湖北郧西黄龙洞古人类石器技术与生存行为探讨

湖北郧西黄龙洞古人类遗址自2004年发现以来已进行过3次系统发掘,出土了距今约10万年的晚期智人牙齿化石、哺乳动物化石和38件石制品。文章从类型、原料、剥片技术、加工技术等方法对石制品进行综合分析。结果表明,黄龙洞古人类选择围岩内部的石英质岩脉和洞外河流形成的河卵石进行剥片和加工石器,类型包括石锤、石核、石片、石器、断块和碎屑等,个体以中小型居多;锤击法为剥片基本方法,砸击法被少量使用;石器多为片状毛坯制作而成,刮削器是石器的主要类型,此外还有手镐、砍砸器、石锥和雕刻器等,石器为锤击法单向简单加工而成。另外,结合洞穴自然环境、动物化石埋藏及考古分析等证据,探讨了古人类于更新世晚期对黄龙洞的利用方式和生存行为。     

青藏高原边缘地区晚更新世人类遗存与生存模式

自20世纪80年代在青海小柴旦发现旧石器遗存以来,青藏高原边缘地区已经发现了10余处旧石器时代遗址,年代属晚更新世晚期。这些遗存显示,古人类在距今30ka左右开始尝试向这些高海拔地区扩散,但直至距今15ka以后才有更多的人群迁徙至此。通过对这些遗存分布位置、古环境特征、年代测定和石器技术、组合分析,得以管窥古人类对该地区的开发利用过程,并进而阐释史前人类技术发展、生存模式演变和古环境的耦合关系。     

三峡地区更新世人类适应生存方式

近20年来,一大批重要遗址的发现、发掘和研究,使三峡地区成为目前我国旧石器考古研究的重要地区之一。该地区在更新世总体上是以亚热带湿热森林环境为主。长江的发育和两岸丰富的动植物为古人类适应、生存和迁徙提供了资源。广泛流行的砾石石器工业是当地古人类在背山面河的自然环境下从事狩猎-采集活动所必需的。早更新世至晚更新世早期,古人类从洞穴居住逐渐转为旷野游动生活,石器保留砾石石器的面貌;晚更新世末期,石片石器取代砾石石器而居主要地位,石器组合中出现了小型的刮削器和磨制石器,部分遗址伴生陶片,这说明人类生存行为由狩猎-采集向农业耕作-家畜驯养的过渡,生存方式也转为以定居为主。古人类在三峡地区的生存方式是长期适应当地自然环境的结果。     

东秦岭南洛河中游地区发现的旧石器和黄土堆积

对2006～2007年在东秦岭南洛河中游地区河南省卢氏和洛宁两县发现的8处旷野类型旧石器地点的160余件石制品进行了初步研究,并对产出石制品的黄土堆积剖面进行了地层学分析和光释光测年。初步结果表明,南洛河中游地区的旧石器工业很丰富,石制品的加工技术与上游洛南盆地一致,同样采取硬锤直接打击法;加工石制品的原料来自于河流堆积物中的石英岩和石英砾石等;石制品中有相当数量的小型石片和由小型石片二次加工修理而成的工具,还有直接由砾石加工而成的重型工具,如手镐等;除此之外,大型石片以及以大型石片加工而成的重型工具,如重型刮削器也多有所见。由于工作范围和力度的局限,南洛河中游地区目前尚未发现上游洛南盆地旧石器遗址中广泛存在的手斧、三棱手镐、薄刃斧和大型石刀等Acheulian类型两面加工技术生产的工具。新发现的南洛河中游旧石器地点分布在不同时期形成的河流阶地和黄土地层中。地层分析和光释光年代测试表明,南洛河中游地区的黄土堆积至少从中更新世便已经开始,并一直持续到全新世,至少在黄土剖面中S₁,S₃和S₄的3个层位有石器分布;其黄土-古土壤旋回不仅可以用于石制品产出层位的准确定年,还指示了早期人类石器工业演化和人类生存环境变化的过程。     

Multiphase timing of hominin occupations and the paleoenvironment in Luonan Basin, Central China

