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Early Late Pleistocene core-and-flake technocomplex in the Lower Yangzi region, China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 September 2026

Zhe Dong ,
Jian-Ping Yue Open the ORCID record for Jian-Ping Yue [Opens in a new window] ,
Shuang-Wen Yi ,
Shi-Jia Zhan ,
Xin-Yi Peng ,
Si-Qi Lu  and
Shi-Xia Yang
Zhe Dong
Affiliation:
Institute of Anhui Provincial Archaeology and Cultural Relics, Hefei, China
Jian-Ping Yue*
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China Key Scientific Research Base on Paleolithic Human Evolution and Paleogenetics (IVPP), State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Beijing, China
Shuang-Wen Yi
Affiliation:
School of Geography and Ocean Science, Nanjing University, China
Shi-Jia Zhan
Affiliation:
School of History and Culture, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian, China
Xin-Yi Peng
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China Key Scientific Research Base on Paleolithic Human Evolution and Paleogenetics (IVPP), State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Beijing, China College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Si-Qi Lu
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China Key Scientific Research Base on Paleolithic Human Evolution and Paleogenetics (IVPP), State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Beijing, China College of Earth and Planetary Sciences, University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China
Shi-Xia Yang
Affiliation:
Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Science, Beijing, China Key Scientific Research Base on Paleolithic Human Evolution and Paleogenetics (IVPP), State Administration of Cultural Heritage, Beijing, China Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia
*
Author for correspondence: Jian-Ping Yue yuejianpingivpp@163.com
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Abstract

Content of image described in text.

The Miaodongyingdongnan lithic assemblage, dated to c. 70–100 ka, features a core-and-flake technocomplex that incorporates both simple and planned technologies. Distinct from the Early and Middle Pleistocene assemblages in the Lower Yangzi region, it signals a technological shift toward small-flake debitage and retouch systems during the Late Pleistocene.

Keywords

East AsiaMarine Isotope Stage 5Miaodongyingdongnan

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Antiquity , First View , pp. 1 - 7
Creative Commons
Creative Common License - CCCreative Common License - BY
This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited.
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2026. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of Antiquity Publications Ltd

Introduction

The Lower Yangzi River basin is a key region for investigating hominin evolution and adaptation in East Asia, with notable fossil records including the Hexian, Chaoxian, Hualongdong and Nanjing hominins (Figure 1; Liu et al. Reference Liu2014). Lithic industries found in this region have traditionally been considered to show the persistence of the cobble-tool industry or chopper-chopping tool tradition, commonly classified as Mode 1 technology (Bar-Yosef & Wang Reference Bar-Yosef and Wang2012; Guan et al. Reference Guan2018). However, this paradigm has been challenged in recent years by the discovery of large cutting tools and large-flake production during the Middle Pleistocene (774–129 ka) (ka = 1000 years ago), followed by a trend of lithic miniaturisation from the Late Pleistocene (129–11.7 ka) onward (Chen et al. Reference Chen, Ono and Pawlik2020; Dong & Zhan Reference Dong and Zhan2025; Yi et al. Reference Yi2026).

Figure 1.

Location and landscape of the Miaodongyingdongnan site: a & b) location of Miaodongyingdongnan and other key archaeological sites mentioned in this article; c) the landscape around Miaodongyingdongnan (figure by authors).

Map showing archaeological sites in the Lower Yangzi River basin.

Here, we report on a newly excavated site situated in the Chaohu Lake region along the Lower Yangzi River (Figure 1) with a lithic assemblage characterised by small-flake debitage and retouch systems. Dated to c. 70–100 ka, the Miaodongyingdongnan site offers important new insights into lithic technological evolution and hominin adaptative strategies in the Lower Yangzi region during the Late Pleistocene.

