Table of Content

15 December 2009, Volume 28 Issue 04

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A study of fire-Use activities at Shuidonggou Locality 12

GAO Xing; WANG Hui-min; LIU De-cheng; PEI Shu-wen; CHEN Fu-you; ZHANG Xiao-ling; ZHANG Yue

2009, 28(04):  329-336. 

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In 2007, over ten thousand cracked stone pieces were unearthed during a test excavation from a thick ashy layer at Locality 12 of the Shuidonggou Paleolithic site in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region, North China. The cultural horizon yielding such fractured stone was dated to 11000 —12000 BP by AMS and OSL methods. Morphological observations and lithological analysis of the broken stones indicated that they were the result of ancient human selection, transport, heating , and utilization. Experimental studies on similar lithic materials support the idea that such cracked pieces went through the process of repeated heating and water immersion. Therefore, it is presumed that these pieces were “cook stones” used by ancient humans to aid in the cooking of foods and boiling of water. Chemical tests on water samples collected from ground and underground sources near the site indicate a high intestinal Bacillus content, and thus natural water could not have been utilized directly without heat treatment. Paleoenvironmental studies point out that during the late Upper Pleistocene, many kinds of plant food resources were available to human groups living in the region, and that some of such plant foods, especially seeds, would be edible to humans only after being boiled or cooked. It is the first time that evidence of complex and an indirect way of fire use, i.e., hot-rock cookery, has been recognized from Paleolithic remains in China, and thus, such boiling stones provide valuable information for studying ancient human adaptative strategies and the development of human fire-use history.

A study of the stone artifacts discovered in the Danjiangkou Reservoir Area in 1994

LI Chao-rong; FENG Xing-wu; LI Hao

2009, 28(04):  337-354. 

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Fifty-six Paleolithic sites were discovered in the Danjiangkou Reservoir area of the South- North Water Transfer Project in 1994 with more than 624 stone artifacts collected on the surface or found in situ at these sites. These stone artifacts included cores, flakes, points, scrapers, choppers, chopping-tools, stone ball, picks, cleavers and handaxes.
The stone artifacts were mostly large in size and were made from the local gravels. This stone assemblage is characteristic of the main stone industry of South China and is important in comparative studies with the non-Chinese lithic industries.

Methodological application of the paleolithic technological research, a case study of a core from the Guanyindong Site

LI Ying-hua; HOU Ya-mei; Eric BOËDA

2009, 28(04):  355-362. 

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Numerous prehistoric lithic industries have been unearthed in China, many of which have yielded quite different characteristics from those artifacts found in Europe and Africa. Past research has shown that typology itself is not very capable of decoding and interpreting technological behaviors of prehistoric humans. Moreover, the morphology and composition of stone assemblages are sometimes so different from those in Europe and the Near East that the problem of scientific dialogue among researchers in all of these regions remains for long time. In order to study more deeply the culture and behavior of prehistory French prehistorians have proposed and developed a new methodology called “lithic technological study ,” which focuses on analyzing the intra- and inter-cultural relationships between stone artifacts. This method enabled us to explore the specific techniques and rules that operate in a system of lithic production, which reveals the cognitive character and technological behavior used by prehistoric humans.
By applying the method of “lithic technological study”, this paper reflects a partial research result of the first authorπs dissertation on the stone assemblage of the Guanyindong site, Qianxi County, Guizhou Province. It focuses on a single platform core and shows how this “lithic technological study” can determine different series of de?bitage and the pattern of flake removal based on the negative characteristics left on the core. As part of this integral analysis , a comparison was made between the core’s reconstructed flake removals and those flakes unearthed from the site. The purpose of this work was to reconstruct as accurately as possible the core’s cha?ne ope?ratoire of manufacture/use. This study clearly reveals the feasibility of applying this method to Chinese prehistoric materials especially to stone artifacts.

The racial type of the middle-later phases of the Taosi Culture of Shanxi

ZHANG Ya-jun; HE Nu; ZHANG Fan

2009, 28(04):  363-371. 

