Year: 2019
Type: article
Abstract: The production of abstract engravings is considered an indicator of modern human cognition and a means for the long-term recording and transmission of information. This article reports the discovery of two engraved bones from the Lingjing site in Henan Province, China, dated to 105–125 kya. The carefully engraved nature of the incisions, made on weathered rib fragments, precludes the possibility of unintentional or utilitarian origins. Residue analysis demonstrates the presence of ochre within the incised lines on one specimen. This research provides the first evidence for the deliberate use of ochred engravings for symbolic purposes by East Asian Late Pleistocene hominins.
Source: Antiquity
DOI: 10.15184/aqy.2019.81
Authors: Zhanyang Li, Luc Doyon, Hao Li, Qiang Wang, Zhongqiang Zhang, Qingpo Zhao, Francesco d'Errico
Institutions: Shandong University, Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Heritage and Archaeology, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Université de Bordeaux, De la Préhistoire à l'Actuel : Culture, Environnement et Anthropologie, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, University of Bergen
Language: English
Subfield: Anthropology
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Funders: Shandong University, Agence Nationale de la Recherche, National Natural Science Foundation of China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Norges Forskningsråd, Higher Education Discipline Innovation Project, Institut écologie et environnement
OpenAlex ID: W2962003167