Site location, stratigraphy and ages

The Miaodongyingdongnan site (31°50′3.804″N, 117°3′11.88″E, 33.23m asl) is located in the south-eastern part of Miaodongying Village, Xiaomiao Town, Hefei City, Anhui Province (Figure 1). It sits on the terrace of the Paihe River, which flows south-east into Chaohu Lake. In 2023, a total area of 120m2 was excavated in 0.10m incremental spits. Each stone artefact encountered was individually numbered, and its three-dimensional co-ordinates and orientation were recorded.

Three distinct layers are identified by their lithological characteristics (Figure 2a). Layer 1 is modern tillage soil. Layer 2 comprises brownish-yellow clay with a relatively dense texture, intercalated with iron-manganese concretions. Layer 3 consists of reticulated red clay, developing weak columnar joints and worm-like reticulated structures. Layer 2 constitutes the primary cultural layer, yielding thousands of lithic artefacts, although a few were also found in layer 1 and the interface between layers 2 and 3 (Figure 2b–c).

Figure 2.

Stratigraphy (a) and horizontal (b) and vertical (c) spatial distribution of lithic artefacts of Miaodongyingdongnan (figure by authors).

Cross-sectional view of soil layers and distribution of lithic artifacts.

Fine-grained (4–11µm) quartz and polymineral fractions were manually extracted from two optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) samples taken from the Miaodongyingdongnan profile. Equivalent doses were measured using the SAR OSL (Murray & Wintle Reference Murray and Wintle2003) and pIR200IR290 (Buylaert et al. Reference Buylaert2012) protocols. Environmental dose rates, derived from uranium, thorium and potassium concentrations via high-resolution gamma spectrometry, were adjusted for water content and cosmic rays. The resulting ages place the cultural layer of Miaodongyingdongnan between 70 and 100 ka.

Lithic assemblages

A total of 3596 lithic artefacts were recovered from the Miaodongyingdongnan site. Most of the lithic artefacts (94.67%) are smaller than 50mm and were knapped on quartzite (89.91%) or quartz (7.87%). The high frequency of quartzite (69.66%) and quartz (51.59%) artefacts that retain parts of the cortical surface suggests that the raw materials mostly came from local riverbeds, in the form of cobbles and pebbles.

Freehand hard-hammer percussion constitutes the predominant technique for core reduction, represented by 211 cores, 712 complete flakes and 619 flake fragments. Cores are dominated by unidirectional types (34.1%), followed by bidirectional cores (25.6%), cores-on-flakes (15.6%), multidirectional cores (15.2%) and discoid cores (6.6%) (Figure 3). Complete flakes are small, with an average maximum length of 30mm, and most (96.1%) measure less than 50mm. In addition, the bipolar-on-anvil technique supplemented hard-hammer percussion for core reduction.

Figure 3.

Cores found at Miaodongyingdongnan: 1–3) discoid cores; 4–6) cores-on-flakes; 7–13) cores of simple debitage (figure by authors).

Thirteen images of various stone cores used in lithic industries.

Retouched tools (n = 135) are prominently small, measuring 13.86–64.89mm in length (mean = 32.65mm). Flake blanks are the most common type (80%), and the resulting tools are usually retouched by hard-hammer direct percussion in an expedient manner, with limited alteration to the original shape and volume of blanks. The tool types are diverse, comprising mainly scrapers, notches, borers and denticulates (Figure 4). Among these, 11 pieces exhibit proximal thinning or backing, forming a basal part suitable for handling or even hafting.

Figure 4.

Retouched tools found at Miaodongyingdongnan: 1) scraper and notch; 2 & 3) scrapers; 4–6) notches; 7–12) backed/proximal thinning tools; 13–16) borers; 17) borer and notch; 18 & 19) denticulates; 20) burin; 21) endscraper; 22) point (figure by authors).

A collection of various stone tools labeled with numbers.

Conclusion

The lithic assemblage from Miaodongyingdongnan is generally characterised by a small-flake debitage and retouch system, which is typically classified as a core-and-flake technocomplex. Simple core-reduction strategies and an expedient small-flake-based toolkit dominate the assemblage. At the same time, the relatively common occurrence of core-on-flake and discoid technologies, as well as tools with proximal thinning and backing, attests to a degree of planned technological organisation at the site.

