Abstract:

The Nihewan basin of North China, filled with fluvio-lacustrine sequence dated from the Pliocene to the Holocene, has yielded numerous archaeological materials of the Paleolithic. It is a vital area to investigate evolution of hominins and their adapted behaviors in East Asia. Donggutuo (DGT) site is one of the richest Paleolithic sites located on the eastern edge of the Nihewan Basin, which provides key information about the technological behavior evolution of early humans.

From 2016 to 2019, a new excavation was undertaken at Trench 1 area which is the largest and the most prolific one. According to the sedimentary matrix and the density of stone artifacts, eight cultural layers were identified and tens of thousands of stone artifacts as well as large number of fossils have been unearthed. Archaeological materials were concentrated in layer 6A2 and 6C1. The lithic assemblages include cores, flakes, chunks, shatters, and retouched pieces. The attributes of lithic are similar between layer 6A2 and 6C1 in raw materials, flaking technique and retouched methods. The principal raw material is locally available chert from the ancient riverbed and outcrops. Hominins might have realized the difference of different raw materials, and intentionally selected relatively high-quality raw materials for flaking. The dominating flaking technique was freehand hard hammer percussion without predetermined preparation on the core, and bipolar technique was occasionally used. Most of cores are tested cores and multifacial flaking cores. Retouched tools are dominated by single-edged scarpers. Retouched edges were usually irregular, unifacial without standardized shapes. Variation between these two layers has also been observed, for instance the percentage of denticulates in layer 6A2 is lower than layer 6C1, whereas the former yield more double-edged scrapers and multifacial flaking cores. It might suggest that raw materials were consumed more intensity in layer 6A2.

Although there are subtle variations among different archaeological layers, the lithic assemblage of the DGT site could be attributed to simple core-flake techno-complex. It is clear that occupants primarily consumed abundant, locally available pebble raw materials in a fairly expedient way. Most bones from the Donggutuo site are fragmented and abraded, and only a small proportion of the fossils can be taxonomically identified. Cut-marks were identified on a small number of fossils. The new discoveries at the Donggutuo site from 2016 to 2019 provide abundant materials for understanding the evolution of stone technology behavior of early Pleistocene hominins in the basin, as well as important materials for understanding the utilization of raw material and mobility organization of early humans in northern China.

Key words: Nihewan Basin, Donggutuo site, Lower Paleolithic, Lithic technology, Raw material exploitation