Table of Content

15 February 2022, Volume 41 Issue 01

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Research Articles



Phenomenon of mother-infant joint burials from the Jiayi cemetery in Turpan, Xinjiang

WANG Anqi, ZHANG Wenxin, ZOU Zining, WANG Long, ZHANG Quanchao

2022, 41(01):  1-10.  doi:10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2021.0094

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The mother-infant relationship has long been considered as an important topic both in the fields of anthropology and psychology. Anthropologically, the nutritional metabolism of the mother and infant during pregnancy is closely related to their long-term health status; while from the psychological perspective, this relationship is important to the formation of consciousness, psychological development, identity of the children, which is also reflected in the social and cultural constitution. Exploring mother-infant nexus of the ancient populations provides an approach to the understanding of the social life and ideology of our past. This paper presents a study of four mother-infant joint burials from the Jiayi Cemetery, a Bronze-Early Iron Age cemetery from Northwest China, using the methods from human osteoarchaeology, archaeothanatology and clinical medicine. Biological data of the human remains, and the distribution of these skeletons were collected and analyzed. Results show that all the adult individuals were females of childbearing age, and the infant individuals were in their perinatal periods. Three infants were put between the arms and bodies of the female individuals, while another fetus (M224:2) was found between the adult’s pelves. These findings indicate that the former mothers and infants died after childbirth, while the latter group seemed to have died together during childbirth. Combining the previous bioarchaeological research, malnutrition and infectious diseases were common among the Jiayi population, which could be an explanation for their high risk of death. These burials also reflect the Jiayi people’s understanding of the bond between mother and child, and their belief in 'soul'. Burying the mother and infant together is a way not only to show the respect for the dead, but also to comfort the living.



A preliminary study of paleodemography of the Qing Dynasty cemetery in Caojiazhai, Fengxi

ZHAO Dongyue, LIU Haopeng, YANG Lei

2022, 41(01):  11-22.  doi:10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2021.0003

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The Caojiazhai Cemetery is a civilian cemetery of the Qing Dynasty located in Xixian New Area, Shaanxi. In this paper, the human bones unearthed from the Caojiazhai Cemetery were analyzed by paleodemography; combined with historical documents, the population structure and age distribution of the residents in the Qing dynasty in the Caojiazhai Cemetery were studied, and the reason for its formation and the revealed family structure and marriage form of the civilian class in Qing Dynasty were explored. The results have shown that the sex ratio of residents in the Caojiazhai Cemetery is 117.5, and the quantity of men is far more than that of women; the higher sex ratio of residents may be related to the “Drowning Baby Girls” custom that prevailed in the Qing Dynasty. The average age of death for male residents in Caojiazhai was 44.41 years old, and the average age of death for female residents in Caojiazhai was 38.42 years old. Their life expectancy was much lower than that of the Qing gentry population in the literature and epitaph records, which reflected the living conditions of the civilian class in Guanzhong area in the Qing Dynasty. The peak of their deaths was in the middle age, but the fertility behavior made the death rate of women in the middle age more than twice that of men, and more male residents lived to their old age, which indicated that men have a relatively longer lifespan in individuals. By comparing the population’s age distribution of death from the Neolithic Age to the Ming and Qing Dynasties in Guanzhong area, the mortality rate of the residents of Caojiazhai in the Qing Dynasty was still the lowest in the youth and the middle of life, and more people lived to their old age, which showed that human life span gradually increased with the development of social productivity and the improvement of medical conditions. The burial methods of single, double, and multiple persons, and relocation behaviors of the second burial and skeletal disturbance in Caojiazhai Cemetery all reflected the form of monogamous and polygamous marriages in the Qing Dynasty. As a civilian class, their behavior of accepting concubines was limited by financial resources and was not common. Small family was the mainstream form of rural families in Shaanxi during the Qing Dynasty.



