Abstract: The mortality age of Ma’anshan fauna is assessed by studying tooth eruption sequences and tooth wear patterns within particular age categories ( juvenile, prime and old age) . These categories are calculated as percentages, and graphed. From the graph, the location points of Bubalus sp. and Rhinoceros sinensis of the lower cultural layer, Bubalus sp. and Cervus unicolor of the upper cultural layer, are spreading into the catastrophic structure zone as well. While the location points of Macaca sp. and Stegodon orientalis fall into the prime dominant and juvenile dominant area. It is assumed that there is no significant difference between the strategies used by the hunters in the early and late stages. For large??and middle??sized herbivores, hominids behaved as if ambush hunters hunted through a chance encounter resulting in these catastrophic mortality age profiles. For the small and large animals, they took the optimal foraging strategy to get the most procurement through the least cost.

Key words: Ma??anshan site; Mortality age; Paleolithic; Zooarchaeology and taphonomy