Acta Anthropologica Sinica ›› 2019, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (02): 157-165.doi: 10.16359/j.cnki.cn11-1963/q.2019.0013

    Next Articles

A study of stone artifacts from 2014-2015 excavations at the Wulanmulun Locality 2, Ordos, Inner Mongolia

LEI Lei1,2,4, LIU Yang3, HOU Yamei1,4(), ZHANG Jiafu5, BAO Lei6, HU Yue7, YANG Jungang6   

  1. 1. Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044
    2. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049
    3. Anthropolgy Department, School of Sociology and Anthropology, Sun Yet-Sen University, Guangzhou 510275
    4. CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Beijing 100044
    5. MOE Laboratory or Earth Surface Processes, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871
    6. Ordos Antiquity & Archaeology Institution, Ordos 017200
    7. School of Earth and Environment Science, NSW, Australia 2522
  • Received:2018-09-13 Revised:2018-11-12 Online:2019-05-15 Published:2020-09-10
  • Contact: HOU Yamei E-mail:houyamei@ivpp.ac.cn

RichHTML

20

PDF (PC)

131

Abstract:

The Wulanmulun site, located in Kangbashi District, Ordos City, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, North China, consists of three localities, namely Loc.1, Loc.2 and Loc.3. This site is situated on the left bank of the Wulanmulun River and lies at an altitude of 1281m. The Loc.2 was excavated tentatively in 2011 and formally in 2014 and 2015. The excavation exposed an area of 25m2with five cultural layers. A total of 318 stone artifacts and eight animal fossils was uncovered during the 2014 and 2015 field seasons, along with an area of animal footprints unearthed during the excavation. Stone artifacts include cores, flakes, bipolar products, tools(denticulates, notches, points, end-scrapers, awls) and so on. In addition, the cultural layers have yielded optically stimulated luminescence dates ca. 60 ka.
Technologically, the Loc.2 is dominated by flakes (n=223; 71.06%), followed by tools (n=33; 10.38%), chunks (n=27; 8.49%), cores (n=26; 8.18%), and manuports (n=6; 1.89%). Lithic raw materials derive from local sources. Quartzite dominates, while quartz and chert are less common. The majority of artifacts is small in size. Hard-hammer direct percussion was applied extensively, and the presence of bipolar products indicates that bipolar technique was also used. Denticulates and notches are important tools in the stone artifact assemblage. Tools were mainly retouched on the dorsal surface by freehand percussion.
The lithic assemblage of Wulanmulun site has the attributes of a small tool industry in North China. Integrated research on the site in future may potentially shed light on the evolutionary trajectories of lithic technologies and human behavior in North China during the Late Pleistocene period.

Key words: Wulanmulun site, Ordos Plateau, Stone artifacts, Late Pleistocene

CLC Number: