New discoveries from the Nansi Canyon Paleolithic site, Inner Mongolia

doi:10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2023.0025

Abstract

Abstract:

Initial Upper Paleolithic (IUP) was first adopted to describe a transitional technological assemblage with both Middle and Upper Paleolithic characteristics. Now, the term has become an important concept in discussing modern human origins and dispersal in Eurasia. Questions about its chronology, technological variation, and population groups have been hotly debated. The Shuidonggou site complex is one of the essential IUP sites in North China, with few contemporary sites discovered and studied in adjacent areas. Here we provide a report on a new investigation in Alashan. In 2013, a survey of the Paleolithic site in the Nansi Canyon of Alashan, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, collected 33 lithic artifacts. Raw materials were quartzite, and the degree of weathering and abrasion low. Preliminary research shows that the rough production method of ancient stone technology is hammering with lithics identified as cores, flakes and chunks. Tool blanks are all flakes assessed as scrapers according to processing type. In terms of cultural appearance, the site is similar to sites 1 and 9 at Shuidonggou. Its age may be at the beginning of the Initial Upper Palaeolithic, about 40 kaBP. This discovery has crucial significance for further discussing technological diversity of Initial Upper Paleolithic and migration paths of early modern humans in Northeast Asia.

Key words: Alashan, Nansi Canyon, Lithic artifacts, Blade

CLC Number:

K871.11

PENG Fei, TIE Weidong, QIN Bin, WANG Huiming, GAO Xing. New discoveries from the Nansi Canyon Paleolithic site, Inner Mongolia[J]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica, 2023, 42(04): 531-539.

Figures/Tables 5

Fig.1 Location, landscape and diluvium layer of the Nansi Canyon site

Tab.1 Class and frequency of stone artifacts of the Nansi Canyon site

类型Class	石核Core	石片Flake	断块Chunk	合计Total
数量(n)	3	24	6	33
比例(%)	9.1%	72.7%	18.2%	100%
加工数量(n)	/	4	/	4
加工比例(%)	/	16.7%	/	12.1%

Fig.2 Cores from the Nansi Canyon site

Fig.3 Flakes from the Nansi Canyon site

Fig.4 Retouched pieces

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