Abstract: The Daguling Paleolithic locality is situated at the second terrace of the Yuanshui River, a branch of the Ganjiang River in the Xinyu City, Jiangxi Province. More than 40 stone artifacts were collected from the site in 1997, which exhibit close affiliation with the Laterite Paleolithic Culture in South China. The representative deposit section at the site contains loess-like silty clay of more than 10 m thick. Through analyzing the granulometric, chemical composition and heavy mineral elements of the deposits and observing the surface characteristics of quartz grains by electron microscope, it is concluded that the deposits are aeolian, and the Xinyu loess was deposited in a climatic condition warmer and wetter than that of the loess of northern China and the Xiashu Loess in lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The OSL dating results indicate that the ages of the upper and middle part the deposits are 36. 1 ±2. 6 ka and 64. 2 ±4. 9 ka, respectively. Therefore, it is concluded that the Daguling cultural horizon is formed during the Upper Paleolithic.

Key words: Paleolithic; Taphonomic environment; OSL dating; Daguling; Jiangxi