Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene Microblade-based Industries in Northeastern Asia: A macroecological approach to foraging societies (International)

The rise and fall of microblade technology duringthe late Pleistocene and early Holocene is not only a part of the panorama ofglobal microlithization, but also a key question linked to human adaptivechange in the face of climate fluctuation. This monograph creatively uses LewisBinford's macroecological approach developed from his book ConstructingFrames of Reference (2001) against both interglacial and glacial climateconditions, to provide an explanation of variation and change among latePleistocene and early Holocene microblade-based industries in northeasternAsia. It uses six case studies to discuss two waves of cultural change linkedwith issues of the origin of microblade technology and the Palaeolithic toNeolithic transition. These cover the formation and convergence ofmicroblade-based societies (MIS 3 to MIS 2), referring to case studies inSiberia and Northern China, and the development and ultimate divergence ofmicroblade-based societies (MIS 2 to MIS 1), involving case studies in the JapaneseArchipelago, Eastern Siberia, Northern China, and the Tibetan Plateau.