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New excavations at the Taosi site, Shanxi Province, have recovered many human remains from tombs and ash pits dated to the middle??later phases of the Taosi culture. Osteological examination determined sex identification, age-at-death estimation and population affinity assessment of the skeletal remains. The principal analysis of metrical cranial data showed that the human remains of the middle-later phases were distinct from those of the early phase of Taoshi culture, which was excavated in 1970s and 80s and reported in 1989 the different origins of these two groups of people. Ancient DNA analysis was also conducted and the results failed to demonstrate that there were significant genetic differences between the remains from the tomb and from the ash pits.

Research on dental caries of ancient populations during bronze age and early iron age in Southern Central Inner Mongolia

ZHANG Quan-chao; CAO Jian-en; ZHU Hong

2009, 28(04):  372-378. 

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Dental caries were observed from five samples of Bronze Age and Early Iron Age populations excavated in the southern central area of Inner Mongolia. Compared with other ancient populations available in the Great Wall region of Inner Mongolia, the relationship between dental caries and archaeology, culture and economy were discussed. The prevalence of dental caries is clearly related to the types of economy; agricultural groups having the highest rates, mixed cultural groups having moderate rates, and nomadic groups having the lowest rates of caries.

Stature as given by metacarpal bone X-ray measurement

CHEN Zhong-heng; MENG Qing-lan; LIU Feng-chun

2009, 28(04):  379-382. 

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A total of 372 hand radiographs were obtained from 186 college students ( 90 males and 96 females, aged between 18 and 27 years). The stature of the students, and the length and the middle width of metacarpal bones were measured. By assessing the length and width of the metacarpal bones, we obtained several regression equations relating metacarpal length to stature; data that can be useful in physical anthropology and forensic medicine. Values included minimum and maximum, average and standard deviations of right and left metacarpal bones. The following regression equations of metacarpal bone length and stature were Ym = 1097.320+ 9.337X and Yf = 1016.752+ 9.878X. In males, the correlation between the length of the second metacarpal and stature was the highest. In females, the relationship between the length of the third metacarpal and stature was significant. The results may be used in estimating stature in anthropological and forensic medicine studies.

An overview on selection and usage of sleeping sites in non-human primates

WANG Ming; ZHAO Da-peng; ZHANG Jian; LI Bao-guo

2009, 28(04):  383-390. 

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Sleeping behavior is a necessary life-sustaining activity for non-human primates , but is especially important in the life history of these animals because they spend approximately half of their lifetime sleeping. After a retrospective literature overview, we found that security(imposed by predation pressure), comfort and sanitation are the main factors affecting the selection and utilization of sleeping site by non2human primates. Non-human primates generally display three different choices of sleep site selection, which include arboreal, ground and nesting. By way of conclusion we discuss the differences between species and related environmental effects. The present paper also provides several promising directions for further research.

Winter food habits of the Yunnan Snub-nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus bieti) found at Mt. Longma, Yunnan

LI Xue-you; ANG Shi-jian

2009, 28(04):  391-400. 

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From November 2006 to March 2007, we studied the winter diets of the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey (Rhinopithecus bieti) found living at Mt. Longma, Yunnan Province. Fecal components including their relative proportions were quantified by micro-morphological analysis. Phytochemical components of 15 primary food items (including two species of Usneaceae) and 10 secondary food items of R. bieti were analyzed. Winter diets of the Yunnan snub-nosed monkey included 45 plant species of 26 families. Fargesia papyrifera Yi (19.78 %), Usnea longissima (10.28 %), Usnea florida (L.) Wigg (8.37 %), Qiongzhuea rigidula Hsueh (4.93 %), and Fargesia pallens Hsueh (4.46 %) were the main components of the winter diet, totalling47.99% of all utilized plants. Young leaves of woody plants and herbaceous plants constituted 75 % of the total quantity of forage. R. bieti preferred to choose food items with high PΠF ratios and low tannin content in winter. It was also noted that primary food items used by R. bieti had less fibire ( P < 0.01) and tannin ( P < 0.05) than secondary items.

