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    15 December 2018, Volume 37 Issue 04
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    A preliminary report on the Paleolithic reconnaissance in Xinjiang, Northwest China in 2004
    GAO Xing, PEI Shuwen, PENG Fei, ZHANG Tienan, FENG Xingwu, CHEN Fuyou, ZHANG Yue, ZHANG Xiaoling, Idelisi Abuduresule
    2018, 37(04):  499-509. 
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    This paper reports some results of the Paleolithic survey in May to June 2004, conducted in the Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region in Northwest China by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (Chinese Academy of Sciences) and the Xinjiang Institute of Culture Relics and Archaeology. A total of 24 localities were discovered and more than 500 lithic artifacts were collected. Most of the collected artifacts come from ground surface, a few sites preserve primary deposits. Among these newly discovered localities, Luotuoshi is the most important one. Tens of thousands of stone artifacts were exposed on an area about 10000m2, including Levallois cores, flakes and large blades. Based on lithic typology and technology, these sites and artifacts represent at least two lithic industries, the Initial Upper Paleolithic industry and the Microblade industry. But some bifaces and Levallois productions express typical Middle Paleolithic features in Central Asia and Altai region. According to the preliminary typological investigation, the newly discovered assemblages indicate possible acculturation and dispersal scenario.The result of this reconnaissance indicates that the Xinjiang region, at least its north and central parts, has great potential for studying human technology, adaptation, migration and interaction during the Upper Paleolithic and Neolithic times.
    A preliminary report on excavation of the Jijiazhuang Paleolithic site in the Yuxian Basin, North China
    PEI Shuwen, MA Dongdong, JIA Zhenxiu, LI Xiaoli, WANG Xiaomin, WANG Fagang, YANG Haiyong
    2018, 37(04):  510-528. 
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    The Nihewan basin (senso lato), which has the most concentrated evidence for the earliest human dispersal to East Asia, is the key region for study of the relationship between early hominin evolution and environment in North China. However, research in past decades was concentrated in the eastern part of the basin. Yuxian basin, which preserves fluvio-lacustrine deposits and early human cultural remains, is located in the southeastern part of the Nihewan basin. From 2015, a systematic investigation was conducted by a team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics, and Yuzhou Museum. Many Paleolithic sites and archaeological remains were discovered from Jijiazhuang town, Yuxian basin. This paper gives a preliminary report on the Jijiazhuang site(JJZ) complex which was excavated in 2016. The newly discovered Jijiazhuang site complex (JJZ-A, JJZ-B, JJZ-C, and JJZ-D) is located in the north part of Jijiazhuang town in the Yuxian basin. It was discovered in 2003 and was excavated in 2016. A total of 76 m2 was exposed, with 190 stone artifacts and 178 fossil fragments recovered from the site. The stratigraphic profile comprises fluvio-lacustrine deposits of browngrey, brown-yellow, grey-green, and grey-black fine sand, silt, and clay, which is capped by loess. The archaeological materials were unearthed from the brown-grey and brown-yellow fine sands and silt. Study of the multiple evidence from archaeological materials (particularly the artifact conditions, debitage size distribution, orientation analysis, and inclination) from JJZ-B site indicates that the archaeological deposits were buried rapidly in shallow lake margin deposits of fine sands and silts that were minimally disturbed and subjected only to relatively low energy sheet wash. Lithic raw materials were procured ca. 6 km north of the site, with volcanic lava dominating the rock types, and siliceous dolomite and chert less common. Artifacts in the assemblage are relatively small to medium in size. The flaking technique is direct hard hammer percussion, although many small flake butts display a lip that suggests soft hammer flaking was probably used by the early humans. Modified pieces appear to be casually retouched by direct hammer percussion. The JJZ lithic assemblage shows relatively advanced technology compared with the Mode 1 industries in the Early Pleistocene assemblages in the Nihewan basin. The broken nature of the fossil fragments hinders an unambiguous identification of the species. Preliminary comparison with the stratigraphy in the Nihewan basin indicates that early humans colonized the site probably in the Middle Pleistocene. It can be inferred that the study of the Jijiazhuang site complex bears great significance on the research of human adaptive behavior and technological exchange in the Nihewan basin during the Middle Pleistocene.