Basic physical characteristics of potters indicated by the handprints on surface of tomb bricks from the Eastern Han Dynasty to the Southern Dynasty in Guangxi and Guangdong provinces

WEI Xuan, YUAN Junjie

2022, 41(01):  23-35.  doi:10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2021.0002

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Handprint on the surface of tomb brick is a special printed image consciously left by potters when they made and produced bricks, which is a particular cultural phenomenon. Research of modern forensic medicine, dactylography and trace inspection has indicated that the handprint is closely related to the basic physical characteristics of humans. Using the basis methods of these disciplines, we also can deduce the basic physical characteristics of ancient people. By measuring and analyzing the handprints on tomb bricks from the Eastern Han dynasty and the Southern dynasty in Guangxi and Guangdong provinces, we can discuss the sexual, age, handedness, stature, body weight and somatotype of ancient potters. It was indicated that most potters were young and middle-aged men and a few juveniles and females were also present. And most of potters were of medium height and a little short, which is slightly different from modern people in Guangxi and Guangdong provinces. This study provides a new perspective to understand the ancient potters` group structure characteristics and the ancient handicraft industry in Southern China.



Changes of body composition of the ethnic minorities in China

YU Huixin, LI Yonglan, ZHENG Lianbin, ZHANG Xinghua, YU Keli, BAO Jinping

2022, 41(01):  36-50.  doi:10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2021.0045

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The bioelectrical impedance method was used to measure the body composition of 23352 adults (10070 males and 13282 females) from the minorities in China. This paper is to understand the current status of fat percentage and muscle mass in Chinese minorities, and to explore the changes in body composition with age. We found that males and females are generally overweighted, but not reached the level of obesity yet. Compared with the southern male ethnic groups, the males of northern Altaic languages ethnic groups have higher limb fat percentages, higher visceral fat levels and lower water percentages. Among the southern ethnic groups, the Tibeten-Burman languages ethnic groups, the Miao-Yao languages ethnic groups and the Zhuang-Dong languages ethnic groups have relatively close limb fat percentage, visceral fat level and water content. The South Asian languages ethnic groups has a large difference with these three southern ethnic groups. Compared with southern female ethnic groups, females from the northern Altaic languages ethnic groups have large torso and limb muscles and heavy bones. The female torso and limbs of the four southern ethnic groups have smaller muscle mass and lighter bones, which are close to each other. With age increases, male’s bone mass decreases, and water content increases, and upper extremity fat rate decreases, and trunk fat rate increases, and visceral fat levels increase, and fat concentrates in the trunk, and overall body fat rate increases. The muscle mass of the lower limbs of the male is reduced, and the muscle mass of the trunk is reduced, which ultimately leads to a decrease in the total muscle mass of the whole body. With age increases, the female’s fat rate and muscle mass of the upper extremities did not change significantly, the fat rate of the lower extremities decreased, the trunk fat rate and visceral fat level increased, the overall fat rate increased, the trunk muscle mass decreased, and the total muscle mass decreased. The cut-off point for male’s presumed decline in bone mass is 50 years old, and female is 60 years old. The cut-off point for a decline in total muscle mass in male is 40 years old, and female is 50 years old. The cut points for increasing the body moisture rate of males and females are all 60 years old, the cut points for increasing the visceral fat level are all 30 years old, the cut points for decreasing the total fat rate are all 60 years old, the cut points for increasing the body fat rate are 30 years old, and the cut-off points for torso muscle mass are 40 years old. We also found that body fat rate, visceral fat level and blood glucose levels were significantly positively correlated. The results of this paper basically reflect the basic laws of the changes in body composition from youth to the elderly.

Finger length ratio of Han and She peoples in Southern Fujian

CHEN Tongjun, XIANG Jianmei, TENG Shaokang, LUO Baoying, HUANG Zhongqing, LI Xiaoliang, HUANG Liping, CHEN Huihua, XIE Jiyu

2022, 41(01):  51-56.  doi:10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2021.0005

