Ying Guan

Residue analysis is functional study of stone tools developed in the US and Europe in the 1970s. Using this method, it is possible to reconstruct the paleoenvironment and ancient humans’ survival strategies. This project introduces this type of study to China. It focuses on examining stone artifacts excavated from locality two of the Shuidonggou site using residue analysis for the purposes of determining the stone artifacts’ functions. The study reveals not only how the artifacts could be used but also the paleoenvironment inhabited by the Shuidonggou occupants and human behavioral patterns during the Late Pleistocene. Furthermore, it reconstructs ancient colonization around East Asia and Middle/North Asia during the late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. This project involves collaboration with Professor Deborah Pearsall of Missouri University and work in the Paleoethnobotany Laboratory in the Anthropology Department, Missouri University.