Paleolithic Personal Ornaments from Xiaogushan Cave: The Formation of Early Symbolism and Its Regional Features in Northeast China
https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2021.49.4.015-023
Abstract
This article presents the results of a comparative study of personal ornaments from Xiaogushan Cave in the interregional and regional context of the formation of modern behavior. Xiaogushan is a Paleolithic and Neolithic site in Northeast China. In the Upper Paleolithic layers of the site, apart from tools, personal ornaments were found— pendants made from animal teeth, and a decorated bone disc. The date of the site is a matter of debate; ornaments from layers 2 and 3 date to ~30 ka BP. Like other bone artifacts (harpoon, needles, point), and together with types of stone tools and lithic technology, they mirror the local process of Middle to Upper Paleolithic transition. We focus on similarities between the Xiaogushan ornaments and Upper Paleolithic pendants from northern China and Eurasia in general, attesting to modern behavior during the transitional period and being an important marker of the spread of Upper Paleolithic innovations from the centers to the periphery. Xiaogushan is the fi rst Upper Paleolithic industry in Northeast China known to date, and demonstrates skills and symbolic behavior typical of the initial Upper Paleolithic. The Xiaogushan pendants follow the general tendencies, while being specifi c markers of the evolution of symbolic behavior in Eastern Eurasia.
Supporting agencies: This study was supported by the Russian Foundation for Basic Research, Project No. 20-011-00408.
About the Authors
A. P. Zabiyako
Amur State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Ignatievskoye shosse 21, bldg. 7, Blagoveshchensk, 675027
Junzheng Wang
Amur State University
Russian Federation
Russian Federation
Ignatievskoye shosse 21, bldg. 7, Blagoveshchensk, 675027
References
1. Benazzi S., Slon V., Talamo S., Negrino F., Peresani M., Bailey S.E., Sawyer S., Panetta D., Vicino G., Starnini E., Mannino M.A., Salvadori P.A., Meyer M., Pääbo S., Hublin J.-J. 2015 The makers of the Protoaurignacian and implications for Neandertal extinction. Science, vol. 348: 793–796.
2. Broglio A., De Stefani M., Gurioli F., Peresani M. 2006 Le peintures aurignacien de la grotte de Fumane. Lettre internationale d’informations sur l’art rupestre, No. 44: 1–8.
3. Caron F., d’Errico F., Del Moral P., Santos F., Zilhão J. 2011 The reality of Neandertal symbolic behavior at the Grotte du Renne, Arcy-sur-Cure, France. PLoS ONE, vol. 6.
4. Derevianko A.P. 2011 Verkhniy paleolit v Afrike i Yevrazii i formirovaniye cheloveka sovremennogo anatomicheskogo tipa. Novosibirsk: Izd. IAET SO RAN.
5. Derevianko A.P., Rybin E.P. 2003 The earliest representations of symbolic behavior by Paleolithic humans in the Altai Mountains. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia, No. 3: 27–50.
6. Derevianko A.P., Shunkov M.V. 2004 Formation of the Upper Paleolithic traditions in the Altai. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia, No. 3: 12–40.
7. Dong Wei, Fu Renyi, Huang Weiwen. 2010 Age and paleoenvironment of Xiaogushan fauna at Haicheng, Liaoning Province. Kexue tongbao, No. 14: 1376–1383. (In Chinese).
8. Douka K., Slon V., Jacobs Z., Bronk Ramsey C., Shunkov M.V., Derevianko A.P., Mafessoni F., Kozlikin M.B., Li B., Grün R., Comeskey D., Devièse T., Brown S., Viola B., Kinsley L., Buckley M., Meyer M., Roberts R.G., Pääbo S., Kelso J., Higham T. 2019 Age estimates for hominin fossils and the onset of the Upper Palaeolithic at Denisova Cave. Nature, vol. 565: 640–644.
9. Fewlass H., Talamo S., Wacker L., Kromer B., Tuna T., Fagault Y., Bard E., McPherron S., Aldeias V., Maria R., Martisius N.L., Paskulin L., Rezek Z., Sinet-Mathiot V., Sirakova S., Smith G., Spasov R., Welker F., Sirakov N., Tsanova T., Hublin J.-J. 2020 A 14C chronology for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic transition at Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria. Nature Ecology & Evolution, vol. 4: 794–801.
10. Fu Bo. 2010 Kultura pozdnego paleolita Lyaonina i svyazanniye s ney problemy. Shenyang shifan daxue xuebao, No. 4: 549–553. (In Chinese).
11. Fu Renyi. 1983 Raskopki paleoliticheskoy stoyanki Syanzhendun v Anshane. Renleixue xuebao, No. 2: 103. (In Chinese).
12. Fu Renyi, Zhou Xiaojing. 2010 Analiz “izdeliy iz nefrita” so stoyanki Syaogushan i problemy proiskhozhdeniya “nefritovykh izdeliy” na Severo- Vostoke. Zhongguo wenwu bao, December 24. (In Chinese).
