泥河湾盆地三棵树遗址ESR年代学

泥河湾盆地因发育良好的晚新生代湖相地层、丰富的旧石器遗址和哺乳动物化石而广受关注。盆地内已发现旧石器遗址100余处,被学术界称为“东方奥杜韦（Olduvai）峡谷”。由于缺乏合适的年代测定方法,许多重要的遗址,尤其是中更新世时间段的遗址缺乏年龄数据,如三棵树遗址,使得旧石器遗址研究少了时间轴合理的年代学框架。电子自旋共振（ESR）测年技术是上世纪60年代发展起来的一种测年技术,并在实践中得到了地质学界的广泛认可。对于中更新世遗址年龄的测定,ESR测年法具有明显的优势。本文利用石英Ti-Li心ESR法对三棵树遗址沉积物样品进行了独立年代测定,得到三棵树遗址文化层的年龄为599±70 kaBP。该年龄对于了解泥河湾盆地古人类的生存演化提供了必要的年代学依据。     

关于萨拉乌苏遗址地层及人类化石年代的问题

本文回顾了与人类化石相关的萨拉乌苏河晚更新世地层及文化层的年代学研究,经过14C测年和相关证据认为,采集的萨拉乌苏PA.62号股骨不属于萨拉乌苏遗址的原生地层。     

秦岭汉江流域新发现旧石器遗址的地层与释光年代

汉江流域旧石器时代文化遗存丰富,南方砾石石器工业和北方小石片石器工业类型的遗存并存,对研究中国南北旧石器文化交流和发展演化具有重要的意义。2016-2018年夏天,我们在汉江流域进行野外调查,新发现十个含更新世晚期旧石器遗存的地点,利用热转移光释光（TT-OSL）方法对各遗址的地层进行了测年。测年结果表明,这几处旧石器地点的古人类活动主要发生在距今20-5万年之间,涵盖了L₂、S₁和L₁三个阶段,与之前汉江流域第二级阶地发现的旧石器遗址年代基本一致。新发现的十个旧石器地点丰富了汉水流域旧石器遗存,为进一步研究该区域古人类旧石器遗址年代学和石器技术提供了新的材料。     

汉水上游汉中盆地新发现的旧石器及其年代

2009~2012年,在秦岭南麓汉水上游汉中盆地梁山周围新发现何家梁和窑厂湾2处旷野类型旧石器地点,采集石制品252件。早期人类加工石制品的原料来自于河流堆积物中的石英、火山岩、石英岩、硅质灰岩和砂岩等砾石,采取硬锤直接打击法和砸击法剥片。石制品种类包含石锤、石核、石片、修理的工具和断块。工具类型以砍砸器、石球、重型刮削器、手斧和手镐等重型器物为主。汉中盆地梁山周围以龙岗寺等地点为代表的旧石器地点群是含阿舍利(Acheulian)类型器物的石器工业。何家梁和窑厂湾地点分别位于汉江右岸第二和第三级阶地上,通过对窑厂湾地点黄土地层剖面进行回授光释光(TTOSL)方法测年,结合古地磁测试和对比黄土高原标准黄土地层序列测年结果,证实汉中盆地古人类活动的时代最晚在60万年前就已经开始,而何家梁地点的地层测年数据则表明距今7、8万年左右存在另外一个古人类活动繁盛的阶段,早期人类在汉中盆地活动有较长的时间跨度。以前汉中盆地发现的旧石器地点没有独立的年代数据,极大地限制了学术界对其石器工业技术和人类行为的深入研究,这是首次获得的汉中盆地埋藏旧石器地点地层的独立年代数据,是对汉中盆地旧石器遗址年代学认识上的一大突破。本研究结合可靠的测年数据,分析石器组合及加工技术,对建立中更新世以来秦岭山区的旧石器文化序列,理解我国南北方旧石器工业的发展演化以及东西方旧石器工业技术比较具有重要的参考价值。     

早、中更新世中国古人类年代序列与区域演化特征

我国早、中更新世古人类和旧石器遗址蕴含着丰富的早期人类活动和生存环境的背景信息,建立精确的遗址年代序列是分析古人类活动的基础。近二十年来,旧石器时代考古和测年研究为建立我国早期人类活动的年代框架提供了丰富的材料。本文分析了目前我国已发表的95个有独立测年数据的早、中更新世遗址,将其纳入黄土-古土壤年代框架,初步建立自200多万年至末次间冰期的古人类活动年代序列,根据它们的时空分布,进一步阐释了古人类在不同区域活动强度演变的时空特征。总体来看,这些遗址在泥河湾-周口店、秦岭山地、长江下游及长江流域以南（南方）四大区域呈现出聚集分布的特征;区域古人类活动强度主要表现在从早更新世的泥河湾-周口店、中更新世的秦岭山地、到中更新世晚期的长江中下游和南方区域的时空序列上。此外,仍有较多已发掘遗址缺少年代研究或存在测年问题,今后需要加强遗址的精确测年研究。     

