Acta Anthropologica Sinica ›› 1991, Vol. 10 ›› Issue (02): 147-154.

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The paleolithic site at Dafa Village, Yuci District, Shanxi Province

Gao Xing, You Yuzhu, Wu Zhiqing   

  • Online:1991-06-15 Published:1991-06-15

Abstract: The Dafa paleolithic site is located at the right bank of Xiaohe River, near Dafa village(112°50'10'E, 37°40'30"'N), about 15 KM west. to Yuci city, Shanxi province.
The site wasfound in 1980 and excavated in the same year and the year following. Morethan one thousand stone artifacts, some few mammalian fossils and numerous broken bones [ wereunearthed from the sand contained gravels layer of the second terrace of Xiaohe River-]
The fossil remains consist of the following forms: Canis lupus, Equus przewalskyi, Equushemionus, Sus scrofa, Megoloceros sp., Bos primigenius. Ail of the mammalsrepresented bythe above fossils used to live in the northern part of China during Upper Pleistocene.
The stone artifacts (mainly made of pebbles of flint and quartzite), including paleolithsand microliths, can be classified into cores, flakes, microcores, microblades, scrapers, points,burins and debris. The major component of the implementsarescra pers.The artifacts wereflaked and retouched by three methods: direct percussion by a hammerstone, bipolar techniqueand pressure technique. All of them are very small in size, and most of the tools are very finein workmanship. The Dafa industry shows a close relationship withSiyu site innorthernShanxi and Xiachuan site in southern Shanxi in technology and typology.

Key words: Dafa; Microlith; Upper Pleistocene