A general study review of site formation processes for Paleolithic open-air sites
Received date: 2018-09-20
Revised date: 2018-11-12
Online published: 2020-09-11
The study of site formation processes is an important field of research in archaeological geology or geoarchaeology, which enables to explore the formation and depositional processes of early human sites. Understanding of formation processes bears great significance on the interpretation of site integrity and early human adaptive behavior. However, new developments on the study of site formation processes have not received enough attention in paleoanthropological research in China. To a certain extent, this shortcoming has reduced the impact of Chinese paleoanthropological and paleolithic research in the international area. Considering the special relevance of open-air sites in preserving early human fossils and archaeological remains, this paper aims to highlight the importance of geoarchaeology as starting point in any archaeological research, and presents a state of the art on the research in open-air site formation processes. Concepts and models developed by Glynn Isaac to classify eastern African assemblages are discussed. After evaluating the taphonomic proxies and spatial patterns as foundations for research in site formation processes, the key features of assemblages (i.e. edge damage, technological composition, artifact size distribution, refitted data, artifact density, cluster analysis, digital elevation model, fabric analysis, etc.) retrieved during archaeological research, as well as their scientific significance, are discussed in this paper. Alongside, a review and discussion of the history and current status of the studies of site formation processes in Chinese paleoanthropological research are also proposed by the author in the current paper.
Shuwen PEI . A general study review of site formation processes for Paleolithic open-air sites[J]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica, 2019 , 38(01) : 1 -18 . DOI: 10.16359/j.cnki.cn11-1963/q.2019.0010
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