Acta Anthropologica Sinica ›› 2002, Vol. 21 ›› Issue (01): 59-64.

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A Preliminary report on excavations at the Poxiling Paleolithic site in Tiandong County,Guangxi

LIN Qiang   

  • Online:2002-03-15 Published:2002-03-15

Abstract: This is a brief report on excavations at an open-air site on the 4th terrace of the Youjiang River, located at Poxiling in Bose Basin, Tiandong County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
This site was discovered and excavated in May and June 1994. A total of 244 stone artifacts, including cores, flakes, hammerstones, retouched tools and chunks were unearthed from a layer of brownish yellow clay, with thickness of 35 —72cm.
Preliminary studies of these artifacts reveal that raw materials exploited at the site were mainly qu- artzite and quartz cobbles, and core reduction at the site was accomplished principally by simple direct hammer percussion. Three core types were identified, namely single-platformed core, double-platformed core and multiple-platformed core.Flakes vary in size and morphology. Most of the cores and flakes exhibit cortical surfaces. No core preparation has been recognized on cores and flakes. Only three kinds of lithic tools were identified, including chopper-chopping tools, scrapers and picks, with chopper-chopping tools dominating the assemblage. Most of the tools are large ones,with casual and simple modifications.
No faunal remains have been found from this site, which makes it difficult to get secure dates for these artifacts. However, 4 tektites were unearthed with the artifacts, and dating on such tektitesfound in similar context in other sites in the same area has placed these sites to older than 0.73 million years ago, which might imply a Lower Paleolithic age for the Poxiling site. This assemblage presents new data for studying early hominid adaptations in the Bose Basin.

Key words: Stone artifacts; Poxiling site; Lower Paleolithic