Abstract:

In the 1990s, the Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics of Anhui Province discovered more than ten Paleolithic sites in the Wanjiang Region, represented by Lashu Qianling in Huaining County and Pengling in Qianshan County. Although the archaeological materials have not been deeply analyzed or published, they are widely cited by many scholars. Recently, the Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics of Anhui Province systematically conducted a technical typological analysis.

Stone artifacts found in Kongjingcun and Baimuchong were buried in vermiculated red soil, and most of them were manufactured from quartzite and quartz cobbles. Polyhedrons, large flakes, and heavy-duty tools dominated the entire assemblage of stone artifacts. Handaxes, picks, cleavers, and knives were typical heavy-duty tools. Early hominins detached large flakes from large cores, and both of these indicate that early humans had the ability to produce Mode II artifacts. Most of the stone artifacts were manufactured using freehand hammer percussion, followed by the bipolar technique.

Lithics from the remaining sites were discovered in grey-white and red silty clay. Raw materials were procured from local riverbeds, with quartz as the dominant type of rock. The lithics were almost all small to medium in size. Scrapers and denticulates retouched from flakes were the majority types of stone tools. It is noticeable that lithics discovered in these sites showed some characteristics different from those found in the sites mentioned above, such as lithic miniaturization, utilization of high-quality raw materials, and domination of flaked tools. The lithic assemblage could be assigned to the Flake Tool Industry or a regional variant of the Pebble Tool Industry in South China.

Dating work has not been conducted for any of these sites. Judging from the layers where the lithics were buried, Qianling, Youzhazui, and Pengling can be deduced to date to the Late Pleistocene, while the Kongjingcun and Baimuchong sites can be deduced to date to the late Middle Pleistocene. This research is of great significance for studying the transition of lithic technology and the diffusion and variation of Acheulean technology in South China from the Middle to the Late Pleistocene.

Key words: Wanjiang Region, Qianling site, Pengling site, flaked tools, Middle to Late Pleistocene