This is the second of a series of reports on the study of lithic artifacts unearthed from
Zhoukoudian Locality 15 in mid 1930s. Retouched stone
tools in this assemblage include scrapers, chopper chopping tools, points, awls, burins, notches, cleavers, spheroids, and irregularly modified pieces. The
scraper is the large majority of the stone tools, constitutes nearly 93% of the assemblage, and can be further classified into single straight sidescraper, single convex sidescraper, single concave sidescraper, end scraper, thumbnail shaped scraper, double edged scraper, and multi edged scraper. Modified tools appear to be retouched by direct hard hammer percussion. Most of the tools were retouched unifacially. Pieces made on flakes were modified overwhelmingly on the dorsal surfaces. Most of the tools are small and irregular. A few large and regular pieces are found in the cleaver and chopper chopping
Tool categories. Most modification scars are deep, irregular, and variable in size, indicating that modification on these pieces are not normally well controlled. However, some specimens do exhibit well controlled fine retouch, evidenced by even and parallel modification scars and sharp, regular, smooth or denticulate cutting edges, indicating that hominids at the site were capable of making delicate stone tools when raw material permitted and necessity arose. Statistical analyses were conducted to examine variability of retouched pieces. There are significant differences in size, edge
length and
Retouch invasiveness among different tool types, namely scrapers, cleavers, and chopper chopping tools. No consistent differences in size, retouch length and invasiveness, edge angle and profile can be identified among straight, convex and concave sidescrapers, implying that such edge variations might occur naturally, probably as a function of the initial morphology of the blanks, and do not necessarily represent discrete functional types. Bivariate examinations of scrapers reveal linear relationships between edge length and blank length, retouch invasiveness and blank length, and edge length and retouch invasiveness, implying that the tool size and modification extent are closely related to the original blank size and morphology. The Locality 15 stone tool assemblage exhibits close tie with Sinanthropus industry at Zhoukoudian Locality 1, although some differences between the two are evident. It also shares many similarities in stone tool typology, technology and stylistic features with many other major Paleolithic assemblages in North China, indicating that the Locality 15 industry is a member of the core flake scraper techno complex of North China.
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