Abstract: Like the presence ot hand—axes，cleavers in the Luonan Basin，ShaanxiProvince．also challenge many of the preconceived ideas about the distribution of Acheulian technology"．Many questions remain．particularly over an accepted definition of cleavers and whether or not there aI “ real” cleavers in Pleistocene China compared to western parts ofthe Old Continents． This article focuses on the definition of cleavers in order to identify this kind of tool found in China．
On the basis of the definition by Tixier(1956)，a cleaver should be a kind of tool that it is invariably aflake tool with a transver secutting edge atthe distalend．Generally this cutting edge is natural orin other words the distal cutting edge is unmodified by intentional retouch and the side edges and proximal end is usually bifacially produced by convergence surfaces．Based on this definition，119 cleavers were identified from 63 of 268 open—airsites found from 1995 to 2004 in the Luonan Basin． Shaanxi Province，China．Most of the cleavers are classic“U．” or“V一”shaped outline in the iroverall appearance．This article describes cleavers’ raw materials and provides a brief typo—technological analysis．Metrical analysis attempts to provide an objective typological description for the seartifacts rather than merely limiting the discussion to arbitrary cleaver morphology．
Early hominids in the Luonan Basin chose seven kinds of raw materials to makecleavers．11lemost common iscream quartzite (N = 54，45．38％ )，then dark grey quartzite (N = 25，21．01％ )． greywaeke(N = 13，10．92％)，red quartzite (N =11，9．24％)，and finesandstone (N = 14， 11．77％)．Quartz(N=1，0．84％)andsandstone(N ：1，0．84％ )arerare．Metrical analysis shows that the mean length of this sample of cleavers is 159．32 mill，average width is113．84 mm．，mean thicknessis 52．36 mm，an d mean wei【ghtis1059．5 g．Meansizeas measured by threeratios：
(width／length)×100 equals73．49
(thickness／length)×100equals33．64
nd(thickness／width)×100equals48．39
Attribute analysis shows that cleaver forms，aswellas the relative size index were significantly affected byraw materials．
The most common position of retouching flake removals on the cleavers is bifacial (N =50， 42．02％)．Retouch on the exterior surface and interior surface，as well as alternating modification are also common．Altemate removals on the cleaver’sexteriorand interior surfaces are uncommon．Parallel retouched scar pattern is the most common feature(N=66，55．46％ )，although sub—parallel，stepped， and scale patterns are also frequent．In an examinationof retouch，half of the cleavers have long retouch extension(N =58，48．74％ )，while cleavers with short retouched scars (N =29，24．37％ ) or invasive pattern (N =27，22．69％ )is infrequent．Only five cleavers have retouch covering the whole surface．Measurement of the cleaver edges shows that acute edge angles are predominant(N =74。 62．18％ )，although frequently about 1／3 have an abrupt edge．The cleavers also have asemi—abrupt． Steep edge angle，but these are very uncommon．

Key words: Cleaver； Old Continents； Open—airsites； LuonanBasin； Shaanxiprovince