Acta Anthropologica Sinica ›› 2019, Vol. 38 ›› Issue (02): 223-231.doi: 10.16359/j.cnki.cn11-1963/q.2019.0001

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A preliminary report on the Paleolithic survey in Shuiyangjiang River system, Anhui Province in 2017

DONG Zhe1,2,3,4(), PEI Shuwen1,2(), YUAN Sifang5   

  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. CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Beijing, 100044
    3. University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049
    4. Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics, Anhui Province, Hefei 230601
    5. Office for Cultural Relics Administration of Ningguo City, Ningguo 242300
  • Received:2018-09-21 Revised:2018-11-29 Online:2019-05-15 Published:2020-09-10
  • Contact: PEI Shuwen E-mail:jludongzhe@sina.com;peishuwen@ivpp.ac.cn

Abstract:

This report presents the preliminary results of a Paleolithic survey in the Shuiyangjiang River system, Anhui Province. The investigation was conducted by the Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics of Anhui Province and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. A total of 15 new localities was discovered and confirmed, mainly buried in the 2nd and 3rd terraces of Shuiyangjiang River and its branches. Typologically, these lithic artifacts include Pounded Pieces (stone hammer and anvil), Flaked Pieces (casual cores, discoids, polyhedrons, heavy-duty scrapers, core-scrapers, unifacial or bifacial choppers and point), and Detached Pieces(flakes, bipolar products, and chips etc). The raw materials used for making these lithic artifacts are mainly quartzite, which are available as pebbles in nearby river gravels. Almost all of the lithic artifacts made in quartzite are heavily abraded and weathered, which indicates that these sites are formed by river flow. According to geomorphological and stratigraphic comparisons, these newly discovered localities may be dated to the Middle Pleistocene. Only one locality named Wuci may belong to the Late Pleistocene. The absolute age of these localities will be obtained in future with the OSL dating method. It should be noted that several unifacial handaxes and picks imply that Mode 2 technology most probably existed in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River system, which is significant for studying early human dispersal and technological development in China.

Key words: Paleolithic survey, Shuiyangjiang River system, Stone artifacts, Large Cutting Tools, Middle to Late Pleistocene

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