Thousands of Paleolithic artifacts have been recovered from Paleolithic sites in the Luonan Basin, in the upper South Luohe River of central China. Their discovery suggests that the basin was an important area for hominin settlement during the Pleistocene. However, the initial timing of this occupation and the environmental conditions for this period are still largely unknown. In addition, the sediments are not well dated and most of the artifacts lie on the surface. In an attempt to resolve these issues, a new systemic paleomagnetic analysis was carried out on the loess deposits that contain in situ stone tools. Our detailed loess-paleosol analyses of the stratigraphy of different sites in the basin and Chinese Loess Plateau shows the accumulation of the loess since at least 1.1 million years (Ma) ago. Moreover, recently discovered in situ cores, flakes and retouched stone tools in these deposits show that hominins used this region repeatedly from 0.8-0.7 Ma to 0.4-0.3 and 0.2-0.1 Ma. Pedostratigraphic analyses, magnetic susceptibility and carbon isotope analyses also indicate that these hominins lived in a subtropical to warm-temperate climate with broad-needle-leaf forest vegetation mixed with grasses.     

中国古人类石器技术与生存模式的考古学阐释

文章在对中国境内旧石器时代文化遗存的时空分布、埋藏情况、石器制作技术与使用功能、石制品类型—形态特征与演化趋势、对石器原料及其他资源的利用方式、区域文化传统的划分和特点考察的基础上,提出中国古人类"综合行为模式",并以此对本地区古人类演化过程和文化特点的成因进行分析和阐释;提出该区域古人类于更新世的大部分时期内在生物进化与行为演化上具有连续性、稳定性、高频迁徙性、务实简便性、灵活机动性、因地制宜性和与环境的和谐性;在文化发展方面表现为保持传统与进取创新相交织;从考古学角度支持中国古人类"连续进化,附带杂交"的理论。     

Middle Stone Age starch acquisition in the Niassa Rift, Mozambique

The quest for direct lines of evidence for Paleolithic plant consumption during the African Middle Stone Age has led scientists to study residues and use-wear on flaked stone tools. Past work has established lithic function through multiple lines of evidence and the spatial breakdown of use-wear and microscopic traces on tool surfaces. This paper focuses on the quantitative analysis of starch assemblages and the botanical identification of grains from flake and core tools to learn about human ecology of carbohydrate use around the Niassa woodlands, in the Mozambican Rift. The processing of starchy plant parts is deduced from the occurrence of starch assemblages that presumably got attached to stone tool surfaces by actions associated with extractive or culinary activities. Specifically, we investigate starch grains from stone tools recently excavated in northern Mozambique at the site of Mikuyu; which presumably spans the middle to late Pleistocene and represents similar sites found along the Malawi/Niassa corridor that links East, Southern, and Central Africa. Starch was extracted and processed with a diverse tool kit consisting of scrapers, cores, points, flakes, and other kinds of tools. The microbotanical data suggests consumption of seeds, legumes, caryopses, piths, underground storage organs, nuts, and mesocarps from more than a dozen families. Our data suggest a great antiquity for starch use in Africa as well as an expanded diet and intensification.     

泥河湾盆地东谷坨遗址再发掘

1997年东谷坨遗址出土的石制品,特别是其中的“东谷坨定型石核”迸一步肯定了该遗址石器工业的进步性,对全面认识泥河湾盆地旧石器时代早期文化具有重要意义。     

Analysis of the Xiaonanhai lithic assemblage,excavated in 1978

An analysis of the lithic artifacts excavated by the late Mr. Zhimin An in 1978 from the Xiaonanhai (Hsiao-nan-hai) Cave site in Anyang County, Henan Province, is presented, in addition to the materials reported in 1965 from the first excavation. Analysis suggests the poor quality of the raw material (e.g. chert) was a major constraint on lithic production at Xiaonanhai. Highly developed fissures within the locally available chert resulted in lithic artifacts that are small in size. Hard hammer direct percussion was the primary mode of stone knapping. The bipolar technique was commonly used as well, which might have been employed to cope with the small, poor quality raw materials. Secondary retouch is simple and not sophisticated. Limited tool types could be classified; most are probably debitage or discarded blanks. Use-wear analysis indicates that most of the flakes were used to process soft materials. Based on the associated faunal diversity, the environment is characterized as a tropical/subtropical forest. This could be the reason for the expedient nature of lithic production at Xiaonanhai. The Xiaonanhai industry might not be related to the Zhoukoudian Locality 1 stone tool industry as traditionally thought, but instead may represent a specific adaptation to the local environment. In terms of what is currently known about the nature of Paleolithic stone tool technology in China, the unilinear model is no longer relevant to explain the Paleolithic development in North China. In order to better understand the complexity and diversity of human behavior, study of the adaptation and idiosyncrasy of specific lithic industries in terms of cultural ecology and how they reflect variability in time stress and risks is required.     