13. Gai Pei, Wei Qi. 1977 Discovery of the Late Palaeolithic site of Hutouliang, Hebei. Gujizhui dongwu yu gurenlei, No. 4: 287–300. (In Chinese).
14. Gu Yucai. 1994 Tekhnologiya prosverlivaniya ukrasheniy so stoyanki Syanzhendun Khaichena i svyazanniye s nei problemy. Renleixue xuebao, No. 4: 294–301. (In Chinese).
15. Huang Weiwen, Zhang Zhenhong, Fu Henyi, Chen Baofeng, Liu Jingyu, Zhu Mingye, Wu Hongkuan. 1986. Kostyaniye izdeliya i ukrasheniya iz Syaogushan, Khaichen. Renleixue xuebao, No. 3: 259–266. (In Chinese).
16. Huang Yunping. 1993 Izucheniye izgotovleniya i ispolzovaniya kostyanykh igl iz Syaogushan. Kaogu, No. 3: 260–268. (In Chinese).
17. Hublin J.-J., Sirakov N., Aldeias V., Bailey S., Bard E., Delvigne V., Endarova E., Fagault Y., Fewlass H., Hajdinjak M., Kromer B., Krumov I., Marreiros J., Martisius N.L., Paskulin L., Sinet-Mathiot V., Meyer M., Pääbo S., Popov V., Rezek Z., Sirakova S., Skinner M.M., Smith G.M., Spasov R., Talamo S., Tuna T., Wacker L., Welker F., Wilcke A., Zahariev N., McPherron S.P., Tsanova T. 2020 Initial Upper Palaeolithic Homo sapiens from Bacho Kiro Cave, Bulgaria. Nature, vol. 581: 299–302.
18. Jia Lanpo. 1951 Shandingdong Ren [Shandingdong Man]. Beijing: Longmen Lianhe Shuju. (In Chinese).
19. Jia-Fu Zhang, Wei-Wen Huang, Bao-Yin Yuan, Ren-Yi Fu, Li-Ping Zhou. 2010 Optically stimulated luminescence dating of cave deposits at the Xiaogushan prehistoric site, northeastern China. Journal of Human Evolution, vol. 59 (5): 514–524.
20. Krivoshapkin A., Shalagina A., Baumann M., Shnaider S., Kolobova K. 2018 Between Denisovans and Neanderthals: Strashnaya cave in the Altai mountains. Antiquity, No. 92 (365): 1–7.
21. Lbova L. 2021 Personal ornaments as markers of social behavior, technological development and cultural phenomena in the Siberian Early Upper Paleolithic. Quaternary International, No. 273: 4–13.
22. Lbova L.V. 2018 Predmety personalnoy ornamentatsii v kontekste kulturnykh fenomenov i tekhnologii rannego verkhnego paleolita Sibiri. Uralskiy istoricheskiy vestnik, No. 1: 37–50.
23. Li F., Bae C.J., Bronk R.C., Chen F., Gao X. 2018 Re-dating Zhoukoudian Upper Cave, Northern China and its regional signifi cance. Journal of Human Evolution, No. 121: 170–177.
24. Li F., Kuhn S.L., Bar-Yosef O., Chen F., Peng F., Gao X. 2019 History, chronology and techno-typology of the Upper Paleolithic sequence in the Shuidonggou Area, Northern China. Journal of World Prehistory, No. 32: 111–141.
25. Oliva M. 2017 Palaeolithic and Mesolithic of the Czech lands (Moravia and Bohemia) in the European context. Brno: Moravian Museum. Pavlov P.Y. 2009 Stoyanka Zaozerye – pamyatnik nachalnoy pory verkhnego paleolita na severo-vostoke Yevropy. Rossiyskaya arkheologiya, No. 1: 5–17.
26. Peng F., Gao X., Wang H., Chen F., Liu D., Pei S. 2012 An engraved artifact from Shuidonggou, an Early Late Paleolithic Site in Northwest China. Chinese Science Bulletin, No. 57: 4594–4599.
27. Pitulko V.V., Nikolsky P.A. 2014 Lichniye ukrasheniya (podveski) iz raskopok Yanskoy stoyanki: Massoviye i yedinichniye tipy izdeliy. In Kamenniy vek: Ot Atlantiki do Patsifi ki. St. Petersburg: MAE RAN, IIMK RAN, pp. 408–418.
28. Prévost M., Groman-Yaroslavski I., Crater-Gershtein K., Tejero J.-M., Zaidner Y. 2021 Early evidence for symbolic behavior in the Levantine Middle Paleolithic: A 120 ka old engraved aurochs bone shaft from the open-air site of Nesher Ramla, Israel. Quaternary International. URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.quaint.2021.01.002 (2021).
