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    15 March 1991, Volume 10 Issue 01
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    Study on the forms of microcores from Xiachuan Sites
    Wang Jian, Wang Yiren
    1991, 10(01):  1-8. 
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    The present paper made a detailed analysis of the forms and types of the microcores foundin Xiachuan sites, Qinshui County, Shanxi Province.
    Microcores gathered in Xiachuan number approximately 200 in total, which can be clas-sified into conical, cylindrical, semiconical, wedge- -shaped, boat-shaped andsome other types.We analysed the inevitable shapes and organic formation of the cores platform, the fluted sur-face and the bottom; and also expounded the reasons to justify the pointed bottoms of conicalcores and the wedge-shaped edge bottoms of we dge-shaped cores. We also gave a brief andconcise explanation for various types of microcores discovered in Xiachuan.
    A harpoon unearthed in Xiaogushan Site ——Also on the relations with the detachable head harpoon of Neolithic
    An Jiayuan
    1991, 10(01):  12-18. 
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    A harpoon unearthed in Xiaogushan site, Haicheng, Liaoning province in 1983, is thedetachable head of the fishing tool, which appeared in the Late Palaeolithic Age. It is the car-liest harpoon found in China. It is formed of head, body and end parts. The head and the endparts are not intact, but the original shape of the harpoon is clear. Barbs are on both sides of thehead part, and a wood handle and a rope can be fixed on the end part. According to the ethno-logical material, har poons were used for fishing and hunting. As an animal was stabbed withthe harpoon, it would struggle and the harpoon would be separated from the wood handle.The more the animal struggles, the more deeply the harpoon stabs. It is hard for the animalto escap. When the harpoon is detached from its handle; it is still linked by a rope, with whichthe fishing or hunting man can catch the animal.
    The detachable head harpoon may be developed from a tool with sharp point which canbe thrown. A lot of harpoons were found in M agdalenian Culture, but their shapes are not exactly similar with Xiaogushan, and the date of Xiaogushan is a little earlier than that of Mag-dalenian. A large number of detachable head harpoons found in Neolithic sites of China aresimilar with Xiaogushan harpoon, but these harpoons are more advanced. It would be provedthat the detachable head harpoons of neolithic were developed from Xiaogushan harpoon.
    The harpoon unearthed in Xiaogushan is important at least in three points. First, amongthe harpoons found in China, Xiaogushan harpoon is the earliest and the most intact. It offersa clue to study the method of use and development of the detachable head harpoon as well asrelation with the detachable head harpoon of neolithic. Second, Xiaogushan harpoon is a ra-ther fine tool, and it must have been developed from simple ones, so we are looking forward tofinding more archaeological materials. Third, the harpoon reflected that in the Late Palaeolithicstage the compound hunting tool began to be used for fishing. It made the fishing techniqueimproved and the man could get more food.
    An exploratory study of the sites group found in Gujiao
    Wang Xiangqian
    1991, 10(01):  19-26. 
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    The paper is a brief study of geology, geomorphology and description of characteristicsof stone assemblages of Gujiao. Gujiao located on the east slope of the Luliang Mountain is amountainous basin in upper reaches of the Fenhe river. Since 1983, we have surveyed the areaand found Wangjiagou, Changyugou, Fenghu angyan andHouliang paleolithic sites on thesouthern bank of the Fenheriver.Those sites and Gugang sitefound in 1959 belong toearly, middle and late paleolithic age respectively. The stone artifacts of Wangjiagou were laidin the lower gravel layer of Lishi Loess.Up till now, the layer is the most ancient one bea-ring stone artifacts in Gujiao region and its geological age may belong to early middle Plei-stocene· Ninety- five percent of the stone artifacts found in the above mentioned five paleolithicsites were made of hornfels in old terraces. Main type includeschoppers and scrapers, heavyprismatic point etc. The flake tools coexist with the pebble tools. All stone artifacts are large insize.Broadly speaking, they belong to the tradition of "large flake choppers- -heavy prismaticpoint. The main characteristics of the stone artifacts found fromGujiao are comparablewith those of Dingcun, Kehe, Liangshan sites. Rich cultural remains of paleolithic sites in Gu-jiao region will play an important role in further study of the origin and development of the culture represented by heavy prismatic point.
    New discoveries and prospects of the Paleolithic Archaeology in western and central Gansu Province
    Xie Junyi
    1991, 10(01):  27-33. 
