A zooarchaeological analysis of the burned bone from the Shizitan Site 9, Shanxi, China

doi:10.16359/j.cnki.cn11-1963/q.2019.0047

Abstract

Abstract:

Located at the Gaolouhe village, Jixian County of the Shanxi Province, the Shizitan site(Locality 9) is roughly 7 km to the Yellow River. Discovered in 2000, this site was systematically excavated in 2001, 2002 and 2005. Along with thousands of lithic tools of microblade technology, a dozen of organic artifacts and lithic grinding tools, plenty of faunal remains were recovered from the 3 field seasons of excavation. Based mainly on an observation of the taphonomic features of the faunal remains from Layer 4(12,575-11,600 cal. BP) and Layer 5(ca. 13,000 cal. BP), particularly of the small-sized bone fragments from the site, it could be argued that the burned bones here are most probably a palimpsest of several episodes of human behavior centering around the hearth, including but not limited to roasting meat, burning bones for site maintenance and as a supplementary source of fuel. Besides, it seems clear that humans at the site moved the fire residues out of the fireplace and later on dumped them at its peripheries.

Key words: Shizitan site, Burned bones, Taphonomy, Zooarchaeology, Paleolithic

CLC Number:

Q983

ZHANG Shuangquan, SONG Yanhua, ZHANG Yue, XU Le, LI Lei, SHI Jinming. A zooarchaeological analysis of the burned bone from the Shizitan Site 9, Shanxi, China[J]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica, 2019, 38(04): 598-612.

Figures/Tables 10

References 71

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	L4（54件）		L5（9件）
	NISP/%	MNI/%	NISP/%	MNI/%
鼢鼠(Myospalax sp.)	1/1.85	1/12.5	1/11.11	1/16.67
鸟(Aves)	5/9.26	1/12.5	1/11.11	1/16.67
狐(Vulpes sp.)	4/7.41	1/12.5	1/11.11	1/16.67
狍(Capreolus sp.)	8/14.81	1/12.5	5/55.56	2/33.33
岩羊(Pseudois sp.)	3/5.56	1/12.5	0/0	0/0
猪(Sus scrofa)	4/7.41	1/12.5	1/11.11	1/16.67
兔(Lepus sp.)	24/44.44	1/12.5	0/0	0/0
其他小哺乳类（other mammals)	5/9.26	1/12.5	0/0	0/0

	L4（54件）		L5（9件）
	NISP/%	MNI/%	NISP/%	MNI/%
鼢鼠(Myospalax sp.)	1/1.85	1/12.5	1/11.11	1/16.67
鸟(Aves)	5/9.26	1/12.5	1/11.11	1/16.67
狐(Vulpes sp.)	4/7.41	1/12.5	1/11.11	1/16.67
狍(Capreolus sp.)	8/14.81	1/12.5	5/55.56	2/33.33
岩羊(Pseudois sp.)	3/5.56	1/12.5	0/0	0/0
猪(Sus scrofa)	4/7.41	1/12.5	1/11.11	1/16.67
兔(Lepus sp.)	24/44.44	1/12.5	0/0	0/0
其他小哺乳类（other mammals)	5/9.26	1/12.5	0/0	0/0

	标本数^*	切割痕	砍砸痕	火烧痕	化学腐蚀	沉积物磨蚀痕	食肉类齿痕	啮齿类齿痕
第4层	34	3/8.82	0/0	18/52.94	10/29.41	7/20.59	0/0	0/0
第5层	9	0/0	0/0	2/22.22	3/33.33	2/22.22	0/0	0/0

	标本数^*	切割痕	砍砸痕	火烧痕	化学腐蚀	沉积物磨蚀痕	食肉类齿痕	啮齿类齿痕
第4层	34	3/8.82	0/0	18/52.94	10/29.41	7/20.59	0/0	0/0
第5层	9	0/0	0/0	2/22.22	3/33.33	2/22.22	0/0	0/0

	D0	D1	D2	D3	D4	D5	D6
NISP	33	4	2	2	2	5	5
%	61.11	7.41	3.7	3.7	3.7	9.26	9.26