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To study the characteristics of finger length ratio of Han and She ethnic groups in southern Fujian. We randomly chose 506 (male: n=173; female: n=333) Han ethnic group and 450(male: n=231; female: n=219) She ethnic group in Southern Fujian. Using anthropometry, we measured and calculated the length ratios among finger 2, 3, 4 and 5, namely R_2/3, R_2/4, R_2/5, R_3/4, R_3/5 and R_4/5. The average finger length ratios in both Han ethnic group and She ethnic group in Southern Fujian possessed the tendency of R_3/5>R_4/5>R_2/5>R_3/4>R_2/4>R_2/3. The finger length ratios, R_2/3, R_2/4, R_2/5, R_3/4, R_3/5 in left hand, and R_2/3, R_2/4, R_2/5 in right hand in the males were higher than that in females of Han ethnic group(P<0.05); The ratios, R_2/3, R_2/4, R_2/5, in left hand and R_2/3, R_2/4 in right hand in males were higher than that in females of She ethnic group(P<0.05); The ratios R_2/3, R_2/4, R_2/5, R_3/4, R_4/5 in both hands in males, the values were higher in She ethnic group’s compared to Hanethnic group’s(P<0.05); The ratios R_2/3, R_2/4 in left hand and R_2/3, R_2/4, R_2/5, R_4/5 in right hand in females, the ratios were higher in She ethnic group’s compared to Han ethnic group’s(P<0.05). There were also obvious differences in the proportion of distribution of the average ratios between different genders in the same nationality. For the same gender, there was significant difference in the mean length ratios of right hand between different ethnic group. Finger length ratio of Han and She ethnic groups in Southern Fujian had sexual and bilateral differences.



Characteristics of finger length ratio and its fluctuation asymmetry of college students majoring in physical education

LIANG Zhidong

2022, 41(01):  57-64.  doi:10.16359/j.cnki.cn11-1963/q.2020.0013

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To explore the characteristics of the digit ratio(R) and its fluctuating asymmetry for college students majoring in physical education, so as to accumulate basic data for the study of physical anthropology and the physical characteristics of elite athletes, the subjects of this study were Han nationality college students aged 18 years and 25 years old with normal development (n=374). According to their major and sex, they were divided into male sports group (n=60), male general department group (n=143), female sports group (n=61) and female general department group (n=110). Length of the second digit to the fifth digit (L₂, L₃, L₄ and L₅) was measured by Photoshop 8.0 image processing software, and the fluctuation asymmetrical values of 6 finger length ratios (R) and bilateral finger length ratios were calculated. The normal distribution test, two independent samples T test and Mann-Whitney test of were carried out by SPSS 23.0 statistical software. The result shows there was significant difference in finger length ratios between male sports group and male general department group (P<0.05), which was mainly manifested in R_2/5, R_3/5 and R_4/5, but there was no significant difference in finger length ratios between female sports group and female general department group (P>0.05). The result also shows there was significant difference in the deviation of fluctuation asymmetrical values (σ) between male sports group and male general department group (P<0.05), and the difference was mainly manifested in σ_2/3 and σ_3/5. There was no significant difference in the σ value between the female sports group and the female general department group (P>0.05). The study shows that the the digit ratio and its σ are related to sex and sport ability. R_3/5 and σ_3/5 may be related to the exposure level of sex hormones during early growth and development, and they are expected to become new biomarkers for athlete selection.



Paternal genetic structure of Han and Hui male populations in Shandong

ZHANG Jinke, DONG Wei, TANG Guangfeng, HUANG Xiaoliang, YANG Zhen, WANG Xiaojun, ZHANG Jie, ZHAO Yingjian, ZHU Yiqing, JIANG Li

2022, 41(01):  65-72.  doi:10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2021.0007

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This study is based on 75 Y-SNPs and 23 Y-STRs to analyze the paternal genetic structure of Shandong Han and Hui males and provides basic data for forensic application and population genetics. Mini-sequencing was used to type 75 Y-SNPs of 187 individuals of Han and 130 individuals of Hui. The PowerPlex^®Y23 kit was used to type 23 Y-STRs of all individuals. Allele frequency, haplotype frequency and haplogroup frequency were calculated by direct counting. Gene diversity, haplotype diversity and haplogroup diversity were calculated according to the formula D=n(1-∑pi²)/(n-1). The median-joining networks were constructed using NETWORK 5.0 and NETWORK Publisher. The research results showed that haplogroup O-M175, C-M130, N-M231, Q-M242 were the major haplogroups of the Han population, and haplogroup O-M175, J-M304, R-M207, C-M130, N-M231 were the major haplogroups of Hui population. 187 haplotypes were detected in Han populations based on twenty-three Y-STR loci, and the haplotype diversity was 1.000. And 121 haplotypes were detected in Hui populations, the haplotype diversity was 0.9988. The Networks showed that the individuals of same haplogroup were relatively independently clustered. There were shared haplogroups between Han and Hui populations, as well as some population specific haplogroups. For example, haplogroups J-M304 and R-M207 were prevalent in Hui population, while haplogroup Q-M242 was prevalent in Han population. The major haplogroup of both populations was haplogroup O-M175. Haplogroups J-M304 and R-M207 were distributed at high frequencies in Shandong Hui male population, and haplogroups Q-M242 were distributed at high frequencies in the Shandong Han male population. A certain percentage of unique Y chromosome haplotypes in western Eurasia and the Middle East were retained among the Shandong Hui male population.



