Acta Anthropologica Sinica ›› 1988, Vol. 7 ›› Issue (01): 75-83、104.

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Preliminary observation on Geting Site in North Tibet

Qian Fang, Wu Xihao, Huang Weiwen   

  • Online:1988-03-15 Published:1988-03-15

Abstract: The locality to be discussed and designated as Geting site (Fig. 1) was discovered during the investigation for Quaternary geology and environment of Qinghai-Tibet plateau by the team of Institute of Geomechanics of Chinese Academy of Geological Sciences in 1983. More than 100 pieces of stone artifacts were collected. They include 21 side -scrapers, 17 notches, one endscraper, 6 cores, 64 flakes and some wastes. The raw materials are siliceous rock pebbles which are come from the gravels near by. According to observation, the simple direct percussion method was applied in the flaking process. There is no trace of preparing platform either on cores or on flakes. All of the implements were retouched by flakes. The working edges on them are rather sinuous (Fig. 3).
Like most of the sites which were discovered in Tibet area up to now and classified to the early stage of Stone Age (Table 1), the stone artifacts of Geting were collected from the surface of the site. The lack of associated fauna and reliable data for determining age makes it difficult to conclude the age of the stone industry. However, the principles of geology and geomorphology can grovide some possibilities for us to serve the problem, The Geting site is a limestone hill which is located on the southeast shore of Selincuo Lake, the second big saltwater lake in North Tibet plateau. The total area of the lake is about 1865 km2 with an elevation of 4530m of the lake level. Since Late Pleistocene the lake has been fallen into a course of intermittent falling because of strong uplifting of the plateau and retreating of the gracier. As a result, a wide lake- -floor plain with many lake-terraces which consist of sand and pebbles had been made (Fig. 2). The Geting limestone hill lies at 133m above the lake level and may be part of the high lake-terrace which had been formed in the Late Pleistocene or Early Holocene. In other words, the age oi Geting industry may be set to the .ate Paleo1ithic or Neolithic.

Key words: Geting; Stone artifacts