    Lithic artifacts excavated from Locality 3 of the Longgangsi site in Hanzhong Basin, Shaanxi Province
    XIA Wenting, WANG Shejiang, XIA Nan, LU Huayu, WANG Xianyan, SUN Xuefeng, ZHANG Hongyan, ZHANG Wenchao, ZHUO Haixing, XING Luda, YU Qingyao, FENG Wuming
    2018, 37(04):  529-541. 
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    Longgangsi site is located in the southern piedmont of the Qinling Mountains, which is found in the early 1950s. Locality 3 of Longgangsi site is on the fourth terrace in the southern bank of the Hanjiang River. From February to June in 2014, a systematical excavation was carried out by a joint archaeological team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) of Chinese Academy of Science, Shaanxi provincial institute of Archaeology, Nanjing University, and Longgangsi Heritage Administrative Committee. The excavation exposed a total area of 36 m2, with 4441 stone artifacts yielded. The stone assemblage is consist of manuports (n=23; 0.51％ ), cores (n=63; 1.42%), flakes (n=1179; 26.55%), chunks (n=1636; 36.84%), chips (n=1489; 33.53%), and retouched tools (n=51; 1.15%), which include scrapers (n=47), points (n=2), and burins (n=2). The general features of the lithic artifacts are summarized as follows: 1) stone artifacts were made of local raw materials of cobbles/pebbles which derived from the riverbank alluvial deposits of the Hanjiang River, among them are mainly quartz and igneous rock, although quartzite, fine sandstone and flint are also occasionally used; 2) the principal flake knapping method is direct hammer hard percussion, along with bi-polar technique; 3) most of the stone artifacts are small (<50mm) in size, large-sized retouched tools such as hand-axes and choppers are absent at this locality; 4) The retouched tools are mainly light-duty scrapers, points and burins also exist. Most removal positions of retouched tools are direct and inverse. Stratigraphic comparison and magnetostratigraphic analyses indicate that the age of the site is about 1.2~0.7 Ma.
    A preliminary report on excavation of the Huangniliang site in Rizhao, Shandong Province
    CHEN Fuyou1, LI Gang, LI Yu, LI Feng, ZHANG Shuangquan, YI Mingjie
    2018, 37(04):  542-552. 
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    The Huangniliang site located in Rizhao City, Shandong Province was discovered in 2006 and excavated from April to June, 2013 by staff from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology and the Shandong Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. The excavated area reaches nearly 50 m2. Three stratigraphic layers were identified , with a total thickness of 6 m. The section at the base is weathered granite crust; this is overlain by 1.2 m of silty aeolian sediment which yielded flaked lithic artifacts, and then by 3-4 m of a loess-like deposit with granite breccia. The OSL dating method was applied to the site, and results bracket the archaeological layer between 59 and 54 ka BP. A total number of 3516 stone artifacts was excavated from the site, including 1876 pieces plotted in three-dimensions and 1640 pieces of debitage smaller than 1cm. The stone artifact assemblage includes hammerstones (n=7), cores (n=62), flakes (n=533), chunks (n=592), debris (n=658) and retouched tools (n=24) which were mainly manufactured from vein quartz and andesite available from outcrops and the valley near to the site. The retouched tools are dominated by scrapers, mainly made on flakes and chunks. Worthy of special mention is the discovery of seven heavily-used hammerstones, some of which are well-rounded pebbles. This implies that they may have been transported into the site because no gravel layers have been identified nearby. The low frequency of retouched tools and the relatively high percentage of cores demonstrate that blank production was probably the primary activity practiced at the site. The artifact assemblage shows that the principle flaking technique was direct hard-hammer percussion, and little core preparation is present. According to the characteristics of the assemblage and the fact that the site is close to the raw material sources in the region, it is possible that the site was used as a manufacturing locus for stone blanks.
    A preliminary study on lithic artifacts of the Jiangxigou Locality 2 in Qinghai Province, Northeast Tibetan Plateau
    HOU Guangliang, YANG Shixia, E Chongyi, WANG Qianqian
    2018, 37(04):  553-564. 