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    The paper reports the Haoranzadaigai site in western Gansu Province and Wangjia sitein central Gansu Province, an? briefly intro?uces the Shuangpuzi andChangweigou loca-lities in Zhuanglang County, central Gansu Province.
    Haoranzadaigai site (E9610", N42"25') is located in theXia-Haoranzadaigai of Ming-shuixiang, which geographically belongs to Mazong Mountain area, of Subei Mongolian Au-tonomous County. There is a primitive microblade among the three unearthed stone artifacts.According to the paleolithic characteristics and deposits, the date of this site belongs to latepaleolithic age.
    Wangjia site (E103032'48", N35034'26"") is located in theWangjia village of SuonanTown, Dongxiang Autonomous County.Five stone flakes and two stone tools were recovered.The latter were a well-modified semilunar- -shaped scraper anda thumb-nail- shaped scraper. .According to the artifacts, deposits and C-14 dating, the date of this site belongs to late paleo-lithic age.
    The discoveries of above sites and localities, we believe, will be helpful to paleolithic ar-chaeology research in West China.
    Paleoliths from the Liao River area in Anyi, Jiangxi Province
    Li Chaorong, Xu Changqing
    1991, 10(01):  34-41. 
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    In May 1989, a united team composed of scientific workers of IVPP, the Jiangxi Institu-te of Archaeology and Anyi Cultural Center discovered three paleolithc sites namely, Zhang-linggang, Fenghuangshan, and Shangxucun in Anyi county, Jiangxi Province.
    A total of 40 stone artifacts were obtained from reddish clayon the secondterrace ofLiao River. The artifacts include cores, flakes, scrapers, points, choppers, bifaces andstoneballs. Judging from the stratigraphy and the characters of stone artifacts, these sites may bedated to be the Late Pleistocene or Middle -Upper Paleolithic archaeologically.
    The Shizishan paleolithic site in Hanyuan County，Sichuan Province
    Chen Quanjia
    1991, 10(01):  42-49. 
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    The Shizishan paleolithic site is 1ocated on the south bank of Dadu River, just oppsite toFulin town. During the reexamination in April, 1984, we found some artifacts and a few fossils such as Rhinoceros sinensis and Lanceolaria · gladiolus and gatheredartifacts on the landsurface. 45 artifacts and two pieces of fossils are described in this paper.
    The stone artifacts are mainly made of flint. The flakes are mainlyproduced by directpercussion and sometimes with bipolar technique.The shapes of most flakes and cores are irregular. All stone artifacts are small in size. Three fourth of the stone tools are made of flake.Less than one fifth of the artifacts are tools which are the only known scrapers. The scraperswith left edge are common than those with right edge. The stone tools were roughly retouch-ed by direct percussion technique and the length of trimmed edges are relatively short.
    The above mentioned characters of the Sh izishan site paleolithic assemblage bear strongresemblances to Fulin industry. Both should belong to the same culture. However, it shouldbe mentioned that the double wedge -shapedcores found from the site are the first discovery ofsuch kind of artifacts in paleolithic materials of South China and it shows the existence ofmicrolithic industry in this site. According to characters of stone artifacts, fossils and geomor-phic position, we consider that this site is probably not later than terminal Pleistocene andis tentatively dated to be upper paleolithic.
    Paleolith of Bianbian Cave at Bijie County, Guizhou Province
    Cai Huiyang, Wang Xinjin, Xu Chunhua
    1991, 10(01):  50-57. 
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    The Paleolithic site of Bianbian Cave is sjtuated at the foot of Triassic limestone hill nearHaizijie town about 13km north-cast of Bijie County (105023'E, 27922N), and is about 1520 mabove sea level. The cave is 26 m long, 1.2 -12.4 m wide and 2 -4.2 m high. In the cave soneof the deposits were disturbed but main deposits were still kept in the depth of the cave, dividedinto 4 stratified layers from top to bottom (Chinese text figure 1). From this cave 75 piecesof stone artifacts and over 10 specics of mammalian fossils were discovcred during the survcyand excavation·
    35 pieces of the stone artifacts were unearthed from layers 1, 3. and 4, the others werefound in the disturbed deposits. They may be divided into 5 groups: cores, flakes, blades, pit-ted pebbles and tools. The stone tools include scrapers, choppers and point, the former is themain type in the assemblage. The teclnology of flaking and retouch seems to bear closer relation to that of the Guanyindon Culture.
