Abstract: This report presents the results of Paleolithic reconnaissance conducted in Xixia, Henan province in June, 2005 by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology of Henan Province. Some eight Paleolithic sites distributed in Paimaling, Fengshan and Yanggang and more than 40 lithic artifacts and few mammalian fragments were discovered. Four fluvial terraces were recognized along the Laoguanhe river around Xiaxia town, and lithic artifacts were found from T3. The stone assemblage includes cores, flakes, chunks and tools. Raw materials for stone making were collected from ancient riverbeds, which included quartz, quartzite, tuff and siltstone, etc. but quartz is the predominant type. The principal flaking technique is direct hammer percussion, but bipolar technique is also used. Most lithic artifacts are middle and large in size. Scrapers are the main tool type, followed by cleavers and spheroids. Modified tools appear to be retouched by simple direct hammer percussion on the flake blank edges. The lithic assemblage not only has the features of the pebble industry in South China, but also shows close tie with the flake industry of North China. Geomorphologic and stratigraphic comparison suggests a Middle Pleistocene date for this assemblage.

Key words: Middle Pleistocene; Lithic artifacts; Paomaling; Xixia