关键词: 旧石器考古学;主工业;区域工业类型;多样性;历史发展不平衡

Abstract: The paleolithic archeology in China had laid solid foundation by the researches at Zhoukoudian region in 1930s. Since 1949 over 1000 paleolithic sites have been found and studied in this country. The specimens yielded include human fossils of different stag es, over 100, 000 pieces of the stone artifacts, about 1000 bone and antler tools made by polishing or scraping , some decorated ornaments, a few bone tools with carved designs as well as plenty of fire using remains. Important results have also been obtained in related sciences such as experimental archeology , taphonomy , chronology, paleoclimate studies etc. More than one thousand papers and books on the paleolithic research in China have been published in latter half of this century.
In the previous 50 years, one of the important advancements of the paleolithic archeology in China is the expanse in space and time distribution. Before 1949 in addition to Zhoukoudian region only about 10 sites which are belong ed to middle and upper paleolithic were found in Ningxia, Inner Mongolia, Shaanxi, Shanxi and Yunnan Provinces and Autonomous Regions. Now over 1000 sites belonging to the different stages of the paleolithic have been discovered in China. Among them the sites belonging to the early stage of the low er paleolithic ( Early Pleistocene ) have been found and distributed over rather wide region ( 101°58′- 114°39′E. , 25°14′- 40°13′N. ) in China, the earliest one was found in 1998 at Renzidong Cave near Xincun town in Fanchang county , Anhui Province. Some stone artifacts, bone tools and many mammalian fossils were found in situ. In comparison with well known early Pleistocene faunas and paleomagnetic dating of related sites, the Renzidong Cave site could be dated to earlier than 2Ma. This discovery indicates that humankind in China could be traced 0. 3 million years earlier than the Yuanmou hominid who is dated as of 1. 7Ma and had been thought as representing the earliest inhabitant of China for long time since his discovering in 1965. The distribution area of late stage of lower paleolithic ( Middle Pleistocene ) is slightly enlarged than that of earlier stage ( 105°55′— 124°07′E. , 23°39′— 41°15′N. ) . The region with middle paleolithic cultural relics has no obvious change, but may extend westward for 2 degrees longitude in North China. The culture of the late paleolithic spreaded further westward and northward and have been propagated into Tibet and the most northern part of China ( 79°26′_ 127°21′E. , 18°17′_ 52°25′N. ).
The analysis of the stone artifacts shows that the paleolithic industrial basic frame in China consists of two main industries distributed in North and South China respectively tog ether with several local industries. The main industry designates the assemblages with common characters existed throughout the paleolithic age and distributed over wide area, while the local industry contains the assemblages with common characters but the distribution are rather limited in space and time. Following is a brief description of the main and local industries.
Main industry of North China: Some general characters could be shown as follows: Most of the stone artifacts are small in size and less than 40mm in length. The flakes are produced by hard hammer percussion. The tools are mostly made of the flakes and can be subdivided into scraper, pointed tool, awl, graver, chopper and bolas. Among them the scraper is the main type and the pointed tool is important one. The chopper is more common in early paleolithic stage and played decreasing roleupto middle and upper paleolithic. All tools are trimmed by hard hammer percussion and mainly retouched on the dorsal surface, therefore, they are not regular in shape and the working edges are zigzag.
The main industry of North China distributed over a rather vast area ( 107°29′_ 122°10′E. , 34°10′_ 41°15′N. ) in the early and middle paleolithic. Upto late paleolithic it extended to further west and south in China. The artifacts of the industry have been discovered in a large area including Tibet, Yunnan, Sichuan, Guizhou, Guangxi, Hunan, Hubei, Anhui and Fujian Provinces ( 87°21′_ 126°18′E. , 24°55′_ 45°36′N. ) .
Main industry in South China: The general characters are as follows: Most of the stone artifacts are large, over 100mm in length. The too ls mainly consist of chopper, pick, biface, cleaver and stone bolas. A few scrapers and pointed tools are also contained in the assemblages. All tools are crudely retouched by hard hammer percussion. Consequently tools are rather irregular in shape, the working edges are zigzag and the trimming scars are deep and broad in most cases.
The main industry in South China distributed over a narrower region ( 104°38′_ 118° 53′E. , 23°39′_ 33°22′N. ) than that of North China known at present. Actual distribution could be slightly wider but would not extend into the west Plateau of China , because no archeological sites found in the western part of Sichuan, Guizhou, Yunnan and Tibet have beer yielded any assemblage with characters similar to that of main industry in South China.
There are nine local industries a t present. Miaohoushan industry was found at Benxi county , Liaoning Province. Most of the stone artifacts are large in size. The tools are mostly made of large and broad flakes and retouched with complex mode. Guanyindong industry was mainly found in the northwestern part of Guizhou Province. The main characters of this industry are as follows: majority of the tools are trimmed by steep chipping , so the working edges are usually obtuse and the angle of edge outstrip 75°. The tools with multi-edges are more than those with a single edge in the assemblages. A detailed description of other local industries are presented in the Chinese text.
In spite of the diversity of characters among the various local industries some common characters in type and technique could be seen in almost all paleolithic industries of China except blade and micro-blade industries. The common characters include that the ratio of length to width of the stone artifacts tends to be equal, flakes and tools are produced by hard hammer percussion, the cores are no t prepared in advance so most of flakes chipped from the core are irregular in shape, the tools are also not regular in shape and the working edges are usually zigzag. These are obviously different from those of the paleolithic industry in West Asia and Europe. But the cultural exchange with the neighboring areas could be shown in paleolithic remains of China specially in Shuidonggou industry and Qingshuihe industry.
The great achievement in the paleolithic aracheology of China of 20th century especially in the latter half of it has laid solid foundantation which may keep up a continuous development for 21st century. Nevertheless the disequilibrium of paleolithic archeological study in China is obvious. The research work is very weak especially in the eastern and western parts of China. The qualified archeologists and technicians are insufficient. If we could overcome the weakness in a short time, paleolithic archeology in China could be more and more greatly developed in near future.

Key words: Paleolithic archeology , Main industry , Local industry , Diversity, Disequilibrium of the historic develo pment