Abstract:

The scientific research in the Nihewan Basin has experienced a long history of nearly 100 years, involving a variety of fields such as geology, paleontology, paleoanthropology, chronology, etc. With abundant scientific research achievements, the Nihewan Basin draws the attention of the world. Located in the southwest of Cenjiawan village, Yangyuan County, Hebei Province, the Nanshangen Paleolithic locality is the early Paleolithic site. The archaeological culture layer is buried in the lake facies layer of Nihewan, with the geological age being early Pleistocene.

From May to July of 2017, the archaeological team of Hebei Normal University carried out excavations at this site, within an area of about 22 m². A cultural layer was discovered as the excavation of the Nanshangen locality proceeded. A total of 519 pieces of numbered relics were unearthed, most of which were stone artifacts whose main types were stone cores, flakes, tools,fragments, etc. The minority of 17 fossils were broken. The direct percussion was the dominate debitage technique. The raw materials of stone artifacts were breccia, flint, siliceous limestone, quartz sandstone and so on, among which brown-red breccia accounted for the vast majority. The bedrock exposed in the south and east of Nanshangen Paleolithic Locality was visible, so the raw materials of stone artifacts could be drawn near. Overall, stone artifacts were small, belonging to the small stone tradition of North China.

According to the analysis of the preservation and distribution of stone artifacts, there was little displacement of the relic position in the plane and vertical direction caused by the fault and stratum tilt as well as the impact of water transportation. The stone products were less disturbed by later factors. A total of 25 splicing groups were found at the site, including 57 pieces of spliceable stone products. The fossils buried in situ were broken and poorly preserved, which might be caused by weathering after exposure in the wilderness for a period of time. It can be inferred that the Nanshangen site is a temporary activity place for humans to make stone tools.

The Nanshangen Paleolithic Locality lied in the northwest wall of the Brown fault. The strata were declining and adjacent to the sites of Cenjiawan, Shigou, and Donggutuo. The Nanshangen and Cenjiawan’s cultural layers are in the same natural accumulation layer, but the cultural layer of this site is slightly higher than that of Cenjiawan site. Therefore the age is slightly close to and later than that of Cenjiawan site(1.1Ma). It is of great significance to study the survival strategies of early Paleolithic humans in the Datianwa area of the Nihewan Basin.

Key words: Nihewan Basin, Nanshangen Paleolithic Locality, Early Paleolithic, Refitting research