Acta Anthropologica Sinica ›› 2008, Vol. 27 ›› Issue (01): 23-32.

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A report on the excavation of the Huangyilong paleolithic site, Yongπan, Fujian

CHEN Ziwen, LI Jianjun   

  • Online:2008-03-15 Published:2008-03-15

Abstract: The Huangyilong Paleolithic Site is situated near Gongchuan town, to the northeast 18 km in distance of Yongπan city, Fujian Province, and its geographic coordinate is 26°5′10″N ;117°8′30″E. The site was discovered in May 2005 and excavated for twice during from December 2005 to January 2006 and from March to July 2006.
The deposits can be divided into 6 layers (from the top to the bottom): 1) Dark grey soil; 2) Yellowish brown sandy soil; 3) Reddish yellow salty clay; 4) Ultisoil; 5) Reticulated red clay; 6) Fundus , the weathering shuck of granite. The reticulated red clay layer can be subdivided into three layers.
A total of 133 pieces of stone artifacts was discovered from the lower cultural layer (namely, the gravel layer of the nethermost reticulated red clay) of this site, including cores (single platform cores , double platform cores and multi2platform cores), chunks, debris, flakes, scrapers (straight scrapers and double edge scrapers), choppers (end chopper and chopping tools) and picks. A total of 15 stone artifacts were unearthed from the upper cultural layer (namely, the upper and middle reticulated red clay). Most materials of artifacts from lower and upper cultural level are made by quartz, quartzite , sandstone, dolerite , tuff , and they were retouched by simple technology. Most of stone tools are very big. In summary, this stone assemblage can be attributed to the pebble stone tool tradition in South China and Southeast Asia , and its age can be guessed for the later stage of the Middle Pleistocene.

Key words: Middle Pleistocene; Reticulated red clay; Stone artifacts