Excavation/Investigation Reports

Stone artifacts discovered during the 2018-2022 Paleolithic surveys in the Shuiyangjiang River Basin, Anhui Province

  • Shijia ZHAN ,
  • Zhe DONG
Expand
  • 1. School of History, Culture and Tourism, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116081
    2. Anhui Provincial Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics, Hefei 230601

Received date: 2023-01-17

  Revised date: 2023-04-11

  Online published: 2023-08-10

Abstract

This report presents stone artifacts discovered in several Paleolithic surveys conducted from 2018 to 2022 in the Shuiyangjiang River Basin, Anhui Province. These investigations were done by the Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics of Anhui Province. A total of 15 new localities were discovered with six previous sites/localities confirmed. Lithic raw materials were procured from local riverbeds with quartzite as the dominant type of rock. Most stone artifacts were manufactured by freehand hammer percussion, followed by bipolar technique. Typologically, 116 lithic artifacts mainly cores and flakes. On basis of reduction patterns, cores could be separated into casual, chopper, discoidal or polyhedral cores. There were also some large tools such as heavy-duty scrapers and choppers. The whole lithic assemblage was assigned to the Pebble Tool Industry of South China. According to stone artifact location in vermiculated red soil and on the soil surface, it is reasonable to anticipate that early humans occupied these localities in the Middle Pleistocene. The archaeological evidence provides a new challenge in re-examining lithic technology from the Shuiyangjiang River Basin.

Cite this article

Shijia ZHAN , Zhe DONG . Stone artifacts discovered during the 2018-2022 Paleolithic surveys in the Shuiyangjiang River Basin, Anhui Province[J]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica, 2023 , 42(04) : 523 -530 . DOI: 10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2023.0034

References

[1] 房迎三. 皖南水阳江旧石器地点群调查简报[C]. 文物研究, 1988, 3: 74-83
[2] 房迎三. 安徽省宣州市陈山旧石器地点1988年发掘报告[J]. 人类学学报, 1997, 16(2): 96-106
[3] 韩立刚. 安徽宣城麻村羊山发现旧石器早期人类石器制造场[N]. 中国文物报,2005-05-06(001)
[4] 房迎三. 水阳江旧石器地点群的考古发掘与研究[C]. 文物研究, 1998, 1: 2-9
[5] 房迎三, 黄蕴平, 梁任又, 等. 安徽宁国毛竹山发现的旧石器早期遗存[J]. 人类学学报, 2001, 20(2): 115-124
[6] 韩立刚, 吴强. 安徽宁国安友庄发现一处旧石器时代早期遗址[N]. 中国文物报,2005-11-11(001)
[7] 张森水. 管窥新中国旧石器考古学的重大发展[J]. 人类学学报, 1999, 18(3): 193-214
[8] 董哲, 裴树文, 袁四方. 安徽水阳江流域 2017 年旧石器考古调查简报[J]. 人类学学报, 2019, 38(2): 223-231
[9] 董哲. 安徽水阳江流域陈山遗址古人类石器技术研究[D]. 北京: 中国科学院大学, 2020
[10] 董哲, 战世佳. 安徽省宣城麻村旧石器遗址调查及发掘简报[J]. 人类学学报, 2020, 39(1): 74-85
[11] 董哲, 战世佳. 安徽省宁国市安友庄旧石器遗址调查及发掘简报[J]. 人类学学报, 2022, 41(2): 334-341
[12] Leakey MD. Olduvai Gorge, Volume 3:Excavations in Beds I and II, 1960-1963[M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1971, 5-7
[13] Toth N. The Stone Technologies of Early Hominids at Koobi Fora: An Experimental Approach[D]. Berkeley: The PhD Dissertation of University of California, 1982, 48-101
[14] Toth N. The Olduvan reassessed: A close look at early stone artifacts[J]. Journal of Archaeological Science, 1985, 12(2): 101-120
[15] Kleindienst MR. Components of the East African Acheulian assemblage: An analytic approach[A]. In: Mortelmans G (Ed.). Actes du IVe`me Congre`s Panafricain de Pre ?histoire et de l’Etude du Quaternaire, vol 40[C]. Tervuren (Belgique): Muse ?e Royal de l’Afrique Centrale, 1962, 81-105
[16] Toth N. The stone technologies of early hominids at Koobi Fora: An experimental approach[D]. Berkeley: University of California, 1982, 48-101
[17] 赵其国, 杨浩. 中国南方红土与第四纪环境变迁的初步研究[J]. 第四纪研究, 1995, 2: 107-116
[18] 杨浩, 赵其国, 李小平, 等. 安徽宣城风成沉积:红土系列剖面ESR年代学研究[J]. 土壤学报, 1996, 33(3): 293-300
[19] 王幼平. 砾石工业传统与华南旧石器晚期文化[J]. 南方文物, 2021, 1: 91-97
[20] 裴树文. 奥杜威工业石制品分类综述[J]. 人类学学报, 2014, 33(3): 329-342
[21] Yi S, Clark GA, Aigner JS, et al. Observations on the Lower Paleolithic of northeast Asia[J]. Current Anthropology, 1983, 24(2): 181-202
[22] Leng J, Shannon CL. Rethinking Early Paleolithic typologies in China and India[J]. Journal of East Asian Archaeology, 2000, 2: 9-35
[23] Gao X. Paleolithic cultures in China: Uniqueness and divergence[J]. Current Anthropology, 2013, 54(S8): 358-370
[24] Bar-Yosef O, Wang YP. Paleolithic archaeology in China[J]. Annual Review of Anthropology, 2012, 41: 319-335
[25] Kleindienst MR. Variability within the Late Acheulian assemblage in eastern Africa[J]. South African Archaeological Bulletin, 1961, 16: 35-52
Outlines

/