查看文章

The design and assembly of lithic toolkits is mediated by a number of factors including the abundance and quality of raw materials available. In general, low raw material abundance and high raw material quality are thought to lead to formal tool designs, whereas high raw material abundance and low raw material quality lead to informal designs. Low raw material quality is seen as the overriding factor producing informal tool designs, even where low raw material abundance would favour formal designs. In North China, the predominance of simple flake and core technologies, based on relatively poor quality raw materials, and the near absence of sophisticated prepared core technologies seems to corroborate the importance of raw material quality in toolkit design. Recent studies of a late Pleistocene lithic assemblage from the Lower Grotto at Tsagaan Agui cave, Mongolia, suggest however that raw material quality …