Abstract: Southwest Shanxi is located in middle of the Fen-Wei Rift Valley, including the Linfen Basin, the Yuncheng Basin, and west bank of the Yellow River at the southern piedmont of Zhongtiao Mountains. Since the 1950s, more than 300 Paleolithic sites and localities have been discovered. Archaeological studies suggest that human beings have been occupying this region since early Lower Pleistocene, lasting to the end of the Last Ice Age. Several carefully excavated archaeological sites, including Xihoudu, Kehe, Dingcun, Xiachuan, and Shizitan, compose a continuum of lithic industries. They suggest a complete evolutionary trajectory during the last 2 million years: Homo habilis, Homo erectus, Archaic Homo sapiens, and Homo sapiens sapiens. Thus, Southwest Shanxi is a significant region of human and cultural evolution in China. This paper reviews the research history in the last six decades, points out weaknesses of previous studies, and discusses several further directions of archaeological research. This article is dedicated to the 110th birthday of Professor Jia Lanpo, one of the founders of Chinese Paleolithic archaeology.

Key words: Shanxi Rift Valley; Southwes Shanxi; Paleolithic archaeology; human evolution