1983/04/01 by Seonbok Yi, Geoffrey A. Clark, Jean S. Aigner +14 · 4 citations
Social Sciences · Earth and Planetary Sciences · #Pleistocene-Era Hominins and Archaeology #Pacific and Southeast Asian Studies #Evolution and Paleontology Studies
paper · doi:10.1086/202964
openalex publication_date 1983/04/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/06/11
The "chopper-chopping-tool tradition" proposed by Movius in 1948 as a characterization of Lower Palaeolithic assemblage variability in East Asia is here examined and rejected. It is argued that its uncritical acceptance in the Western literature has resulted in an inaccurate perception of technological variability and change in this vast region. A brief summary of recent primary source material clearly indicates (1) that there are variable quantities of "classic" Acheulian bifacial handaxes in some Korean, Chinese, and Mongolian Lower Palaeolithic assemblages and (2) that a dichotomous pattern of assemblage variability characterized by handaxes in the West and choppers/chopping tools in the East in an unrealistic and oversimplified schematization of the East Asian Palaeolithic, which rivals in its complexity contemporaneous assemblages in the West. A better approximation of the Northeast Asian Lower Palaeolithic is Jia and Wei's two-series hypothesis, based upon recent excavations at Zhoukoudian Locality 1, Shiyu, Dingcun, and Kehe. A major shortcoming is insufficient emphasis on the shared features of the two series. It is suggested that more refined lithic typologies incorporating attributes of manufacture and use and quantitative assessments of overall assemblage composition will be required for better approximations of modal assemblage types in this region.