Abstract:

The origins and dispersal of modern humans are a key issue of interest in the academic community. Past research has largely focused on the “Southern Route”, with less attention paid to the “Northern Route” of the spread from the northern regions of Central Asia and the Altai region of Siberia to Northeast Asia. In recent years, the Northern Route has received increasing attention, and the Hexi Corridor in Northwest China, in particular, may carry the history of ancient human dispersal from Central Asia and the Altai region to North China. However, for a long time, there have been few reports of Paleolithic sites in the Hexi Corridor. In 2021, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in collaboration with the Gansu Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, carried out an archaeological survey of the Paleolithic in the Hexi Corridor, uncovering more than twenty new Paleolithic sites. Among them, the newly discovered Nanying Reservoir site is located on the second terrace of the Jinta River in Liangzhou District, Wuwei City. It possesses relatively well-preserved stratigraphic information, and a rich collection of stone artifacts was gathered from the profile. This paper primarily describes and analyzes the stone artifacts unearthed from this site. A total of 530 stone artifacts were unearthed from the Nanying Reservoir site, primarily made from quartz and quartzite. The artifacts include cores, flakes, fragments, and various tools, reflecting the extensive stone tool-making activities of ancient humans in the area. The flaking and retouch techniques predominantly used free-hand hard hammer percussion. Optically stimulated luminescence dating estimates the site’s age to be approximately 90 kaBP to 80 kaBP, providing an important chronological framework for studying ancient human activities in the region. The Paleolithic investigation shows that the Hexi Corridor region is rich in Paleolithic remains, including stone tools, sites, and fossils, which reveal traces of ancient human life and further in-depth investigations and studies will provide valuable and extensive materials for exploring the technological characteristics, production methods, and survival strategies of ancient humans in the region. These discoveries help us gain a more comprehensive understanding of early human lifestyles in this region and how they adapted to environmental changes and challenges. These new discoveries are of great significance for understanding the migration and dispersal processes of early humans in East Asia and the role the Hexi Corridor has played in those processes.

Key words: Gansu, Hexi Corridor, Nanying Reservoir site, Paleolithic, stone Artifact