Analyzing Upper Paleolithic blank cutting edge efficiency at Tolbor, Mongolia

SAS Webinar
“Analyzing Upper Paleolithic blank cutting edge efficiency at Tolbor, Mongolia”
by
Corey Johnson
Monday, March 13, 2023
5:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. PT

Overview of presentation: The appearance of Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) technology in northern East Asia ca. 45 kya marks a significant change in the lithic archaeological record of the region. Understanding the economic trade-offs within IUP tool kits can help reveal important information regarding how those systems operated, and how they compare to later Upper Paleolithic (UP) technologies that developed thereafter. Corey will address the IUP record from Tolbor Valley, Mongolia by investigating a key techno-economic aspect of the lithic tool kit: blank cutting-edge length. To this end, Corey analyzed and compared data from four different lithic assemblages dating between ca. 45-20 kya including IUP and later UP variants. The results of the diachronic analysis of cutting-edge efficiency suggest that, in the Tolbor Valley, larger IUP blanks were made relatively more efficiently than smaller ones, and that during the later stages of the UP there was a gradual shift toward the economization of smaller blanks, particularly with the introduction of pressure microblades during the Last Glacial Maximum.

Corey Johnson is a PhD candidate at University of California Davis. His dissertation research consists of using a techno-economic approach for understanding how Paleolithic technological efficiency changed over time in East Asia (specifically in what is today Mongolia and northern China). Following this approach, he reconstructs stone artifact production systems preserved within archaeological sites, then measures and compares the efficiency of the different systems both within and between sites. The results will contribute to our understanding of the tempo and mode of technological change during the Paleolithic in East Asia, and their relationship to human evolutionary history in the region.
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