Acta Anthropologica Sinica ›› 1992, Vol. 11 ›› Issue (02): 126-133.

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Paleoliths found in Taohuaxi locality

Li Xuanmin   

  • Online:1992-06-15 Published:1992-06-15

Abstract: During dredging the waterway of Taohuaxi brooklet between August- September of 1987,a paleolithic locality was found on the high terrace about 80m above the present river level ofChangjian River near Chongqing Zoo where lies about10km in the south-western partofChongqing county. 69 stone artifacts and a few walnut shells (Juglans cathaynsis) are unco-vered in white-gray sand layer of the locality laid underground about 6m.
69 pieces of stone artifacts are divided into cores including singleplatform cores andpolyhedral cores, flakes, hammer stones, crushed hammer stone, scrapers which are subdivid-ed into two edges, the complex scraper and end scraper, and choppers (Choppingtools)which contain concave, convex, two edges, pointed, complex and end choppers, which consistof three types.
On the basis of the type and technique, the assemblage found in Taohuaxi locality havesome primary characters as follows:
Most artifacts are big and irregular in shape, most flakes are produced by direct percus-sion and a few specimens may be flaked on the anvil; The tools of the flake are common thanthose of the core; Many tools are crudely trimmed, and only three specimens are will retou-ched; The tools divided into scrapers (only 4 pieces) and choppers (29 specimens). It indi-cates the chopper is the important tool in the aggregate. These characters of the artifacts areclosely related to those found in Ziyang Man locality B and Tonglian Culture sites. This lo-cality is tentatively dated to be upper Pleistocene, probably to be the later stage supportedboth by cultural evidence and stratigraphic materials.

Key words: Paleolith; Taohuaxi; Sand layer