A study of the physical characteristics of the Lhoba and Monba peoples

ZHENG Lian-bin; LU Shun-hua; ZHANG Xing-hua; LUO Dong-mei; YU Hui-xin

2009, 28(04):  401-407. 

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Sixty-seven physical characteristics of the Lhoba people of Milin County, and of the Monba people of Cuona County, both of Tibet, were investigated in this study. These characteristics were used to calculate and then comparisons were made between these two groups and other Chinese minority groups. The results are as follows.
Some physical characteristics of the Lhoba, including hypsicephalic type, mesoprosopy, metriocephalic type (breadth-height index of head), mesatiskelic type, medium chest circumference and medium distance between iliac crests were observed to occur in high frequencies. Typical physical characteristics of the Monba peoples were brachycephaly, hypsicephalic type, mesoprosopy, mesorrhiny, broad shoulder breadth, medium chest circumference and medium distance between iliac crests. In terms of stature, typical Lhoba were of middle stature, whereas the Monba were of sub-middle stature. In both the Lhoba and Monba peoples, the percentage of mongoloid fold and eyefold of the upper eyelid are low. The height of alae nasi and the upper lip height were of medium size. Hair color was black and eye color was brown. Most people had yellow skin color. The percentage of triangular lobe shape was high in the Lhoba, whereas the percentage of round lobe shape was high in the Monba peoples. Nasal root height of the Lhoba and Monba were medium size in males and small in females. The results of this research indicate that the physical characteristics of the Lhoba and Monba people are similar, and their head and face characteristics are close to Zangzu of Gansu and Sichuan provinces. Although the Lhoba and Monba live in southern China, their body characteristics are similar to that of the North Asian type.

A study of the physical features of Sanyan Tibetans

HE Guo-qiang; YUE Xiao-guo; YANG Xiao-qin; WANG Tian-yu; CHEN Zhou; TAN Jia-ying

2009, 28(04):  408-417. 

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This paper describes and analyzes physical measurement data of Tibetans living inside Sanyan, a valley area between Gongjue County in Tibet and Baiyu County in Sichuan Province along the Jinshajiang River. The physical features of the Sanyan Tibetans can be described as :a tall stature; middle-distance skelic type ; super leptoprosopy; moderate nose size; and a normo-tensive blood pressure. It is believed that these Sanyan Tibetans belong to one of the Mongoloid subspecies found in North Asia, but because these people have some unique physical traits of their own, they are quite different from other Tibetan ethnic groups living around the Tibetan plateau as well as with other minority nationalities in China.

Stone tools residue analysis: review and prospect

GUAN Ying; GAO Xing

2009, 28(04):  418-429. 

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The interpretation of the stone tools plays an substantially important role in the reconstruction of prehistoric society. Nowadays, the functional research of stone tools is considered as an indispensable field in archeology besides the materials procurement, knapping technology, assemblage analysis and human behaviour. Residue analysis is a technique of functional analysis developed in the West on 1970s which for the extraction and identification of the residues on the surface of artifacts with modern technologies. Through more than forty-years development and improvement, the residue analysis has become an essential part of stone tools function research which has attracted plenty of researchers to set foot in. From Lower to Upper Paleolithic, there are abundance of sites including cave sites and open air sites in China. Over the years, the studies were almost focused on the typological and technological attributes of the stone artifacts, however, to most of the materials, we have not extracted all the information possessed by artifacts jet. The residue analysis could make up and improve the situation at a great extent and give huge contribution to the functional studies and the paleoenvironmental reconstruction. This article focuses on the review and prospect of residue analysis research history in the West and explains some of the methods and technologies at the same time. These methods and technologies should be introduced to Chinese paleolithic archeology at present and certainly could have profound impacts to the future research.