A primary study on the stone artifacts of Lingjing site excavated in 2005
LI Zhanyang
2007, 26(02):
138-154.
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Lingjing site is situated in the western part of Lingjing town, which is 15 km from the northwestern city of Xuchang in Henan Province1 The site coordinates are E113°41′, N34°04′. The altitude of the site is 117m above sea level1 This is the first time the site has been excavated since its discovery in 1965. Artifacts are found in the upper and lower lacustrine layers, which are referred to as the upper and lower cultural strata. Broadly speaking, the date range for this site includes: the Paleolithic, Neolithic , Han dynasty and Song dynasty. The excavated stratigraphic section is so far 9 m deep, and the bottom has not yet been reached. A calcium layer is defined as the border between the Paleolithic and Neolithic layers. In 2005, the excavated area was 90 m2 mostly underneath this border. In this excavated area, 2452 stone artifacts and 3000 bones including bone tools were found. The characteristics of Paleolithic stone assemblage from Lingjing is as follows:
1) Raw materials include small white quartz and large quartzite chunks of various colors , which originate from the upper gravel layer of the hill located 20 km northwest of the site.
2) Stone artifacts include formal tools, cores, flakes and chunks.
3) A few flakes and formal tools have usewear. Evidence of usewear and the large amount of debitage indicate that the site was a tool2making and using area. The stone artifacts and bones show no alluvial attrition, and therefore they belong to the original taphonomic pattern.
4) Hammer percussion is the primary technique used, however a few quartz artifacts are made by bipolar flaking.
5) A total of 70.6 % of the formal tools are made from chunks and broken flakes, and the ratio of these tools made from whole flakes is low. Tools are generally of irregular shapes.
6) Most scrapers are made of quartz, while choppers are mainly made of quartzite.
7) A large number of tools are retouched on the dorsal surface, whereas some are retouched on the ventral surface. Bifacial, alternating and multiple-direction retouch is less. There are also a few whole-body retouched curations.
The characteristics mentioned above confirm that most tools from the Lingjing site belong to the main lithic industry of north China, however the choppers made on gravels seem to have characteristics of the main lithic industry of south China.
From the numerous fossils found below the calcium layer and the characteristics of artifacts and the depositional environment, it is suggested that the date of Lingjing site belongs to late Paleolithic. By contrast, the calcium layer is limited to Q3-Q4, so the date cannot be later than 10 000 BP.
