**Author details**

*Pleistocene Archaeology - Migration, Technology, and Adaptation*

produced by modern human or *Homo sapiens*.

that is commonly seen in northern China.

and bipolar method appeared in Upper Paleolithic age and they were possibly

Stone artifacts from Early and Middle Paleolithic were made of quartz sandstone and sandstone; direct hammer percussion was used during flake knapping and tool retouching; the utilization of the cores is low; most cores have a single natural platform; faceted platforms are rarely observed. The retouch is crude; one-way retouch and alternately retouch are common; and there are also reverse, stagger, both side and overturn retouching. Most stone tools are heavy and thick, with a length more than 100 mm. Tools smaller than 40 mm are rare, and most blanks are massive. Heavy-sized tools appear in larger numbers than small-sized tools. Chopping-tools are the main tool type, and handpicks and spheroids are also commonly seen. Stone tools in this period basically belong to the industry of southern China [24, 25]. The use of flint increased in the Upper Paleolithic; bipolar method gradually appeared; and the proportion of scrapers also increased; flakes became the main blank form. The trend towards tool miniaturization increased and the characteristic of stone tools gradually approached the flake-tool-industry

In conclusion, the Pleistocene lithic industry in Zhejiang province basically belongs to the industry of southern China [11, 16]. Accompanied by the transition from pebble-tool-industry to flake-tool-industry possibly started by early and archaic Homo species, raw material procurement, the knapping methods and lithic assemblages also changed gradually. The basic characteristic of the lithic industry in Zhejiang is similar to the southern Anhui province and southern Jiangsu province. But some regional differences are also seen. For example, in Early and Middle Paleolithic sites, small-sized and heavy-sized stone artifacts are similar in numbers, and the proportion of spheroid is lower than surrounding areas. Short handpick is also a unique tool type of this region. In Upper Paleolithic sites, on the other hand, flint was used as the main raw material, and with hammer percussion, bipolar method was also widely used. Such new lithic production technology could be introduced and practiced by modern human, though the details are yet unclear. In terms of human adaptation, most raw materials were gathered locally; the utilization of cores and the degree of proficiency during primary flake knapping improved gradually. Retouching is mostly found on the sharp edge or distal end. The sharp edges of blades are frequently used. Flake refitting and use-wear analysis provided useful information about the manufacture and utilization of tools. As current investigation and material are not comprehensive enough, the archeological investigation of the Paleolithic sites and prehistoric human behavior of Zhejiang province in regard with human evolution and migration during the Pleistocene is an

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ongoing research.

Hong Chen1,2\*, Jiying Liu2 , Xinmin Xu3 and Huiru Lian4

1 School of Art and Archaeology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

2 Institute of Cultural Heritage and Museology, Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China

3 Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute of Zhejiang Province, Hangzhou, China

4 Department of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK

\*Address all correspondence to: hollychen@zju.edu.cn

© 2020 The Author(s). Licensee IntechOpen. This chapter is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/ by/3.0), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