Archaeology of the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary in Brazil

After a short history of Brazilian research about Pleistocene peopling, the Late Pleistocene/Early Holocene changes of climate and resources are discussed. Claims for a very ancient presence of Man before 13,000 BP (Itaboraí, Toca da Esperança, Pedra Furada and Lapa Vermelha sites) are polemic, because putative structures and artifacts could have been made by natural processes. In central and northeastern Brazil some sites dated between 14,000 and 10,000 BP provide clear evidence of human activities and coexistence with huge Pleistocene mammals.In a synthesis of our present knowledge about the 12,000/8000 BP period, biological aspects of the Lagoa Santa people and their subsistence are discussed. The main regional traditions are Umbu with bifacial projectile points, and Humaitá with heavy implements in the southern part of Brazil. In the central and northeastern regions, the Itaparica tradition is characterized by typical retouched flakes and limaces. Although projectile points are generally thought to be absent in the earliest levels of this tradition, some have been found in Boquete Cave. In Amazonia, some cultural aspects seem to have been the same as in central Brazil.     

嵩山中更新世末至晚更新世早期的环境与文化

近年在嵩山地区黄土层中发现300多处旧石器地点,多半出产在中更新世末至晚更新世早期的地层中,可与深海氧同素第5阶段后期对比。这表明约70kaB.P.前末次间冰期嵩山旧石器文化发达,为新石器时代至夏商华夏文化的核心——嵩山文化圈的形成和发展提供了重要的文化基础。末次间冰期后期的环境变化,对古人类和生物界产生了重大影响。     

The artefacts from the present land surface at the Palaeolithic site of Warren Hill,Suffolk, England

Over 2000 handaxes located in museum collections point to the archaeological importance of Warren Hill, a Lower Palaeolithic site in the path of the pre-Anglian Bytham River in East Anglia that was worked for gravel until about 1950. Yet apart from the initial report by Solomon (1933), detailed archaeological study was not undertaken until 2002. This report describes the surface fieldwalking carried out from 1964 to the time of the 2002 excavations, during which over 400 Palaeolithic artefacts have been recovered. Over 92% of these are flakes, some retouched, thus redressing the bias towards handaxes in the museum collections, and suggesting that flake tools played a major role in Lower Palaeolithic daily life. Also represented are notched pieces, scrapers, cores and a few Neolithic flakes. The surface comprises a lag deposit in which artefacts are concentrated in two main zones, contrasting with the subsurface material which is sparse and well-spread through the lithostratigraphy. The Palaeolithic artefacts are mostly rolled and edge-damaged, and patination is variable, suggesting a complex history. The two types of handaxe noted by Solomon – crude and fine – are confirmed. The preservation of typological integrity amongst surface finds that appear to lie in the path of a major fluvial feature is either a relic of humanly assembled, pre-Anglian bankside clusters eroded into the stream, or it may signal the arrival of post-Anglian humans who discovered a lag deposit rich in artefacts and flint clasts and proceeded to use, resharpen and re-arrange them. The dense clustering noted at Warren Hill is placed in a world context. Amongst the surface gravels an assemblage of flakes together with early 20th century rubbish was discovered; it is interpreted as a collector's dump of unsaleable artefacts.     

