关键词: 枫林遗址, 旧石器时代晚期, 石叶, 细石叶

Abstract:

The Fenglin site (41°57′58″N, 127°31′57″E), a Late Paleolithic site, lies in Fusong County, Jilin Province, northeastern China. This open-air site is perched on a mountain ridge along the left bank of the Toudao Songhua River, at an elevation of around 900 meters above sea level. Discovered in 2014, during subsequent surveys, thousands of lithic artifacts were gathered from an approximately 30,000 m² surface area. Based on the distribution of these lithic artifacts, the Fenglin site can be partitioned into three localities: Locality(Loc.) 1, Loc.2 (Dongshanpo site), and Loc.3 (Guanjingtai site). Loc.1 features relatively thick stratigraphic deposits but has sustained substantial damage over the years due to road-widening and construction activities. Conversely, Loc.2 and Loc.3 have shallower and less-developed stratigraphic deposits, yet with relatively better preservation conditions.

In 2016, a joint team from the Institute of Archaeology of Jilin Province and the Institute of Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, carried out a systematic 80 m² excavation at Loc.2. The aim was to obtain lithic artifacts from reliable stratigraphic sequences and conduct chronometric research. This excavation unearthed a total of 983 lithic artifacts. Employing AMS ¹⁴C and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating methods, the sediments in which these artifacts were embedded were dated to at least 17 kaBP.

This article presents the outcomes of raw-material and fundamental techno-typological analyses of the lithic assemblages from Fenglin Loc.2. Given its close proximity (~43 km) to the Changbai Mountain to the west, obsidian is the predominant raw material, succeeded by tuff, chert, limestone, vein quartz, sandstone, diorite porphyrite, quartzite, and basalt. The artifact types include debitage products from blade, microblade, and flake production, along with elaborately retouched tools such as sidescrapers, endscrapers, burins, points, notches, choppers, and adzes. The blade-production technique is identified as the prismatic blade reduction method. The main methods for microblade production involve wedge-shaped, boat-shaped, burin-like, and irregular-shaped microblade cores.

Our findings fill a crucial gap in the archaeological record regarding the Last Glacial Maximum in the Changbai Mountain region and the evolution of microblade technology from its primitive to mature phases. The excavation at Fenglin Loc.2 further refines the cultural sequence of the Late Paleolithic era in the Changbai Mountain area. Moreover, it is of great significance for comprehending the adaptation strategies of ancient humans to extreme environments in high-latitude regions and the interactions among prehistoric populations in Northeast Asia.

Key words: Fenglin site, Upper Paleolithicc, blade, microblade