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    The Jiangxigou Locality 2 (JXG 2) is located in the northeastern edge of Tibetan Plateau in Qinghai Province, Northwest China. The site lies on the southern slope of Qinghai Nanshan Mountains, a transition zone between the plain of the Qinghai Lake and the piedmont hills of the mountains, approximately 3312 meters to the lakeshore. JXG 2 was first discovered in 2004 and excavated in 2012. A total of 659 stone artifacts and some pottery fragments were found from the site. According to tech-typological study of artifacts and the existence of pottery sherds, the section can be divided into two cultural layers. The upper layer mainly contains the microblades related products and the pottery sherds; the lower layers contains the microblades related products and the bipolar products on quartz, while no pottery sherds. The results of optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating method and AMS14C dating method suggested that the age of the two cultural layers were younger than 8.0ka BP and 9.5ka~8.0ka BP respectively. In the lower cultural layer, 316 pieces of stone artifacts were the only remains unearthed. Around 50% of the lithic artifacts are microblade-related products made on chert, and the others are bipolar products on quartz. The archaeological remains of the upper cultural layer include 343 pieces of stone artifacts and some pottery fragments. Different from the lower layer, the lithic artifacts in the upper layer are mainly made on chert and no bipolar related ones were found. The change of the lithic raw materials and the knapping technology, coupled with the use of pottery revealed the cultural transition. Based on the paleoenvironmental study results of the current study and the previous studies, the upper layer also corresponded to the Holocene Megathermal, and the pollen analysis may indicate the appearance of early agriculture. The JXG 2 site is an important site at the marginal area of Tibetan Plateau. It provides successive archaeological deposits during the Holocene, and clearly suggested the society transition around 8ka BP. The preliminary study on the site cannot reveal all the details of the transition, while more detailed research work in the area will give us the whole process of the transition from hunter-gatherers to a mixture mode including hunting, herding and agriculture.
    Emergence and dispersal of the micro-blade technology in North China
    WANG Youping
    2018, 37(04):  565-576. 
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    This paper will briefly introduce the new findings of micro-blade remains in North China in recent years, and have preliminary discussed about emergence and dispersal of microblade techniques in this region. These new findings indicate that the emergence of microblade technology in North China around 29-26 kaBP might be influenced by the environmental changes in the MIS2 stage, which push the Altai and other central-northern Asian people to migrate southward to North China along with the new lithic technology. Subsequently in North China, the emergence and dispersal of the boat-shape micro-blade core technology reflects the adaptation strategy of the local populations, dealing with environmental changes during the LGM period. The advance and retreat of the wedge-shape micro-blade core technique also shows the coupling of the mobility and environmental changes in the area of Northeast Asia at the terminal of Late Pleistocene.
    Retrospect and rethinking on the microblade industries
    CHEN Chun, ZHANG Meng
    2018, 37(04):  577-589. 
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    This paper provides an overview about microblade studies in China and prehistoric cultural relationships between Northeastern Asia and North America. The latest chronological data suggest that the Altai Mountains posses the oldest microblades, while Oregon in the United States yields the most recent date of AD 1000. Early generation of archaeologists favored culturehistorical approach, focusing on classification and description, and used diffusionism to explain the spread of microblade technology. Inspired by Japanese colleagues, Chinese scholars began to employ dynamic approach or techno-typology to reconstruct microblade reduction sequences, and nominated several techniques for wedge-shaped cores as well as non-wedge-shaped cores. Then, processual approach was introduced into China during the 2010s. Functional-adaptive perspective has been used to examine microblade industries during the Last Ice Age. On the basis of a critical thinking of methodology and research objectives, especially of the origin of microblade technology in NE Asia, this paper proposes a new concept called “microbladebased communities” (by the second author), trying to provide us with a frame to explore social organization, information exchange, as well as innovation and transmission of knowledge among these communities to cope with harsh environment and resource shortage. It may give us new insights into why microblade was invented and why it spread so fast on a vast subcontinental scale. This new perspective may improve our understanding about cultural meanings and technological advantage in prehistoric arctic and subarctic adaptation.
