Excavation / Investigation Reports

The stone artifacts discovered in the Paleolithic survey in the Chaohu Lake Region, Anhui Province in 2019

  • Shijia ZHAN ,
  • Zhe DONG ,
  • Shuangwen YI ,
  • Hongyan ZHANG ,
  • Hao LI ,
  • Shuwen PEI
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  • 1. School of History, Culture and Tourism, Liaoning Normal University, Dalian 116081
    2. Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics, Anhui Province, Hefei 230601
    3. School of Geographical and Oceanographical Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093
    4. State Key Laboratory of Tibetan Plateau Earth System, Resources and Environment (TPESRE), Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101
    5. 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
    6. CAS Center for Excellence in Life and Paleoenvironment, Beijing 100044

Received date: 2021-03-08

  Revised date: 2021-05-10

  Online published: 2022-10-13

Abstract

This report presents the preliminary results of a Paleolithic survey in the Chaohu Lake Region (CLR), Anhui Province. The investigation was conducted by Institute of Archaeology and Cultural Relics of Anhui Province in 2019, and a total of sixteen new paleolithic localities and one animal fossil locality were discovered. A former Paleolithic site-complex, named Wangchenggang, discovered in 1980’s was also reexamined. Nine hundred and thirty-nine stone artifacts and four pieces of broken animal fossils were found during the investigation. Quartzite dominates the raw materials of stone artifacts and most of them are made on cobbles. Technologically, the stone artifacts can be classified into flaked pieces, detached pieces, retouched pieces and bipolar technique products. The exploitation of free-hand core is high and the ratio of cortex is low. Most of flakes belong to type V and II, with some utilized materials coexistent. There are also some large flakes (L>10 cm) in the assemblage. According to the characteristics of stone artifacts, early human detached large flakes from the large cores and further used them as blanks to manufacture heavy-duty tools. On the basis of Zhangjiawan OSL dating results, The age of these paleolithic localities in the CLR were no later than 125 kaBP. The new discoveries bear great significance for studying early human dispersals, technological diversity and the possibility of Acheulean technology large flake in the lower reaches of the Yangtze River.

Cite this article

Shijia ZHAN , Zhe DONG , Shuangwen YI , Hongyan ZHANG , Hao LI , Shuwen PEI . The stone artifacts discovered in the Paleolithic survey in the Chaohu Lake Region, Anhui Province in 2019[J]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica, 2022 , 41(05) : 927 -935 . DOI: 10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2021.0066

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