    Fossil remains associated with the stone artifacts consist of Panthera tigris, Ursus thibe-tanus, Stegodon orientalis, Rhinoceros sinensis, Megaiapirus augustus and so on, belonging to' the Ailuropoda -Stegodon fauna. According to the fossil maimmals, the gcological age of theIncality is eonsidered. as the carly Latc Pleistocene or somewhat carlier, and Middle Paleoli-thic or a ittle earlier archaeologically.
    The uranium一series dating of speleothems on the New Cave of Zhoukoudian Longgu Hill in Beijing
    Zhao Shusen, Liu Minglin
    1991, 10(01):  58-64. 
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    The 230^Th/^234U ages of travertin in the New Cave are as follows: 179 Ky., 139 Ky., 128 Ky.and 88 Ky. B.P.. So the New Cave was formed at 200 Ky. B.P., while thehuman activity hasbegun there. This age is roughly in accordance with the upper limit(230-- -260 Ky.) of thehuman activity in the lst place of the Peking Man Site.
    The ages of growing of the stalagmite and stalactite in New Cave are about80--50 Ky.B.P.. At more than 70 Ky. B.P. the paleotemperature was 13.2℃(stalactite sample) and 13.7℃(stalagmite sample); at 55 Ky. B.P., the paleotemperature decreased to 11.9℃judging from thestalagmite sample. .
    U-series age of Yanhui Cave, the site of Tongzi Man
    Shen Guanjun, Jin Linhong
    1991, 10(01):  65-72. 
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    Th-230/U-234 and Th-227/Th-230 dating was applied to calcite and fossil bone samplesfrom Yanhui Cave, the site of Tongzi Man in Northern Guizhou. The age of the upper trave-rtine layer covering all cave deposits is 206 Ka. The flowstone and stalagmite, under third andfourth layer respectively, are of the age of 240 Ka. The fossil and artifact containing sediments,stratigraphically between these two speleothem formations, should be deposited in a late periodof Middle Pleistocene, and Tongzi Man should be classified as late Homo Erectus· The reliabi-lity of obtained results was discussed based on the stratigraphic evidences and on the intercom-parison between the results of two U-series methods.
    Fission track dating of 4th layer of the Peking Man Site
    Guo Shilun, Liu Shunsheng, Sun Shengfen et al
    1991, 10(01):  73-77. 
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    Fission track dating of Layer 4 of the Peking Man Site has been made with ancient ashesleft behind by Peking Man in Layer 4 of the Site. A mineral- - -sphene- -has been separated fromthe ashes and well-annealed sphene grains have been used to date Layer 4. The result is 0.29910.055 Ma (age of Layer 4), which is in agreement with the results of thermoluminescence datingand U-series dating. From fission track dating, an inference that the duration from Layer 10 toLayer 4 was about 0.153 Ma has been drawn.
    Discovery of a comparatively complete skeleton of Coelodonta in Fuyu, Jilin
    Jiang Peng
    1991, 10(01):  78-83. 
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    A comparatively complete skeleton of Coelodonta was found in 1989 at Xiaoyaotun whichlies 3km to the north of Fuyu town, situated in the eastern part of Song Nen Plain. The skeletonSf Coelodonta was unearthed from the second terrace of Songhua River, 140 m above the sealevel. The stratigraphic section of the terrace from top to bottom is divided into six layers. Thefossil was buried in greyish white silty sands of the fourth layer with a depth of 6.6m un-der the. surface. The mineralization degree of the specimen is not good because of the strong per-colating 'of the sand layers.
    The skeleton is basically intact, except the absence of left humerus,left radius, left ulna,some of vertebrate and phalangeal bones. The calculation based on the measurement of the bonessuggests that the skeleton is 1.79 m high and 3.53m long.
    Based on the eruption and attrition of the teeth, we are of opinion that this animal died justafter it became an adult individual. Judged from the nasal septum and features of its forehead,it was a female individual.
    According to the stratigraphy of fossil- -bearing sediments and C. antiquiatis' morphology,the animal might live in Late Pleistocene. Although a large number of Coelodonta skeletons, in-cluding skull, limb and teth have been found in Jilin, such complete one had never been seen before and is rare in the whole country too. This discovery, therefore, provides a valuable evidencefor studying the complete figure of Coelodonta and its living environment.
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