中国北方晚更新世人类的适应变迁与辐射

晚更新世是现代人在全球建立全面的生态优势的时期。中国北方有比较丰富的发现,但现有的材料和研究没有能够回答人类此时的生计状态、适应模式和环境联系。文章从行为重建和生态学的角度考察,将中国北方晚更新世的人类适应置于欧亚大陆整体人类演化框架中来考虑,重新审查已有的发现,提出中国旧石器时代晚期可以分为两个阶段:以骨角工具、装饰品和更精制的石器组合为代表的早段(EUP)和以细石叶工艺为代表的晚段(LUP);并确定中国北方晚更新世人类适应至少经历两次革命性的变化,同时存在至少4种适应模式;而且其地域化的特征是从早到晚加强。人类的适应辐射则主要表现于人口的扩张,特别是向极端环境的殖民,技术模式的迅速转换和地域化特征的加强。     

Pleistocene geochronologies for fluvial sedimentary sequences: an archaeologist's perspective

Current models of Pleistocene fluvial system development and dynamics are assessed from the perspective of European Lower and Middle Palaeolithic stone tool assemblages recovered from fluvial secondary contexts. Fluvial activity is reviewed both in terms of Milankovitch‐scale processes across the glacial/interglacial cycles of the Middle and Late Pleistocene, and in response to sub‐Milankovitch scale, high‐frequency, low‐magnitude climatic oscillations. The chronological magnitude of individual phases of fluvial activity is explored in terms of radiocarbon‐dated sequences from the Late Glacial and early Holocene periods. It is apparent that fluvial activity is associated with periods of climatic transition, both high and low magnitude, although system response is far more universal in the case of the high magnitude glacial/interglacial transitions. Current geochronological tools do not permit the development of high‐resolution sequences for Middle Pleistocene sediments, while localised erosion and variable system responses do not facilitate direct comparison with the ice core records. However, Late Glacial and early Holocene sequences indicate that individual fluvial activity phases are relatively brief in duration (e.g. 10² and 10³ yr). From an archaeological perspective, secondary context assemblages can only be interpreted in terms of a floating geochronology, although the data also permit a reinvestigation of the problems of artefact reworking. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Exploring Paleogeographic Conditions at Two Paleolithic Sites in Navarino,Southwest Greece,Dated by Optically Stimulated Luminescence

In this paper, we employed optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of sediments from two archaeological sites located in Navarino, Messenia, southwestern Greece, to deduce a chronology for the archaeological sites. Archaeological surveys identified two Paleolithic sites on fossilized coastal dunes. Chipped stone tool assemblages were identified eroding out of paleosols developed in the dunes. The assemblage from one site lacked distinct typological features and hence it was difficult to assign to a chronological period. The lithic assemblage from the other site contained artifacts that typologically can be assigned to the Levallois‐Mousterian. Previous efforts to date the artifact‐bearing sediments at these sites were unsuccessful. Using newer OSL dating methods (i.e., the Single‐Aliquot‐Regenerated Dose protocol and thermally transferred‐OSL[TT‐OSL]), we attempted to construct a chronological framework for Late Pleistocene human activity in the southwest Peloponnese. The revised OSL chronology for the first site is 28 ± 5 ka, while a luminescence age of 8 ± 1 ka for the second site only represents a later deflation event. Within the framework of Quaternary environmental change, the location of Paleolithic sites relative to the coast would have changed during the course of the Pleistocene. As a result, Paleolithic exploitation strategies would have been strongly influenced by the changing coastal geomorphology, encouraging hominids to adapt to new distributions of resources. OSL dating of the archaeological sites allowed us to connect traces of hominid activity with climatic stadials/interstadials of the later Pleistocene derived from existing relative sea‐level curves. Ultimately, these data permitted the reconstruction of regional Late Pleistocene paleogeography. © 2012 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

藏北羌塘中部戈木错盆地石制品的初步研究

藏北羌塘盆地腹地戈木错周围发现大量石制品,主要为细石核、细石叶、石片和石器,未发现大型打制石器和磨制石器。通过对石制品表面特征的观察,没有发现流水磨损的痕迹,认为这些石制品未经过后期搬运,为原地堆积。对石制品的初步研究表明,戈木错遗址的石制品主要为细小石器,使用的原料主要有硅质岩、玛瑙和燧石。将戈木错的细石器与藏北其他地点的细石器进行对比分析,发现其文化特征与藏北双湖、申扎等地具有一定的相似性,这说明藏北细石器基本属于相同的文化背景,有相同的起源,属于中国北方细石器文化的一部分。此外,从石制品的组合、加工技术特征及对环境的适应过程来看,其时代可能属于新石器时代早期。     

