Ran Chen

All Publications

• Plant fiber exploitation contributed to the emergence of ground-edged cutting tools in North China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Chen, R., Li, Y., Chen, X., Gu, W., Wu, X. 2026; 123 (39): e2608882123

  Abstract

  Ground-edged cutting tools are widely regarded as technological hallmarks of early agriculture in North China, commonly hypothesized to have been developed primarily for cereal harvesting. Yet the functional foundations of this innovation remain insufficiently tested. This study integrates use-wear and microfossil analyses of 140 stone tools from the Peiligang site, with experimental data, to reassess their roles within long-term trajectories of technological change from the Late Paleolithic to the Early Neolithic. Upper Paleolithic flaked tools were multifunctional implements used for processing diverse plant and animal materials, and Early Neolithic flakes continued to serve similarly flexible roles. In contrast, Early Neolithic ground-edged tools show marked specialization in plant-related tasks. Microfiber and starch residues, combined with use-wear evidence, indicate that ground-edged sickles and knives were used not only for plant foods but also for harvesting and processing fibrous plants. Experiments show that ground-edged tools were only slightly more efficient than flakes for cutting narrow-stemmed grasses but substantially more effective for fiber-yielding plants with tougher stems and thick-stemmed weeds. These findings indicate that ground-edged cutting tools emerged through broader functional demands, including fiber production, and potentially vegetation clearance, rather than cereal harvesting alone. By identifying nonfood plant labor as an important driver of technological specialization, this study reframes the emergence of ground-edged tools as part of a broader technological and economic reorganization in early Holocene East Asia.

  View details for DOI 10.1073/pnas.2608882123

  View details for PubMedID 42735333

• Identifying fermented alcoholic beverages from early Neolithic pottery at Xiying shell midden site on Pingtan Island of Southeast China ARCHAEOLOGICAL RESEARCH IN ASIA Liu, L., He, Y., Ge, W., Chen, R., Zhang, W., Fan, X. 2026; 47

  View details for DOI 10.1016/j.ara.2026.100742

  View details for Web of Science ID 001840652400001

• Landscape-wide cosmogram built by the early community of Aguada Fénix in southeastern Mesoamerica SCIENCE ADVANCES Inomata, T., Triadan, D., Vazquez Lopez, V. A., Garcia Hernandez, M., Fernandez-Diaz, J., Sharpe, A. E., Alvarado, C., Flores, A., Ceballos, X., Hanson, K. E., Chen, R., Beach, T., Omori, T., Nasu, H., Aoyama, K., Yamada, K., Kitaba, I., Nakagawa, T. 2025; 11 (45): eaea2037

  Abstract

  There is growing recognition that societies without prominent hierarchies could build large constructions. Scholars are debating what motivated many people to participate in these construction projects. We investigated the site of Aguada Fénix, Mexico, which features the oldest and largest monumental architecture in the Maya area. Using light detection and ranging (LiDAR) and excavations, we documented a site plan composed of nested cross forms built between 1050 and 700 BCE. Its center was marked by a large cruciform cache containing the earliest known directional color symbols in Mesoamerica. The overall pattern consisted of 9- and 7.5-kilometer-long axes delineated by canals and corridors. The builders constructed canals, measuring up to 35 meters wide and 5 meters deep, and a dam to supply them with lake water. Although the canals appear unfinished, this site plan exceeded or rivaled the extents of later Mesoamerican cities. Aguada Fénix was probably designed as a cosmogram, which likely attracted people from a broad area.

  View details for DOI 10.1126/sciadv.aea2037

  View details for Web of Science ID 001608099100002

  View details for PubMedID 41191744

  View details for PubMedCentralID PMC12588264

• Red Rice Alcohol in Southern China: Two Ways of Traditional Brewing and Their Implications for Archaeological Research ETHNOARCHAEOLOGY Chen, R. 2024; 16 (2): 281-302

  View details for DOI 10.1080/19442890.2024.2429884

  View details for Web of Science ID 001364722700001