Preliminary observation of Liangshan Paleolithic Site
Huang Weiwen, Qi Guoqin
1987, 6(03):
236-244.
Asbtract
(
339 )
PDF (646KB)
(
62
)
Related Articles |
Metrics
The late geologist Yu Shiyuan collected some paleolithic artifacts in the Liangshan area in July 1951. These remains constituted the first discovery of the earliest evidence of human activity in the Hanshui R. valley. Unfortunately, it had been neglected for a period preceding 1980. In 1980, under the effort of Prof. Yian Jiaqi of Xian Mining College, the site once more saw the light of day.
The total number of Yian's collection is 1000 artifacts or more, but most of them were from surface collections. In 1982, the first author of the present paper went to Liangshan and found more than 30 stone artifacts from the surplus gravels in the quarry of the Lunggang Temple brickkiln. In addition, two pieces were obtained from exeavation. In the spring of 1985, 108 stone artifacts were also collected by the Archaeological Institute of Shaanxi province. In November of the same year, a team from the IVPP and Banpo Museum went to Liagshan and continued the investigations. 147 additional paleoliths were found. Among them, 81 came from the quarry of the Lunggang Temple brickkiln. It is especially fortunate that Tang Yingjun and Zong Guanfu of the IVPP and some colleagues of Geological Museum of Shaanxi province have found several Paleolithic lo?alities and associated mammalian faunas in the other areas of the Hanshui R. valley, Therefore the study of Liangshan paleolith has entered a new stage.
The Liangshan site is situated in the quarry of the Lunggang Temple brickkiln, about 10km southwest of Hanzhong city, Shaanxi province (106°58E, 33° 3'N) . This is the upper reaches of the Hanshui R. and southern margin of the Hanzhong Basin, attached to the Dabashan Mt. in south and overlooking the Qinling Mts. from the other side of the Hanshui R. in north. The height above sea level in the basin is 510-530 m. (Fig. 1).
Five terrace levels of Hanshui R. can be seen in Lunggang Temple area and measure 6— 10 m. , 15-20 m. , 40-50 m. , 60—80 m. and 150-170 m. above the present level of Hanshui R. respectively. The section yielding stone artifacts is located in the upper deposits of the third terrace mentioned above. Exposed thickness is 8-10 m. The sequence of the section from top to bottom in turn is as follows (Fig. 2):
6. Brownish red, brownish grey clay, thickness 0. 2-0. 5 m.
5. Greyish drab fine sand, thickness 0. 2 m.
4. Blackish drab clay, thickness 0. 2-0. 3m.
3. Reddish drab sandy clay, thickness 2-8 m.
2. Gravel. Scattering 1-2 m. above ground. The stone artifacts were found in this layer.
1. Greyish brown, greyish green crystallian complex which consists of the bottom of the third terrace, local exposed thickness is 2-3 m.
More than 1, 000 stone artifacts have been collected by the scientists from Liangshan area since 1980. Among them more than 200 pieces were obtained from the layer 2 of the third terrace level in the quarry of the Lunggang Temple brickkiln in situ, while the rest were collected on the surface of the fourth and fifth terrace levels and the top of hills nearby. The raw materials employed for making artifacts consist of cobbles of quartz, volcanic rock and quartzite from the gravel of the third terrace.
Direct free-hand blows and the "bipolar"methods were used to flaking, but the former is in the majority. The retouches of tool were made by stonehammer. The tool types include chopper, choppingtool, spheroid, biface, cleaver, pick and scraper. Of them, the chopper, chopping-tool and spheroid are the most common. The size of these types is generally big, belonging to the heavy-duty tools. There are some light-duty tools, too. However, they cover only some scrapers, a few of spheroids and chopping-tools. Most of the tools mentioned above were'made of cobbles.
In typology, technology and size, Liangshan Stone Industry is similar to those of Lantian, Kehe, Sanmenxia city and Dingcun located in the "Fen-Wei Graben" at north slope of Qinling Mts. and especially the Sanmenxia city. All types of stone implement found in Sanmenxia city can be seen in the Liangshan site. Liangshan Stone Industry also can be compared with that found in the Baise Basin of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in South China. The only difference is that the spheroids have not been found and the bifaces hold the third place in number succeeding choppers and chopping-tools in Baise.
In early Paleolithic industries of East Asia, the Chongoknian in Korea peninsula is comparable to the Liangshan Industry. The former is known as a "Biface Culture" which can be compared with the Achelean Culture of Europe and Africa. Liangshan Industry also resembles very much those of the Oldowan and Developed Oldowan from the Oldovai Gorge in East Africa. There are no essential differences between the heavy-duty tools of Liangshan and Oldovai except that the light-duty tools of Liangshan are much less.
In 1940s, Hallam L. Movius proposed his "two culture theory", the "chopper/chopping-tool culture" of East and the "hand-axe culture"of West. However, this synthesis is not in accord with objective reality of the Paleolithic World. As the first author of the present paper mentioned in another paper, biface is not "absentor "rare" in East and South Asia. There are some stone industries yielding biface, and Liangshan Industry is a good example.
