 11184e11189. mez Coutouly, Y.A., 2012. Pressure microblade industries in PleistoceneeHolocene Go interior Alaska: current data and discussions. In: Desrosiers, P.M. (Ed.), The Emergence of Pressure Blade Making. Springer, New York, pp. 347e374. Grebennikov, A.V., Kuzmin, Y.V., 2017. The identification of archaeological obsidian sources on Kamchatka Peninsula (Russian Far East) using geochemical and geological data: current progress. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 95e103. Grebennikov, A.V., Popov, V.K., Glascock, M.D., Speakman, R.J., Kuzmin, Y.V., Ptashinsky, A.V., 2010. Obsidian provenance studies on Kamchatka peninsula (Far Eastern Russia): 2003e9 results. In: Kuzmin, Y.V., Glascock, M.D. (Eds.), Crossing the Straits: Prehistoric Obsidian Source Exploitation in the North Pacific Rim. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 89e120. Grebennikov, A.V., Popov, V.K., Kuzmin, Y.V., 2014. Geochemistry of volcanic glasses and the search strategy for unknown obsidian sources on Kamchatka Peninsula (Russian Far East). In: Ono, A., Glascock, M.D., Kuzmin, Y.V., Suda, Y. (Eds.), Methodological Issues for Characterisation and Provenance Studies of Obsidian in Northeast Asia. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 95e108. Hirasawa, Y., Holmes, C.E., 2017. The relationship between microblade morphology and production technology in Alaska from the perspective of the Swan Point site. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 104e117. Ikeya, N., 2015. Maritime transport of obsidian in Japan during the upper paleolithic. In: Kaifu, Y., Izuho, M., Goebel, T., Ono, A. (Eds.), Emergence and Diversity of Modern Human Behavior in Paleolithic Asia. Texas A&M University Press, College Station, pp. 362e375. Ikeya, N., 2017. Group migration and cultural change following the Akahoya volcanic ashfall: identifying the pottery production centers at the beginning of the Early Jomon period of Japan. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 23e32. Jia, P.W., Doelman, T., Torrence, R., Glascock, M.D., 2013. New pieces: the acquisition and distribution of volcanic glass sources in Northeast China during the Holocene. J. Archaeol. Sci. 40, 971e982. Jones, G.T., Beck, C., Jones, E.E., Hughes, R.E., 2003. Lithic source use and paleoarchaic territories in the great Basin. Am. Antiq. 68, 5e38. Kaifu, Y., Izuho, M., Goebel, T., Sato, H., Ono, A. (Eds.), 2015. Emergence and Diversity of Modern Human Behavior in Paleolithic Asia. Texas A&M University Press, College Station. Kato, S., 2017. The use of lithic raw materials during the Upper Paleolithic in eastern China: a focus on microblade industries. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 66e77. Khatsenovich, A.M., Rybin, E.P., Gunchinsuren, B., Olsen, J.W., Shelepaev, R.A., Zotkina, L.V., Bolorbat, T., Popov, A.Y., Odsuren, D., 2017. New evidence for Paleolithic human behavior in Mongolia: the Kharganyn Gol 5 site. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 78e94. Kuzmin, Y.V., 2010. Crossing mountains, rivers, and straits: a review of the current evidence for prehistoric obsidian exchange in Northeast Asia. In: Kuzmin, Y.V., Glascock, M.D. (Eds.), Crossing the Straits: Prehistoric Obsidian Source Exploitation in the North Pacific Rim. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 137e153. Kuzmin, Y.V., 2012. Long-distance obsidian transport in prehistoric Northeast Asia. Bull. Indo-Pacific Prehist. Assoc. 32, 1e5. Kuzmin, Y.V., 2017. Obsidian as a commodity to investigate human migrations in the upper paleolithic, neolithic, and paleometal of Northeast Asia. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 5e11. Kuzmin, Y.V., Glascock, M.D., 2014. The neutron activation analysis of volcanic glasses in the Russian Far East and neighbouring Northeast Asia: a summary of the first 20 years of research. In: Ono, A., Glascock, M.D., Kuzmin, Y.V., Suda, Y. (Eds.), Methodological Issues for Characterisation and Provenance Studies of Obsidian in Northeast Asia. Archaeopress, Oxford, pp. 85e93. Kuzmin, Y.V., Keates, S.G., Shen, C. (Eds.), 2007. Origin and Spread of Microblade Technology in Northern Asia and North America. Archaeology Press, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C. Kuzmin, Y.V., Popov, V.K., Glascock, M.D., Shackley, M.S., 2002. Sources of archaeological volcanic glass in the primorye (Maritime) province, Russian Far East. Archaeometry 44, 505e515. Kuzmin, Y.V., Speakman, R.J., Glascock, M.D., Popov, V.K., Grebennikov, A.V., Dikova, M.A., Ptashinsky, A.V., 2008. Obsidian use at the Ushki lake complex,
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Kamchatka peninsula (northeastern Siberia): implications for terminal Pleistocene and early Holocene human migrations in Beringia. J. Archaeol. Sci. 35, 2179e2187. Nakazawa, Y., Akai, F., 2017. Late-Glacial bifacial microblade core technologies in Hokkaido: an implication of human adaptation along the northern Pacific Rim. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 43e54. Nakazawa, Y., Izuho, M., Takakura, J., Yamada, S., 2005. Toward an understanding of technological variability in microblade assemblages in Hokkaido, Japan. Asian Persp. 44, 276e292. Obihiro Board of Education, 2006. In: Obihiro Taisho Iseki Gun 2 (Obihiro Taisho Sites 2). Obihiro Board of Education, Obihiro (in Japanese). Otsuka, Y., 2017. The background of transitions in microblade industries in Hokkaido, northern Japan. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 33e42. Rapp, G., 2009. Archaeomineralogy, second ed. Springer, BerlineHeidelberg. Rots, V., Plisson, H., 2014. Projectile and the abuse of the use-wear method in a search for impact. J. Archaeol. Sci. 48, 154e165. Sano, K., 2016. Evidence for the use of the bow-and-arrow technology by the first modern humans in the Japanese islands. J. Archaeol. Sci. Rep. 10, 130e141. Sano, K., Denda, Y., Oba, M., 2012. Projectile experiments for identifying hunting methods (1). Kyusekki Kenkyu 8, 45e63 (in Japanese with English abstract). Science Council of Japan, 2015. In: XIX INQUA Congress: Quaternary Perspectives on Climate Change, Natural Hazards and Civilization. Program Book. Science Council of Japan, Nagoya. Shimada, K., Yoshida, A., Hashizume, J., Ono, A., 2017. Human responses to climate change on obsidian source exploitation during the Upper Paleolithic in the Central Highlands, central Japan. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 12e22. Yamahara, T., 2014. Kyusekki kara Jomon he: Taisho 3 iseki no hyoka (From Paleolithic to Jomon: an evaluation of the Taisho 3 site). In: Hokkaido Archaeological Society (Ed.), Hokkaido No Jomon Bunka Kenkyu No Ima. Hokkaido Archaeological Society, Sapporo, pp. 1e10 (in Japanese).
Yamaoka, T., 2017. Shooting and stabbing experiments using replicated trapezoids. Quat. Int. 442 (Part B), 55e65.
Yaroslav V. Kuzmin* Sobolev Institute of Geology and Mineralogy, Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, 630090, Russia Laboratory of Mesozoic and Cenozoic Continental Ecosystems, Tomsk State University, Tomsk, 634050, Russia Yuichi Nakazawa Division of Human Evolution Studies, Faculty of Medicine, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, 066-8638, Japan Akira Ono Center for Obsidian and Lithic Studies, Meiji University, Tokyo, 1018301, Japan *
Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: [email protected], [email protected] (Y.V. Kuzmin).