On the Internal Development of the Lithic Technology in Korea since MIS 4 stage : Based on the lithic industry excavated from Dosan site in Hwasun County

One of the controversial issues in Korean Paleolithic research is establishing the technical concept of the Middle Paleolithic. In this regard, the manufacturing technique of a 65,000-year-old lithic industry excavated from the first cultural layer of the Dosan site was analyzed. As a result, a technique of selecting appropriate pebble and manufacturing flakes for blank without pre-adjustment, a technique for producing sharp rectangular flakes by hitting at the corner of raw material, a technique for making tools by precisely calculating the strike point and order and a knapping technique of large flakes were identified. While the technical elements of the Lower Paleolithic remain, it is different from the blade technique representing the Upper Paleolithic. Therefore, it can be recognized as a distinct and characteristic lithic technology of the Middle Paleolithic. However, the three techniques except the knapping technique of large flakes, contain technical elements and concepts that are common or related to the blade technique. Therefore, we cannot rule out the possibility that Upper Paleolithic inhabitants invented the blade technique by choosing and combining the essential elements from lithic technology of the previous period and also by adopting new raw materials. Thus, 65,000 years ago, lithic technology was clearly different from those of the Lower and Upper Paleolithic, but there were elements related to manufacturing techniques of both ages. In addition, considering the research results showing that the emergence of the blade technique goes up to 42,000 years ago, and that the microblade technique appeared more than 30,000 years ago, it is interpreted that the lithic technology of the Korean Peninsula has undergone a continuous and internal development process since MIS 4 stage.