29. Shunkov M.V., Fedorchenko A.Y., Kozlikin M.B. 2017 Kostyaniye izdeliya nachala verkhnego paleolita iz yuzhnoy galerei Denisovoy peshchery (kollektsiya 2017 goda). In Problemy arkheologii, etnografii, antropologii Sibiri i sopredelnykh territoriy, vol. XXIII. Novosibirsk: Izd. IAET SO RAN, pp. 259–264.
30. Shunkov M.V., Fedorchenko A.Y., Kozlikin M.B., Belousova N.E., Pavlenok G.D. 2016 Kostyaniye orudiya i ukrasheniya rannego verkhnego paleolita iz tsentralnogo zala Denisovoy peshchery: Kollektsiya 2016 goda. In Problemy arkheologii, etnografi i, antropologii Sibiri i sopredelnykh territoriy, vol. XXII. Novosibirsk: Izd. IAET SO RAN, pp. 221–224.
31. Shunkov M.V., Fedorchenko A.Y., Kozlikin M.B., Derevianko A.P. 2020 Initial Upper Palaeolithic ornaments and formal bone tools from the East Chamber of Denisova Cave in the Russian Altai. Quaternary International, No. 559: 47–67.
32. Sinitsyn A.A. 2016 Ranniy verkhniy paleolit Vostochnoy Yevropy: Ukrasheniya i voprosy estetiki. In Verkhniy paleolit: Obrazy, simvoly, znaki. St. Petersburg: Ekstraprint, pp. 320–337.
33. Song Yanhua, Shi Jinming. 2013 Ukrasheniya iz paleoliticheskogo pamyatnika Shitszitan v Tszisyan, Shansi. Kaogu, No. 8: 46–57. (In Chinese).
34. Tashak V.I., Antonova Y.E. 2019 Paleoliticheskiye kompleksy Podzvonkovoy na yuge Zapadnogo Zabaikalya: Sravnitelnaya kharakteristika. Teoriya i praktika arkheologicheskikh issledovaniy, No. 4 (28): 80–96.
35. Vanhaeren M., Julien M. 2011 Parures et peintures corporelles: des indices. Dossier d’Archéologie, No. 345: 56–57.
36. Wang C., Zhang Y., Gao X., Zhang Siaoling, Wang Huimin. 2009 Archaeological study of ostrich eggshell beads collected from SDG site. Chinese Science Bulletin, No. 54: 3887–3895.
37. White R. 2015 Les parures de l’Aurignacien ancien et archaïque de la grotte d’Isturitz: perspectives technologiques et régionales. Aurignacian Genius: Art, technologie et société des premiers hommes modernes en Europe. P@lethnologie, No. 7: 138–164.
38. Xiaogushan: Liaoning Haicheng shiqian dongxue yizhi zonghe yanjiu. 2009 [Xiaogushan: Liaoning Haicheng comprehensive study of prehistoric cave site]. Beijing: Kexue chubanshe. (In Chinese).
39. Zabiyako A.P., Wang Jianlin. 2015 Naskalniye izobrazheniya Severo-Vostochnogo Kitaya. Blagoveschensk: Amur. Gos. Univ. Zabiyako A.P., Wang Jianlin. 2017 Petroglyphs from Northeast China: New sites and interpretations. Archaeology, Ethnology and Anthropology of Eurasia, vol. 45 (3): 69–78.
40. Zhang Xirong, Wang Xiaobin. 1981 V Khaichen obnaruzhena peshchernaya stoyanka pozdnego paleolita. Liaoning wenwu, No. 2: 18–22. (In Chinese).
41. Zhang Zhenhong, Fu Renyi, Chen Baofeng, Liu Jingyu, Zhu Minye, Wu Hongkuan, Huang Weiwen. 1985 Otchet ob arkheologicheskikh raskopkakh stoyanki Syaogushan v Khaichen, Lyaonin. Renleixue xuebao, No. 1: 70–79. (In Chinese).
42. Zhitenev V.S. 2007 Podveski iz zubov zhivotnykh ranney i sredney epokh verkhnego paleolita Russkoy ravniny. In Problemy arkheologii kamennogo veka (k yubileyu M.D. Gvozdover). Moscow: Dom yevreiskoy knigi, pp. 40–61.
43. Zilhão J. 2012 Personal ornaments and symbolism among the Neanderthals. Developments in Quaternary Science, vol. 16: 35–49.
Review
For citations:
Zabiyako A.P., Wang J. Paleolithic Personal Ornaments from Xiaogushan Cave: The Formation of Early Symbolism and Its Regional Features in Northeast China. Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia. 2021;49(4):15-23. https://doi.org/10.17746/1563-0110.2021.49.4.015-023
Views:
714
Email this article 