人类学学报 ›› 2025, Vol. 44 ›› Issue (02): 220-229.doi: 10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2024.0080cstr: 32091.14.j.1000-3193/AAS.2024.0080

• 研究论文 • 上一篇    下一篇

旧石器时代动物肋骨的开发与利用

唐依梦(), 刘扬()   

  1. 中山大学社会学与人类学学院,广州 510275
  • 收稿日期:2023-12-26 接受日期:2024-04-16 出版日期:2025-04-15 发布日期:2025-04-15
  • 通讯作者: 刘扬,副教授,主要从事旧石器考古学研究。E-mail: liuyang_ivpp@163.com
  • 作者简介:唐依梦,博士,主要从事旧石器考古学研究。E-mail: tangym27@mail2.sysu.edu.cn
  • 基金资助:
    中央高校创新人才培育计划-青年拔尖人才项目(23wkqb02);中山大学研究生创新项目

Development and utilization of the animal ribs in Paleolithic period

TANG Yimeng(), LIU Yang()   

  1. School of Sociology and Anthropology, Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou 510275
  • Received:2023-12-26 Accepted:2024-04-16 Online:2025-04-15 Published:2025-04-15

摘要:

肋骨是动物骨骼的重要组成部分,考古发现表明古人类有意识地对肋骨进行了多方面的开发利用,不仅将其加工成各种类型的工具和艺术装饰品,而且将肋骨髓腔内的骨松质作为骨脂食用,此外还有将肋骨作为燃料使用。本文系统梳理了世界范围内动物肋骨人工制品的主要考古发现,总结肋骨人工制品开发利用的类型和操作链等研究成果,希冀能够引起学界对肋骨人工制品的进一步关注和重视,促进相关领域的研究与探讨。

关键词: 旧石器时代, 肋骨利用, 人工制品, 操作链

Abstract:

Animal bones are important resources available to ancient humans. In addition to lithic artifacts, faunal remains are the most common archaeological evidence in Paleolithic sites. Ribs, as an important component of animal bones, are exploited and utilized by ancient humans in many ways. They were not only processed into various types of tools and ornaments, but also consumed as bone fat and employed as fuel.

Ribs are one of the important raw materials for the production of bone artifacts. Understanding the utilization of ribs is of great significance for studying the development strategies of ancient humans in the Paleolithic Age who used animal bones to manufacture artifacts. Currently, rib artifacts in archaeological sites have been extensively reported and studied by foreign scholars, but there is still insufficient attention has been paid to rib artifacts in China. This paper provides a systematic review of major archaeological discoveries of rib artifacts around the world and summarizes the types and chaîne opératoire of rib artifacts. Additionally, we discuss the possibility of ancient humans selecting ribs as raw materials and the existing problems in rib artifacts research.

The results show that the rib artifacts in Lower Paleolithic were often used without retouching, or within simple knapping and retouching, and the function of the tool was difficult to determine. Until the Middle and Upper Paleolithic, with a deeper understanding of bone raw materials, ancient humans used appropriate methods such as scraping and grinding to retouch bones. The types of artifacts were gradually rich, and there were tools such as smoothers, points, needles, awls, and so on. In addition, there were engravings on the ribs. From the chaîne opératoire of rib artifacts, it can be found that when ancient humans used ribs, they often need to remove the extremities first. The rib blanks were divided into split and unsplit. The cortical view, medullary view and edges were scraped and retouched, and then processed into suitable tools.

Focusing on the exploitation and utilization of animal ribs in the Paleolithic Age is crucial for discussing the exploitation of animal bone resources, the technology of bone tool making and the cognitive development of bones by ancient humans. It is expected that this study will encourage greater attention towards rib artifacts within the field of Paleolithic research, as well as more new archaeological discoveries of rib artifacts in China. This will provide more abundant materials and understanding for the exploitation and utilization of animal ribs by ancient humans in the Paleolithic Age in China and even in East Asia.

Key words: Paleolithic, rib utlization, artifacts, chaîne opératoire

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