| Abstract: |
Shell was converted into a range of tools in southern China over a period of 30 millennia prior to the arrival of the first rice farmers into the region about 4500 years BP. The settlements under review comprise rock shelters, riverine and coastal settlements dominated by the accumulation of shell middens, and cemeteries containing individual, flexed burials. Much of this period comprised the Holocene climatic optimum, when affluent hunter-gatherers were able to harvest a wide range of wild plants and engage in fishing and hunting. In doing so, they developed a sophisticated repertoire of shell artifacts dominated by knives and spades, adzes and fishhooks. This paper summarizes their distribution, manufacture, and applications.
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