Study of the Origin of the Upper Palaeolithic Culture in the Japanese Archipelago

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This study was directed to elucidate the origin of the Upper Paleolithic in the Japanese Archipelago with Northeast Asian horizon. In this area, the beginning of the Upper Paleolithic cultures are closely correlated with emergence of blade technology, use of siliceous or glassy raw materials, long-distance movement of materials, bone/antler working, regional style, personal ornaments and burial with red pigment powder. Burials decorated with beads, pendants and red pigment powder may mean the appearance of selected persons in each communities and some kind of full-grown societies. Bone/antler working, ornaments and burials with red pigment powder are widely visible over the northeast Asian sites after ca.30,000 calBP. In particular, the finds from the Upper Cave at Zhoukoudian are important, associating three skulls of anatomically modern Homo sapiens with radiometric ages of 29-24 ka by ^<14>C AMS dating or 33,000-26,000 calBP. Ornaments and red pigments diffused rapidly from South Siberia to North China, and reached the Japanese Islands until around 20,000 calBP.Basing on the marker of systematic blade technology, the beginning date is put around 45,000-38,000 calBP at the Altai Mountains and the Trans-Baikal in Siberia, 35,000-30,000 calBP in China, Korea and Japan. On the other hand, blade production techniques have not been reported during the Middle-Upper Paleolithic periods in the southern China and the Indo-China Peninsula. Accordingly blade technologies in China, Korea and Japan are considered as diffusion through the northern route.