Earliest Assemblage of the Shuidonggou 1 Site (North China) and Its Position in Variability of the Initial Upper Paleolithic of South Siberia and Eastern Central Asia

This article is intended to review the lithic assemblage from lowermost cultural level of the Shuidonggou 1 site (northern China). From the onset of investigation, this laminar assemblage was accepted as an example of intrusive event in the local cultural continuity. Technology and typology of the Shuidonggou 1 assemblage found its closest parallels in the lithic industries from the early Upper Paleolithic technocomplex of southern Siberia and eastern Central Asia. In the present article, we demonstrate, based on published data and the authors’ personal observations, the position of the lowermost Shuidonggou 1 assemblage (ca. 41 ka BP) within the realm of the early Upper Paleolithic blade industries in surrounding regions, namely Kara-Bom site (Altai Mountains) and Tolbor 4 and Tolbor 21 sites (Northern Mongolia). In this study, we demonstrates that except for the distinct Levallois technological component, the Shuidonggou assemblage presented all core reduction techniques typical of the early Upper Paleolithic technological package present in southern Siberia and Central Asia. The same is true for the special tool types (end scrapers, various points on blades, etc.). The tool markers specific for the early Upper Paleolithic evidenced in Shuidonggou 1 are provided in a short list (3 out of 7 tool types) and include points with the ventral bulb trimming, oblique/truncated points, and stemmed blades. It can be concluded that despite somewhat chronologically later position in the cultural-chronological sequence of southern Siberian and Central Asian early Upper Paleolithic technocomplex, the Shuidonggou 1 site demonstrates high degree of similarity with the early Upper Paleolithic assemblages: Kara-Bom UP2 and Tolbor 4 AH5. We suppose that this industry is a typical example of the early Upper Paleolithic industry with respect to potential influence of raw material peculiarities, and being in a remote location compared to geographical core of the early Upper Paleolithic, it may provide an example of the first wave of these populations developed in isolation.