Applying Cultural Evolutionary Theory to the Technological Transition During the Late Pleistocene in Korea

The cultural-technological transition in stone artifacts from the Middle to Upper Paleolithic during the Late Pleistocene is considered as one of the major revolutions in the prehistory of humankind, along with the appearance of modern humans. The new technologies include introduction of blade and bladelets, a high degree of morphological standardization in tool types, exploitation of bone, antler, and ivory as raw materials for tools, systematic use of grinding and pounding stone tools, and extensive use of bows and arrows. One of the explanations for this transition is to connect the technological change to hunter-gatherers’ subsistence strategies using a theoretical framework derived from cultural evolution theory. The evolutionary approach enables us to understand human behaviors by linking material evidence and socio-environmental dynamics. In this research, I explore the technological transition from the Early to Late Paleolithic in Korea represented by the appearance of stemmed points through evolutionary concepts including human behavioral ecology (HBE) and cultural transmission (CT). I also examined different likely uses of stemmed points by measuring tip cross-sectional area (TCSA). The previous studies have primarily discussed the origin and route of stemmed points and blades while my research focuses more on related human behaviors and decision-making processes. I raised three questions to address cultural and environmental roles in the technological transition: what changes in foragers’ landscape use and mobility were associated with the introduction of new tools? What were stemmed points used for? And what was the dominant mode of cultural transmission during the time of technological innovation in the Korean Late Paleolithic? My approach to answer these questions is combined with traditional theoretical frameworks and novel methods for testing hypotheses. As an answer to the first question, I hypothesized that stemmed points enabled foragers to survive in more marginal and extreme environments based on HBE. I applied quantitative analyses of artifact volumetric density, retouch frequency, composition of toolkits, and artifact raw materials. I explore environmental and demographic contexts by applying paleoclimate simulations and summed probability distribution models. My results show that forager groups using stemmed points may have been associated with occupation of marginal or extreme environments, represented by higher altitude and decreased temperature. I raised the second question to understand the possible role of stemmed points played related during the technological transition. Using the metric called tip cross-sectional area (TCSA), I was able to discriminate between different likely use classes of projectile points such as stabbing spears or poisoned arrow tips. I also explored the temporal and spatial patterns of TCSA values of stemmed points. My results show the multiple likely uses of stemmed points in a site, which indicate people might use them as multi-functional tools, with many likely designed for javelin and stabbing spear tips. I applied the CT framework to examine the process and social context of the technological transition and address the third question. I built two models that describe the transition process based on guided variation and indirect bias and tested them through computing coefficients of variation (CV), and correlation coefficients. The results show high variation and low correlation between morphological attributes on stemmed points, indicating the guided variation as the dominant mode of cultural transmission. Combining all results, my dissertation research concludes that stemmed points were introduced to maximize the landscape use during the Late Pleistocene and the shape and usage of the tools were adjusted depending on the local environment. In addition to achieving research goals, this dissertation demonstrates how to apply theoretical frameworks and test hypotheses by applying noble quantitative methodologies. My research pursues an open science approach by enabling maximum access to research data, analysis processes, and final results to promote research transparency to promote reproducibility. I expect to see that my approaches will be adopted in future research about technological transition and cultural evolution.