Abstract: The Renzidong Paleolithic site, situated about 10 km northwest of Fanchang County, Anhui Province ( 118°5′77″, 31°5′38″) , was discovered in May of 1998, and was excavated from September to November 1998, as the first stage of a large-scale systematic excavation a t the site. During the field season, abundant vertebrate fossils and 575 nonlimestonelithic specimens were unearthed from the cave deposit of purple clay. Among these lithic specimens, 59 pieces were recognized as artifacts made by hominids. In addition, several pieces of bone artifacts were also identified. This paper presents the results of a preliminary study of these artifacts.
The general features of these artifacts are summarized as the follows:
1. Five kinds of raw material were utilized in core reduction and tool manufacture at the site: iron ore, siliceous mudstone, quartz-sandstone, siliceous limestone and gneiss. Iron ore is the predominant raw material used for producing the stone artifacts at the site, constituting 52. 5% of the lithic assemblage, and can be further divided into three sub- groups accrding to quality , color, and grain. The other 4 kinds of raw material make up 22. 0% , 6. 8% , 17. 0% and 1. 7% of the assemblage, respectively.
2. Most artifacts are small. Only 2 flakes and 5 retouched tools can be described as medium and large in size.
3. Lithic artifacts can be classified into cores, flakes, and retouched tools. The cores consist of both single-platformed and double-platformed ones. The flakes were produced by simple hammer percussion and are irregular in shape. Flake platform types include cortical, plain, and faceted. These faceted platforms are not considered as evidence of platform preparation, but rather as the result of changing flaking directions. Only scrapers a rerecognized as retouched tools. A few pieces exhibit burination scars.
4. A variety of blanks was selected for tool manufacture ( see Table 1). Most of the tools ( 64. 4% ) were made on chunks and cores. Tools made on flakes make up 35. 5% of the assemblage.
5. Most tools were crudely modified by direct hammer percussion. The majority of them were retouched on the dorsal surface. A few pieces were modified on the ventral surface. Most scraper edges are obtuse, exceeding 70°in edge angle. Side edges are more commonly produced than end edges. Modification scars are mostly deep and wide. There are more single-edged pieces than double-edged ones. Edge shape of these scrapers includes straight ( 17) , convex ( 9) and concave ( 6) .
6. Several bone artifacts were unearthed from the site. Among them, two pieces were undoubtedly modified into bone tools. One of them was made on a piece of long bone, and regular modification scars can be observed on both ends of it. The other one was made on a mandible of Rhinocerossp. and was chipped on the lip surface.
Based on biostratigraphic data and geological comparison, the age of Renzidong site has been estimated to be the early Lower Pleistocene. The general characters of these artifacts as described above demonstrate that the Renzidong assemblage is close to Paleolithic cultures of North China in many ways.

Key words: Artifacts, Renzidong site, Fanchang county, the early Lower Pleistocene