Abstract:

Locality 1 at the Wangjiayan site is located in the northern part of the Mumatai undulating terrace in Shuangliu District, Chengdu City. In total, 82 stone artifacts were excavated from the site including cores, flakes, chunks and tools. In addition, a large quantity of unmodified cobbles were also unearthed. Raw materials were mainly collected from adjacent river gravels and lower cobble lays of the Mumashan Formation. Quartzite is the predominant type of raw material, accompanied by a small proportion of vein quartz. Freehand percussion was exclusively used for core reduction, with single-platform cores prevalent, plus a few double-platform cores. Flakes show a remarkable variation of size with some possessing the potential to make heavy-duty tools (e.g., handaxes) as a cortical platform is common for most of the flakes. Damage is observed on flake margins, which may indicate direct use of unretouched flakes. Heavy-duty tools including two handaxes and a pick share similar technological features with tools in the Acheulean techno-complex. Preliminary OSL dating indicates that the occupation was no younger than 89 ka. The discovery and excavation of this Locality 1 further extends the history of humans’ activities in the Chengdu Plain, and sheds important light for our understanding of subsistence strategies and Paleolithic culture of early hominins in the region.

Key words: Chengdu, Wangjiayan site, Lithics, Handaxe