Human subsistence in the late Neolithic age revealed by the remains of charred plants in Lutai site, Henan province

TAO Dawei, LIU Xueling, XIAO Yiqi, CHEN Chaoyun

2022, 41(01):  73-84.  doi:10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2021.0001

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Abundant charred plant remains were unearthed from the late Neolithic Lutai site. Only foxtail millet and common millet were found, indicating of a pure millet agricultural economy during Yangshao period. New crop soybean (Glycine max) emerged in the following Longshan period and the agricultural economy became complex. Based on quantitative analysis of millets and weeds of Longshan period, the ratios of immature to mature millet grains and weeds to millets reveal that early stage crop-processing (threshing and winnowing) and possible late stage crop-processing (dehusking) were conducted by independent nuclear family in separated zones of Lutai settlement. Combined with other archaeobotanical and stable isotope studies in northern area of Henan Province, only millets were cultivated in this region during the Yangshao period. In the following period of Longshan new crops including rice, wheat and soybean were cultivated or utilized and multiple-cropping agricultural system was established in northern area of Henan Province and other areas of Henan Province alike. Besides, landforms, settlement conditions and the choices of specific population contributed to the differences in agricultural patterns among the sites in northern area of Henan Province.



Primitive agriculture in the Yangshao period revealed by charred plant remains from the Jiazhuang and Hougaolaojia sites in Xiangcheng, Henan province

CHENG Zhijie, Qi Ming, ZENG Lingyuan, ZHANG Juzhong, YANG Yuzhang, LI Quanli

2022, 41(01):  85-95.  doi:10.16359/j.cnki.cn11-1963/q.2020.0063

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Eastern Henan area is a core area for prehistoric cultural exchange and integration between the Central Plains and Shandong Peninsula throughout the Neolithic. Due to the lack of archaeobotanical data, it is still not clear for the development progress of prehistoric agricultural in Eastern Henan area. Flotation analysis was conducted on soil samples collected from Jiazhuang and Hougaolaojia site belong to mid-Yangshao era in Xiangcheng city, Henan province. Lots of charred plant remains were recovered. Qualitative analysis indicated that agricultural crops included foxtail millet, broomcorn millet and rice, wild grass seeds included Setaria, Digitaria, Echinochloa, Panicum, Panicoideae, Eleusine indica, Poaceae, Leguminosae, Chenopodiaceae, Portulaca, Galium, Cyperaceae, and edible wild plant included Glycine, Trapa, Euryale ferox, Diospyros, Quercus, Amygdalus. Proportions and ubiquity of charred plant remains from two sites revealed that both agriculture and collection were important for plant food utilization in mid-Yangshao era in eastern Henan area, while agriculture had established a dominant position in subsistence. The most prominent feature of agriculture was mixed farming of rice and millets, and common millet was the main crop. This paper provides important data on agriculture development in eastern Henan area during the Yangshao era, and provides some clues for the spread of mixed farming in eastern central China.



A preliminary study of the multi-crops planting system in the central plains of the early Shang Dynasty: Taking the Wangjinglou site in Xinzheng of Henan as an example

WANG Ning, SANG Zhecheng, LIU Xiaobin, WU Qian

2022, 41(01):  96-107.  doi:10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2021.0004

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The development of the agricultural economy is one of the most important prerequisites for the formation of the Chinese civilization. As the core area of the capital of the Xia and Shang dynasty, the Zhengluo area has always been the focus of academic research. Related research shows that the emergence of multi-crop planting systems in the Central Plains during the Longshan period may have played a vital role in the formation of the Chinese civilization. In order to explore the application of this planting system in the Central Plains in the early Shang Dynasty, this paper selects 29 cases of limbs and 23 cases of ribs of human at the Wangjinglou site, Xinzheng, Henan Province belonging to the Xia and Shang dynasty (from Erlitou culture to Erligang culture) and carry out the C and N stable isotope analysis. The results show that the δ¹³C value of the human bones varied from -18.1‰ to -7.0‰, with an average value of -9.5‰±2.1‰ (n=52), and the δ¹⁵N value varied from 7.3‰ to 10.5‰, with an average value of 8.9‰± 0.7‰ (n=52), indicating that people still relied primarily on C₄ foods, but also contained a small amount of C₃ foods, proving that the multi- crop planting system that emerged in the Central Plains since the Longshan period was continued in the Shang dynasty. However, the dominant position of millet-based agriculture has not changed significantly, which may be related to the traditional habit of dry farming in the Central Plains.

