Abstract: Xiaogushan cave site was first found in 1981 and a test excavation was taken in the same year. Then, a systematie exeavation was carried out in the summer, 1983. Numerous mammalian fossils, some human fossils and abundant, varied cultural remains were encountered during the excavation. The present paper only gives a preliminary observation of the site and a brief study of the materials.
The site (40o34'53"N, 122o58'30"E) is situated at the north of Liaodong Penin- sula in Northeast China, more then 120 km away from Shenyang (Fig. 1) . The fossili- ferous deposits are in a marble cave and its floor is about 1 meter high above the pre- sent river bed. The deposit is about 6 meters in depth. Its top consists of black-brown soil mixed with angular marble fragments. This layer is 0. 7 meter in maximum depth and its age belongs to Holocene. The lower part of the deposit consists of brown and yellow-brown gravel, sand, clay, soil and angular marble fragment. It can be divided into 4 layers, more than 5 meters in total thickness. The mammalian fossils, human fossils and cultural remains, all of Pleistocene, were discovered in these layers (Fig. 2).
Mammalian fossils included Canis sp. , Vulpes corsac, Ursus cf. splaeus, Crocutaultima, Mammuthus primigenius, Equus przewalskyi, Celodonta antiqutais, Gazella praewalskyi, Bison sp. , Bubalus sp. , Cervus canadensis, Megaloceros ordosianuis, Sus scofa, ete. , totaling 38 species. On the whole, they may be classified in the Mammuthus-Coelodonta Fauna of Northeast China within Late Pleistocene. The Carnivora and Artiodaetyla make up 71. 5% of the total members of the fauna. Most of them lived in an environment of forest-steppe under warmer and wetter climate.
The cultural remains (Fig. 3—5; PL. 1—2) include stone artifacts, bone and ant- ler implements, ornaments and ash from cooking fire. The materials of stone tool are almost quartz which came from the gravel bed of the river nearby. The types of stone artifact include seraper, point, bore, chopper and chopping tool, burin, biface bolas as well as core, flake. The direct free-hand blows and the "bipolar" method were used to flaking process by the ancient dweller of Xiaogushan, and retouches were chiefly made by the former. Among the retouched implements scrapers are various in type, including those with singe side, double sides, alternate double sides, round side, nosed end and thumbnail seraper, etc. . With regard to the technical style and tool type, the Xiaogushan Industry is very like those of North China.
The bone and antler implements include an antler harpoon, a bone awl and three bone needles. The ornaments include some perforated teeth and a piece of perforated object which may be made of shell. The same kind of bone needle and perforated teeth had been discovered at the Upper Cave of Zhoukoudian in 1930s, but antler harpoon, which was found during the Magdelenian in Europe, was never met in the paleolithie site of China before.
The preliminary observation indicated that the age of Xiaogushan site can be attributed to Late Pleistocene based on mammalian fauna, and taken as a whole, the Xiaogushan Culture exhibits strong features, from which it ean clearly be ranged within the Upper Paleolithic stage.

Key words: Xiaogushan; Late Pleistocene; Harpoon; Bone needle