    Review and prospects of Paleolithic archaeology in Southwest Shanxi
    WANG Yiren
    2018, 37(04):  590-601. 
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    Southwest Shanxi is located in middle of the Fen-Wei Rift Valley, including the Linfen Basin, the Yuncheng Basin, and west bank of the Yellow River at the southern piedmont of Zhongtiao Mountains. Since the 1950s, more than 300 Paleolithic sites and localities have been discovered. Archaeological studies suggest that human beings have been occupying this region since early Lower Pleistocene, lasting to the end of the Last Ice Age. Several carefully excavated archaeological sites, including Xihoudu, Kehe, Dingcun, Xiachuan, and Shizitan, compose a continuum of lithic industries. They suggest a complete evolutionary trajectory during the last 2 million years: Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Archaic Homo sapiens, and Homo sapiens sapiens. Thus, Southwest Shanxi is a significant region of human and cultural evolution in China. This paper reviews the research history in the last six decades, points out weaknesses of previous studies, and discusses several further directions of archaeological research. This article is dedicated to the 110th birthday of Professor Jia Lanpo, one of the founders of Chinese Paleolithic archaeology.
    New progresses on the diversity of Chinese lithic technologies in the Early and Middle Paleolithic
    LI Hao
    2018, 37(04):  602-612. 
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    Regarding the Paleolithic lithic technology of China, one opinion holds that Mode 1 technology persists for most of the Pleistocene. Using new archaeological findings and research achievements, this paper presents a brief summary of lithic technologies existing in China from the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene to ca. 40,000 years ago. Results show that during this time period lithic technologies in China exhibit clear diversity and complexity. In particular, since the Late Pleistocene, various technological complexes occur. These include: an Acheulean techno-complex characterized by large cutting tools, such as handaxes, picks and cleavers; a small flake tool techno-complex that features discrete tool types, refined retouch on blanks, and an increase in discoidal core flaking; a Mousterian techno-complex represented by Levallois cores and points; and a Mousterian techno-complex characterized by scrapers with Quina retouch. Different techno-complexes likely indicate that human groups possessed different cultural traditions. This provides a new perspective to discuss human behavioural adaptation to various environments and inter-regional dispersals and contact among different population groups.
    An introduction to the European Upper Paleolithic typology and
    LI Feng, XING Luda, CHEN Fuyou, GAO Xing
    2018, 37(04):  613-630. 
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    Facing with thousands of archaeological materials, typology is an effective tool describing and simplifying them. Issues of typology have been hotly debated including its theoretical rational, principles of classification, and archaeological interpretation abilities. However, the typology commonly used in European Paleolithic communities has yet been systematically introduced in China which hampers the communications between researchers from China and other regions. For this reason, here we mainly introduce D. de Sonneville-Bordes?J. Perrot’s Upper Paleolithic typology which has been often applied in Paleolithic research in Europe, West Asia, and North Africa. Some discussions on the related issues of typology are offered as well. Knowing the almost universal presence of regional variations among lithic assemblages it is explicit that we cannot simply copy this typology or expect each retouched tool type to present in Upper Paleolithic assemblages in China. What we can do is that we build regional typology in China referring to the European Upper Paleolithic typology. By doing so we can communicate our lithic materials with scholars from other regions on one hand, and on the other hand more regional variations would also be uncovered with more appropriate regional typologies in Upper Paleolithic China.
    Neolithic human diet revealed by the dental residues in West Fujian
    GUAN Ying, ZHOU Zhenyu, FAN Xuechun, GAO Xing
    2018, 37(04):  631-639. 
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    Both of the Nanshan and the Qihedong are Neolithic sites in western Fujian Province of Southeast China, from which human remains were discovered with cultural remains such as lithic artifacts, bone artifacts, potteries and the like. Human teeth from these two sites were processed for plant residues extraction in the Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences. Based on their morphological attributes, the plant starch grains identified could be classified into four types: 1) polyhedral grain; 2) oval or rounded grain; 3) coniform grain; and 4) water drop-shaped grain. These grains are considered to be from seeds of Poaceae plants, roots and tubers, and probably nuts. Based on the starch evidence, a transitional subsistence strategy from early to middle Holocene is discussed. Although early cultivation had already emerged in this area, wild plant food still played a very important role in the daily diet.
