there is a sharp border between core/flake-based tools in Northern China and nearby blade-based tools in Mongolia, the Shuidonggou site displays both types, pointing to a period of contact or adaption. The 'core & flake' tools may be associated with the major source of ancestry for modern Eastern Asians, having arrived in East Asia via a southern route through South Asia into Southeast Asia and subsequently rapidly expanding northwards.

In Europe and Central Asia, the Initial Upper Paleolithic corresponds