In the Lower Yangzi region, the core-and-flake technocomplex represents a key feature of Late Pleistocene lithic assemblages, including Shangbaitang and the upper archaeological unit of Liujia 2 (Liu et al. Reference Liu2025; Yi et al. Reference Yi2026). This technocomplex differs markedly from those documented at Early and Middle Pleistocene open-air sites, such as Qiliting, Chenshan, Fangniushan and the lower archaeological unit of Liujia 2 (Guan et al. Reference Guan2018; Chen et al. Reference Chen, Ono and Pawlik2020; Dong Reference Dong2025; Yi et al. Reference Yi2026). Lithic artefacts from these sites are mostly medium to large with assemblages dominated by heavy-duty tools, such as picks, handaxes, cleavers and choppers, produced on cobbles and large flake blanks. Miaodongyingdongnan, along with other sites in the Lower Yangzi region (Figure 1b), therefore documents substantial technological shifts during the Late Pleistocene, characterised by a marked reduction in artefact size and a predominant focus on small-flake tools. While partly linked to environmental changes (Yi et al. Reference Yi2026), the drivers of this technological shift remain the focus of ongoing research.

Acknowledgements

We thank Zexu Wang from Liaoning Normal University for providing the site’s aerial photograph and Chuanbin Yang from Nanjing University for OSL sampling.

Funding statement

This research is funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 4252206), the Archaeological Talent Promotion Program of China (No. 2024-278), the Leading Innovative Talents of Anhui Province’s ‘Special Support Plan’ (T0008091) and the National Social Science Foundation of China Youth Program (24CKG004).

Author contributions: CRediT categories

Zhe Dong: Conceptualization-Equal, Funding acquisition-Equal, Project administration-Equal, Resources-Lead, Writing - original draft-Equal, Writing - review & editing-Equal. Jian-Ping Yue: Conceptualization-Equal, Data curation-Lead, Formal analysis-Lead, Methodology-Lead, Visualization-Equal, Writing - original draft-Equal, Writing - review & editing-Equal. Shuang-Wen Yi: Methodology-Supporting, Writing - original draft-Supporting, Writing - review & editing-Supporting. Shi-Jia Zhan: Data curation-Supporting, Resources-Supporting, Writing - original draft-Supporting, Writing - review & editing-Supporting. Xin-Yi Peng: Data curation-Equal, Visualization-Equal, Writing - original draft-Supporting, Writing - review & editing-Supporting. Si-Qi Lu: Visualization-Equal, Writing - original draft-Supporting, Writing - review & editing-Supporting. Shi-Xia Yang: Conceptualization-Equal, Funding acquisition-Equal, Project administration-Equal, Supervision-Equal, Validation-Equal, Writing - original draft-Supporting, Writing - review & editing-Supporting.

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Figure 0

Figure 1. Location and landscape of the Miaodongyingdongnan site: a & b) location of Miaodongyingdongnan and other key archaeological sites mentioned in this article; c) the landscape around Miaodongyingdongnan (figure by authors).

Figure 1

Figure 2. Stratigraphy (a) and horizontal (b) and vertical (c) spatial distribution of lithic artefacts of Miaodongyingdongnan (figure by authors).

Figure 2

Figure 3. Cores found at Miaodongyingdongnan: 1–3) discoid cores; 4–6) cores-on-flakes; 7–13) cores of simple debitage (figure by authors).

Figure 3

Figure 4. Retouched tools found at Miaodongyingdongnan: 1) scraper and notch; 2 & 3) scrapers; 4–6) notches; 7–12) backed/proximal thinning tools; 13–16) borers; 17) borer and notch; 18 & 19) denticulates; 20) burin; 21) endscraper; 22) point (figure by authors).