Excavation/Investigation Reports



Report of the stone artifacts from the Liangjiagang Locality 2 and the Donggang Paleolithic site in Danjiangkou reservoir region

LI Jingya, ZHAO Jingfang, SONG Guoding

2022, 41(01):  108-120.  doi:10.16359/j.cnki.cn11-1963/q.2020.0052

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Danjingkou reservoir is the source of water for the Middle Route Project of the South to-North Water Diversion in China. Liangjiagang locality 2 and Donggang Paleolithic site are located on the 3^rd terrace of left bank of Danjiang River, originally discovered in 1994 and excavated in 2009. The excavation was conducted in an area of 1425 m²where 193 stone artifacts were found. The typology and technological analyses of these stone artifacts reveal that: 1) Lithic raw materials exploited at the two sites were locally available from ancient river gravels in which quartz is dominant. 2) The excavated lithic assemblage includes core, flake, chunk, and stone tool. Stone tool mainly includes scraper that makes up the largest proportion of all the stone tools, point, chopper, handaxe. 3) The flaking technique contains direct hard hammer freehand percussion and bipolar percussion. Freehand cores percussion is dominated by the double-platform and the multi-platform core reduction strategies. 4) Flake blanks were main raw material to make stone tool, other than few chunks or pebbles. Based on the geomorphology and the dating of the sediments from other sites in the Danjiangkou reservoir region, we suggest that the age of the sites is around the late stage of Middle Pleistocene to upper Pleistocene.



A preliminary report of the 2018 excavation at the Loufangzi site in Huan county, Gansu province

MU Zhanxiong, CHEN Guoke, DU Shuisheng, WANG Hui

2022, 41(01):  121-134.  doi:10.16359/j.cnki.cn11-1963/q.2020.0077

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The Loufangzi site, located in the eastern Gansu province, is an open-air site dated at the middle paleolithic. In 2018, excavations were carried out on the lower part of the cultural layer (Layer 14 and 15) of the Loufangzi site, and plenty of artifacts and animal bones were discovered in 16 m². Lithic raw materials were made of gravel from river nearby, which were mainly quartz sandstone and siliceous limestone. The lithic assemblage includes cores, flakes, tools, chunks etc. The principle flaking technique was direct hard-hammer percussion. Most of tools were retouched by hard-hammer. The typological and technological characteristics of artifacts from the lower cultural layer of the Loufangzi site belonged to the small tool technology. Combined with the stratum accumulation and related pollen analysis, we preliminarily think that the age of lower cultural layer of the Loufangzi site is equivalent to MIS5.



A report of the trial excavation of the Liulinling Paleolithic site in the Bose Basin

GAO Lihong, HOU Yamei, HUANG Qiuyan, LI Jinyan, LU ZhengQin, HUANG Dejiang

2022, 41(01):  135-147.  doi:10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2021.0024

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This paper is a preliminary report of one test excavation and study of stone artifacts from work at the Liulinling Paleolithic site of Bose Basin in 2018. Liulinling Site (23°36′53′′N, 107°01′5′′E) is located in the Baidu village, Tiandong county, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. The excavation revealed an area of 28 m² (excluding trenches), and 9 stratigraphic layers were identified. Totally 182 stone artifacts were obtained, of which 40 were unearthed from two culture layers. The stone artifacts include manuports, cores, stone hammers, flakes, tools and fragments. The flaking technique was direct hard hammer percussion. Tool types include choppers, picks and scrapers. In the first cultural layer, a piece of tektite fragment was uncovered along with the stone artifacts. It still need more work to confirm that if it belongs to deposit in situ. The second cultural layer is below the first one, its age can be primarily estimated as 803 kaBP at latest. This suggests that the time when ancient human appeared in the Bose basin is as early as 803 kaBP and lived here for a longer time. The different depositional environments of the two cultural layers indicates the complexity and diversity of adaptation of ancient human here.



