Abstract: The Taoshan open-air site (46°54.765’N, 128°12.643’E) is situated in Yichun, Heilongjiang Province, northeast China. It was discovered in 2011 and co-excavated in 2013 and 2014 by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology and the Heilongjiang Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology. From a 24m2 test pit dug in 2013, 982 stone artefacts, 44 pottery sherds and 2 ornaments made in amazonite were unearthed. There were no faunal remains. Different types of cores, scrapers, denticulates, notches, borers, arrowheads, microcores, microblades and blades were identified in lithic assemblage. Raw materials were predominantly tuff, agate, dolomite, basalt and chert. Percussion was the main flint-knapping and retouching technique while pressure retouching was also used on the arrowhead and scraper. The period of the Taoshan site was transitional from the end of late Pleistocene to early Holocene when environmental changes were severe, and specific cultural features in the artifact assemblage were clear. A good stratigraphic sequence characterizes the site. The value of this research is in recognizing the evolution of cultural change in northeast China, and furthering discussion of migration dispersal and cultural diffusion in northeast Asia and North America.

Key words: Taoshan; Stone artifact; Paleolithic-Neolithic transition