Diversification of faunal exploitation strategy and human-climate interaction in Southern China and Southeast Asia during the last deglaciation

Abstract

• Southern China and Southeast Asia were favourable habitats for foragers during the Last Glacial Maximum (∼25–18 ka BP) and the Last Deglaciation (∼18–11.7 ka BP), despite various climate fluctuation. However, the underlying subsistence strategies in these areas remains unclear, due to the lack of systematic chronological and archaeological data. The current study reports new results of radiocarbon dating, U-series dating, and zooarchaeological analysis from the Naminan cave site, located at the boundary between Southern China and Southeast Asia. It reveals that deer was consumed as the primary source of meat (91.7 %), supplemented by turtles, wild oxen, monkeys, wild boars, and mustelids during ∼17.35–16.49 ka BP. The subsequent period of ∼15.55–15.35 ka BP saw a radical declining proportion of deer, with various new species being consumed, such as shrews, porcupines, fish, crab, canidae, and wild cat. Human occupation of the Naminan cave site might have lasted until the Early Holocene. Comparing archaeological and paleoclimate evidence from Southern China and Southeast Asia, it is reasonable to argue that a progressively drier and colder climate during ∼17.35–15.35 ka BP appeared to trigger a remarkable decline in human activity but greater range of diets in locations such as the Naminan cave and Yuchanyan sites, facilitating further expansion of hunting-gathering groups during the late phase of the Last Deglaciation with warm and humid climate. This study contributes fresh data and perspective to a greater understanding of the evolution of human-climate interactions in low-latitude regions during Late Paleolithic period.