A preliminary report on the investigation and excavation of Matkechik site and Kamennyy Log site in Russia

GAO Lei, ZOU Houxi, WANG Wei, DAI Yubiao, Nikolay Ivanovich DROZDVO

2022, 41(01):  148-156.  doi:10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2021.0022

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In order to have a further understanding of paleolithic sites in Siberia, a joint archaeological team of Chongqing Institute of Cultural Heritage and Institute of Archaeology and Ethnography of the Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences was established in 2017. From August to September, two paleolithic sites in the Yenisei river were investigated and excavated, and a new paleolithic site named Matkechik in the valley of the Abakan River was surveyed. Matkechik site (near the village of Matkechik) is located in Abakan city, Republic of Khakassia. The artifacts excavated from the site include pebble cores, flakes and tools. The main raw material of the lithics are volcanics, chert and quartzite. Compared with other sites in the same terrace and similar burial context in the Yenisei River Basin, the age of the Matkechik site should be dated to the late Pleistocene.

Besides, an re-excavation was carried out in Kamennyy Log site, which is located in Kurtak geo-archaeological district. An area of 8 m² was excavated, 44 pieces of artifacts excavated from Cultural Horizon 1 and a piece of stone artifacts was excavated from the profile surface of Cultural Horizon 2. The stone assemblage includes flak cores, flakes, chips and retouched tools, such as scrappers and drill. The raw material can be classified into 4 types, namely chert, vein quartz, quartzite and volcanics, while only chert and vein quartz were major raw materials. This excavation further enriched the archaeological materials of the site and was also conducive to further improving the archaeological chronology sequence of the site.

Literature Reviews



A preliminary study on the related problems of syphilis paleopathology

ZHOU Yawei, GAO Guoshuai

2022, 41(01):  157-168.  doi:10.16359/j.cnki.cn11-1963/q.2020.0070

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In the historical period before the birth of antibiotics, the treponematosis spread to the old and new continents, which is an incurable sexually transmitted disease in humans before immune deficiency syndrome. Treponematosis can be divided into four diseases: syphilis, endemic syphilis, yaws, and pinta. All three diseases except pinta can cause specific infection of bone and eventually cause special changes in bone morphology. Considering that there are no scholars in China to study the bone degeneration caused by syphilis, this paper expounds the identification standard and origin of syphilis by combing the paleopathology research results of syphilis abroad.



Data science in Paleolithic Archaeology

GUAN Ying, ZHOU Zhenyu

2022, 41(01):  169-179.  doi:10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2021.0009

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The examination and interpretation to the abstract data has been going since the born of Archaeology. In terms of Paleolithic Archaeology, artifact is considered as the main carrier to convey the prehistoric material and cultural information, and the scientific interpretation of the data extracted from the artifacts has become a key step in the restoration of ancient human history. Data science is the science of dealing with data, which was proposed since 1960s by computer scientist. This discipline has been applied in Archaeological studies within a context of rapid development of computer science and New Archaeology trend since later part of 20th century, especially in Paleolithic branch, which refers to natural science research avenues. According to the definition of data science, the application of this discipline in Paleolithic Archaeology could be summarized as a study of Archaeological data by statistic and mathematical method, with the help of computer program and language, and aiming at the interpretation and reconstruction of prehistoric human society. In this paper, we review the associated definitions and research history, and introduce the main areas of data science which have already engaged with Paleolithic Archaeology research.



Application review of the laser scanning confocal microscope in quantitative analysis of microwears

CUI Tianxing, SONG Weiwei

2022, 41(01):  180-192.  doi:10.16359/j.cnki.cn11-1963/q.2020.0068

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Microwear analysis is a common method for the study of crafts and functions of lithics, bone implements, teeth, etc. However, whether the high-power or low-power technique, it’s difficult to describe in-situ quantitative analysis limited by observation methods such as stereo optical microscope and SEM. So the quantification of microwear analysis is the key problem encountered by the academic circles at present. In recent years, the quantification of microwear analysis has obtained new practice and progress in Western academic with the application of laser scanning confocal(LSC) microscope. This article mainly introduces the principle of LSC microscope and its cases and prospects with new approach in the research of microwear, which expect to promote the further development of microwear analysis in China.