郧西人遗址洞穴发育与埋藏环境初步观察*

湖北省黄龙洞"郧西人"遗址是2004年新发现的一处重要的更新世晚期古人类遗址。3年来已经进行过3次发掘,出土了距今约10万年的晚期智人牙齿化石及文化遗物,是在东亚地区发现时代最早的现代人遗址。黄龙洞处于秦岭东段南麓的两郧断裂带,发育于上震旦系陡山沱组细晶灰岩和泥灰岩地层中,周围紧闭褶皱和次级断裂发育,为岩溶的发育提供了先决条件。黄龙洞的形成表现为前期以岩溶裂隙水溶蚀为主,后期则转变为大型管道状溶洞。古人类进入洞穴的出入口可能从洞顶"天窗"型开口入洞。古人类遗物属原地埋藏环境,活动期气候以温暖、干燥为主。     

Last Interglacial peopling of Siberia: the Middle Palaeolithic site Ust''-Izhul'', the upper Yenisei area

Multidisciplinary Quaternary investigations in the Minusinsk Basin in the upper Yenisei River region and other southern Siberian continental depressions have produced evidence of prehistoric peopling pre‐dating the last glacial stage (>100 ka BP). Abundant ‘pebble tools’ and bone artefacts exposed from eroded alluvia of the Yenisei River terraces indicate repeated occupation of this territory since the Middle Pleistocene. A new stage of expansion of the early human occupation habitat occurred around the last interglacial (OIS 5e) by a Middle Palaeolithic (Neanderthaloid?) population characterized by a core and flake stone industry and open‐air occupation sites. The key camp/kill‐processing site at Ust‘‐Izhul’, dated to c. 125 ka BP and documenting complex behavioural activities, is so far the most complete in situ pre‐Late Palaeolithic site found in Siberia. This unique record provides new insights into the timing and the palaeoenvironmental conditions of the Pleistocene colonization of north‐central Asia.     

Huanglong Cave: A Late Pleistocene human fossil site in Hubei Province,China

This contribution discusses recent paleoanthropological findings from Huanglong Cave, a Late Pleistocene human fossil site from Yunxi County, Hubei Province, China. Three excavations in the Huanglong Cave from 2004 to 2006 yielded seven human teeth, some stone and bone tools, possible burnt sediment and other evidence possibly related to hominin activities. Based on the presence of extinct faunas (20% of total taxa identified), the deposits dated to the Late Pleistocene. Electron spin resonance (ESR) and uranium-series (U-series) dating analyses on associated teeth and speleothems have resulted in divergent chronometric ages (ESR: 44–34 ka; U-series: 103–79 ka). Analysis indicates: (1) most of the morphological and metric features of the human teeth from Huanglong Cave fall within the range of variation of modern Chinese, but a few characters may still link them to more archaic hominins; (2) some activity-induced abrasion and other tooth use-marks were identified, including pronounced tooth chipping and interproximal grooves on the anterior teeth; (3) the sample of blackened deposit has a high carbon content (over 70%), experienced high temperatures, and likely was of cultural origin and not natural; (4) the mammal fossils represent the “Ailuropoda-Stegodon” faunal unit which lived in southern China throughout the Pleistocene. Synthesizing all of these findings, especially the human teeth that display modern human characteristics, Huanglong Cave will offer some new insights into various issues currently being debated in Late Pleistocene human evolutionary research.     

A new record of Pleistocene hippopotamus from River Severn terrace deposits, Gloucester, UK—palaeoenvironmental setting and stratigraphical significance

A new Pleistocene vertebrate assemblage from fluvial deposits of the River Severn in Gloucester, England, has yielded the remains of hippopotamus (Hippopotamus amphibius), a new record for this terrace system, with additional material from probable bison (cf. Bison priscus) and elephant (Elephantidae sp.). The presence of these taxa indicates fully temperate climatic conditions and the occurrence of hippopotamus, a significant biostratigraphical indicator for the British Late Pleistocene, suggests an age for the assemblage within MIS 5e (the Last Interglacial). This would contradict the older MIS 7-6 age for the gravel body that is currently accepted on the basis of deposit mapping and imply a more complex mode of deposition than presently envisaged in the valley.