    Late Pleistocene environmental background of human occupations of the Dazhushan Paleolithic site in Qingdao, Shandong, China
    WANG Jian, ZHOU Xinying, LONG Hao, CHEN Fuyou, LI Feng, CHEN Pengyu, GE Junyi, LI Xiaoqiang
    2018, 37(04):  640-652. 
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    Dazhushan is the first Paleolithic site with stratigraphic information in Qingdao City. Its excavation not only replenishes the Paleolithic archaeological materials in coastal areas of northern China, but also has far-reaching significance for exploring scientific questions, such as survival, adaptation, and migration of prehistoric humans. Therefore, to understand the living conditions in the corresponding period, it’s necessary to reconstruct the environmental background. In this study, we reconstructed the history of environmental changes of the area, with pollen, magnetic susceptibility, and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. Our preliminary results are as follow: 1) Dazhushan site appeared in the late Pleistocene, and its absolute burial age of archaeological remains is 65.7-52.9ka, which corresponds to late Marine Isotope Stage 4 (MIS4) to early MIS3; 2) From late MIS5 to middle MIS3 (86.0-45.0ka), the process of regional vegetation succession consists of four stages: deciduous forest grassland, deciduous broad-leaved mixed forest grassland, temperate grassland, and sparse forest grassland. The climate trend reflected in this site is basically consistent with that in the regional context; 3) Between late MIS4 and early MIS3, the rapidly warming climate and the stable living environment have provided an appropriate ecological background for human to survive. Subsequently, the dropping of temperature, marine regression, and the massive reductions of archaeological remains may indicate the weakening of human activities or migrations to other areas. The changes of the intensity of human occupations in different periods show that the survival strategy of early humans had been profoundly influenced by the living environment, which was mainly dominated by the regional climate.
    Geographical distributions of body mass index in Chinese Han
    YU Keli, ZHENG Lianbin, LI Yonglan, XI Huanjiu, ZHANG Xinghua, WEN Youfeng
    2018, 37(04):  653-663. 
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    From 2009 to 2013, 26954 individuals belonging to 11 ethnic groups with spoken Chinese dialect were analyzed. Stature and weight values were measured, Body mass index (Ibm) was calculated, and the correlation between Ibm and latitude and longitude determined. The results were as follows. As a whole, in the 11 dialect groups Ibm increased linearly with age, and differences between every two age groups were statistically significant. Ibm values of northern dialect groups were larger than southern dialect groups. The results also found that rural male (r=0.671, p<0.01), rural female (r=0.775, p<0.01), urban male (r=0.799, p<0.01), urban female (r=0.723, p<0.01) Ibm values were positively correlated with latitude, while rural male (r=0.402, p<0.05) and urban male (r=0.361, p<0.05) Ibm were positively correlated with longitude. Rural female (r=0.225, p=0.187>0.05) and urban female (r=0.043, p=0.820>0.05)Ibm values were not correlated with longitude. Chinese dialect groups could be divided into three levels according to the standard Ibm average values (larger than 24.0, 23.1-24.0, less than 23.0). All the northern dialect groups were located in the first and second level, and most of the southern dialect groups were located in the second and third level. In other words, the 11 dialect groups were distributed across all three levels based on latitude. Heredity, environment, diet, labor intensity and other factors also affect stature and weight, which affects Chinese Ibm values as well.
    Tapidae fossils and Pessocdactyla accumulation of the Lufengpithecus locality, Yunnan
    QI Guoqin
    2018, 37(04):  664-666. 
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    The Tapidae fossils from Lufengpithecus locality were described in this paper. They include 3 isolated teeth (1 Ldp3, 1 Ldp4 and 1 Lm1) and were identified Tapirus yunnanensis. Up to now all fossil of Pessocdactyla from Lufengpithecus locality have been studied.
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