Acta Anthropologica Sinica ›› 2010, Vol. 29 ›› Issue (04): 445-453.

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Re-examination of the Yanjiagang Paleolithic campsite, Northeastern China

YU Hui-li; YUAN Bao-yin; HUANG Wei-wen   

  • Online:2010-12-15 Published:2010-12-15

Abstract: The Yanjiagang Paleolithic site near Harbin,the capital city of Heilongjiang Province is located on the broad fluvial plain of Songhuajiang, a main river in northeastern China. Excavation during the 1980s defined it as a campsite of Upper Paleolithic hunters, which consists of two semi-circle structures made of bone fragments from animals such as bison, woolly rhinoceros, mammoth, deer, horse, and gazelle. Some researchers, however, have argued that the circles are not artifacts but a result of natural river movement.
A re-examination of the site by the authors reports that Yanjiagang is indeed a campsite of ancient hunters. The artificial nature of the animal bone circle structures does not have any support from the re-examination. The present report corrects the radioactive dating of the site as 14 C cal BP 26957 ± 626, which can be compared with late MIS 3 and is older than the previously published result of 22370 ± 300 BP.

Key words: Yanjiagang; Semi-circle structures; Geology