Acta Anthropologica Sinica ›› 2021, Vol. 40 ›› Issue (06): 1072-1085.doi: 10.16359/j.cnki.cn11-1963/q.2020.0046

• Excavation/Investigation Reports • Previous Articles     Next Articles

A preliminary excavation report of the Dongmen Paleolithic site, Xiangfen, Shanxi Province

YUAN Wenming1(), XIA Hongru2, LAN Huicai2, WANG Yiren1()   

  1. 1. Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology, Taiyuan 030001
    2. Xiangfen Museum of Shanxi Province, Xiangfen 041500
  • Received:2020-03-23 Revised:2020-08-31 Online:2021-12-15 Published:2020-11-09
  • Contact: WANG Yiren E-mail:yuanwenming118@163.com;wyr081@sina.com

Abstract:

The Dongmen site is located 1 km east to the Shanügou Village, Xincheng Town, Xiangfen County, Shanxi Province, and is about 5.1 km west to the Dingcun site. Between October 2015 and May 2016, the Shanxi Provincial Institute of Archaeology conducted a four-month excavation, and 27 square meters in total were opened. Strata from top to bottom are sequenced as: topsoil, Malan Loess (L1), and brown-colored paleosol (S1). All the lithics, animal fossils, and charcoal fragments are recovered from Layer S1, while two lithic artifacts are also collected in the Layer L1 about 100 m west to the excavated area. Hornfel is the dominant lithic raw material, and lithic artifacts mainly consist of cores, flakes, tools, fragments, and chunks. The discovery of several other similar localities in situ associated with lithics in the Layer S1 of loess tablelands east to the Sha-nv-gou Village, suggests that prehistoric foragers frequently occupied the tablelands between the Da-gu-dui-shan Hill and the Fenhe River, and the occupation might have lasted a long time during the Last Interglacial. The Dongmen site is identified as a temporal campsite, different from the alluvially deposited Dingcun site. It provides important reference for us to deeply understand behavioral patterns of the Dingcun Man and their survival strategies during the Last Interglacial and Last glacial cycle.

Key words: Dongmen site, in situ buried, Tool, Dingcun site, Middle Paleolithic

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