试论旧大陆旧石器时代琢背刀

Elementary Discussion of the Backed Knives in the Paleolithic Period of the Old World

琢背刀是我国北方地区旧石器时代晚期细石叶工业中存在的一类精致石器工具。琢背刀的技术要义在于"修背"技术。旧大陆东西方石器工业对比分析显示,琢背刀在旧大陆西侧拥有更为悠久的演化谱系。修背刀大约距今7万—6万年出现于南非,在距今6万—4万年影响至东非,随后旧石器时代晚期在西亚、西欧和南亚等地区广泛出现,并相对快速波及至黑海北部和东西伯利亚贝加尔湖地区。中国东北和华北琢背刀大约出现于距今3万—2万年左右,应当是更新世晚期现代人在旧大陆扩散历史事件的产物。旧大陆视野下修背工具可能具备多种功能,但主要应当是被镶嵌至骨柄和木柄上作为复合工具使用。

The Backed knife is a typical decent stone tool of the microblade industry in the Upper Paleolithic of north China.The key point to define the backed knife is the backed technology.The comparative study of the lithic industry between the east and the west of the Old World showed that the backed knives had a much longer evolution genealogy in the west of the Old World.The Backed knife first appeared in South Africa around 70-60 Ka BP,then spread to East Africa about 60-40 Ka BP,and in the Upper Paleolithic widespread in West Asia,West Europe,and South Asia,and then rapidly to the north of the Black Sea and the Lake Baikal region in the East Siberia.The appearance of the backed knife in the north and the northeast of China around 30-20 Ka BP was probably the result of the dispersal of the Homo sapiens across the Old World during the Late Pleistocene.From the Old World perspective,the backed knives had diverse functions and were mainly inset into bone or wooden handles,and were used as composite tools.