Abstract: Maliang site, located in the Nihewan basin of North China, was discovered and excavated in 1984, 2006 and 2008, and yielded a few lithic artifacts and animal fossils. Paleomagnetic dating suggests that early humans colonized the site around 0.8-0.9 Ma. In order to reveal cultural features of the site integrally, a new excavation was undertaken by the Hebei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics at Maliang Locality 10 in 2016. The excavation exposed an area of 18 m2. Large quantities of animal fossils fragments and 197 stone artifacts were unearthed. In techno-typological aspects, lithic raw materials are procured from the adjacent area, predominated by chert, quartz sandstone and dolomite. The artifact types include cores, test cores, flakes, tools, pebbles, blocks, angular fragments and shatters. The flaking technique is dominated by direct hard-hammer percussion without core preparation. The tools are casually retouched by direct hammer percussion. Compared to the early sites in the other part of the basin, such as Xiaochangliang, Donggutuo and Cenjiawan, the knapping techniques and the toolproduction skills in Maliang Locality 10 seems to be simplified.

Key words: Nihewan basin; Maliang Locality 10; Stone artifacts; Late Early Pleistocene