广西南宁市隆安县娅怀洞遗址是一处跨越旧、新石器时代的洞穴遗址，以旧石器时代文化堆积为主，年代为距今43000~4000年。本文对该遗址出土的蚌器进行初步研究。娅怀洞遗址的蚌器类型包括蚌刀、蚌铲、穿孔蚌器等，以蚌刀最具特色。蚌器加工主要采用锤击法，两面打制为主，加工部位主要在蚌壳的顶部及背部，以蚌壳自然薄缘为刃。根据蚌器的形态、加工技术特征，娅怀洞遗址蚌器可分为早、中、晚三期，贯穿了遗址整个文化发展序列。与周边地区出土蚌器的比较分析显示，娅怀洞遗址蚌器可能主要用于锯切和砍割食物等。娅怀洞遗址是我国目前发现蚌器延续时间最长的史前遗址，为研究我国乃至东南亚地区蚌器起源与发展演变提供了珍贵实物资料。

Yahuai Cave site is located near the Bolang village, Longan county, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South China. The site has been dated to between 43000 and 4000 years ago, with both Paleolithic and Neolithic cultural remains. This study presents a preliminary technological and typological analysis of shell tools found from Yahuai Cave. The type of shell tools from Yahuai Cave includes shell knives, shell shovels and perforated shells, with shell knives being the most representative. The type of shells was dominated by Lamprotula mansuyi. Technologically, shell tools at Yahuai Cave were mainly made by direct bifacial percussion. Bifacial knapping and battering of the hinge portion indicate the deliberate shaping of the handling edge to improve its ergonomic properties. Simple retouching is also recorded from the dorsal to ventral aspects along the lip margin, suggesting an attempt to sharpen the functional edge.

Based on the morphological and technological characteristics, shell tools at Yahuai Cave can be categorized into four phases, covering the whole cultural sequences of the site. Comparative analysis with shell artifact assemblages from surrounding sites reveals both shared and distinctive traits. These edged knives bear a close resemblance in form and production technology, suggesting that they were optimized for cutting softer organic materials and may also have functioned in the cutting and sawing food resources. And comparative analysis with other sites also reveals the distinctive features, notably the presence or absence of perforation. These similarities and divergences might reflect the transmission and evolution of prehistoric shell-working traditions across successive cultural phases.

Importantly, the temporal span of shell tool production at Yahuai Cave represents the longest documented record of shell artifact utilization in any prehistoric Chinese site to date. This continuous sequence supplies invaluable data for charting the beginning and development of shell-based technologies in southern China and facilitates further studies with contemporaneous Southeast Asian shell artifact traditions. These organic tools provide a crucial insight into the complex cultural adaptations of Homo sapiens groups. By integrating technological analysis with stratigraphic context, the shell tool assemblage from Yahuai Cave significantly advances our understanding of human-environment interactions, freshwater resources exploitation strategies, and the broader evolutionary trajectory of non-lithic tool manufacture in Pleistocene-Holocene prehistoric societies.