论华北旧石器晚期遗址的分布、埋藏以及地质时代问题

我国华北地区旧石器晚期遗址及文化遗物通常埋藏于河流的第二级阶地中,地质时代为晚更新世中、晚期。峙峪等遗址的地层清晰、化石丰富、时代明确,没有再搬运的任何迹象。研究旧石器文化必须结合地层、地貌和古生物资料进行综合分析,有适当的年龄数据印证,才能得出断代上的合乎逻辑的结论。     

蔚县盆地2017-2018年旧石器考古调查简报

蔚县盆地地处泥河湾盆地（广义）的东南端,是更新世人类活动的重要区域。2017-2018年,中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所等在盆地内开展系统的旧石器考古调查,新发现并确认了27处旧石器地点。相关地貌、地层对比显示,新地点年代可大致分为中更新世和晚更新世晚期两个阶段,文化遗物分别埋藏于泥河湾河湖相堆积和黄土堆积中。中更新世石制品类型包括石核、石片、石器和断块等,原料以火山岩为主,均采用锤击法进行剥片和修理石器;晚更新世晚期遗址包括石核、石片和细石叶等,原料以白云岩和燧石居多,火山岩次之,以硬锤锤击法为主要剥片技术,软锤技术少量发现。对石制品初步分析表明,蔚县盆地中更新世地点表现出了一套与阳原盆地早-中更新世不同的原料及石制品组合,且在蔚县盆地晚更新世晚期存在小型石片石器和细石器两种工业。本次调查扩大了泥河湾盆地古人类活动的地理范围与文化内涵,为揭示泥河湾盆地（广义）早期人类的迁徙与适应行为提供了有价值的线索。     

丹江口库区水牛洼旧石器遗址发掘简报

水牛洼遗址位于湖北省丹江口市均县镇关门岩村,是汉水流域一处同时具有旧石器早期与晚期文化层的重要遗址。2010年3~4月间,吉林大学边疆考古研究中心对该遗址进行了发掘,揭露面积675m2,共获石制品301件,类型包括石核、石片、断块及工具等。地貌和地层对比显示,遗址年代大致为中更新世至晚更新世晚期。遗址可分为上、下两个文化层。上文化层出土石制品246件,属晚更新世;下文化层出土石制品55件,处于中更新世。下文化层石制品特点显示了中国南方砾石石器工业的特点,而上文化层却出现了中国北方石片石器工业的文化因素。     

山西和顺当城旧石器时代洞穴遗址群初步研究

山西和顺当城旧石器时代洞穴遗址群出土了三千余件石制品,23种哺乳动物化石,两块人类顶骨。根据动物化石及^14C同位素年代测定;时代为晚更新世或旧石器时代晚期,该遗址群的发现,对于研究华北地区古人类及各旧石器文化间的关系,提供了新材料。     

汉中盆地龙岗寺遗址第3地点出土的石制品

汉中盆地梁山龙岗寺遗址地处秦岭南麓汉水上游,是我国发现较早的一处旧石器地点群。龙岗寺遗址第3地点位于汉江右岸第四级阶地之上。2014年2～6月,为了配合国家大遗址保护和龙岗寺考古遗址公园建设项目,从根本上廓清龙岗寺旧石器遗存的石器工业面貌,我们对该地点进行了正式发掘,发掘面积36m2,出土不同类型的石制品4441件。龙岗寺第3地点石制品原料为来自于遗址附近河流阶地及河漫滩中的砾石,以石英为主,火成岩次之,石英岩、细砂岩和燧石等偶有使用。锤击法为主要剥片方法,存在少量砸击技术产品。石制品尺寸以小型为主。工具类型主要是以石片为毛坯加工而成的刮削器,有少量的尖状器和雕刻器。石器加工方向多为正向或反向。从出土石制品的情形看,龙岗寺第3地点石制品的面貌更接近于更新世期间华北地区常见的小型石片和修理小石片工具为主体的石器工业类型,这与以往对汉中盆地旧石器工业面貌为华南砾石石器传统的认识有较大的差距。遗址相关的地层年代学研究工作表明,龙岗寺第3地点埋藏石制品的地层堆积形成于距今120～70万年间,属早更新世晚期至中更新世早期阶段。龙岗寺遗址第3地点及其出土的石制品为我们更加全面地了解汉中盆地旧石器遗址群的地层埋藏状况、遗址年代和石器工业内涵提供了比较丰富的材料。     

甘肃徐家城旧石器遗址石制品拼合研究

徐家城遗址是甘肃省新发现的含丰富旧石器文化遗物的遗址,主要埋藏于水洛河二级阶地上覆的马兰黄土中,年代在距今4.3~2.3万年间。徐家城遗址的拼合分析显示,4B、4C层剥片与石器加工行为是石制品空间分布形成的主要原因,但可能存在遗址使用时古人类对石制品位置改变的行为;4A层石制品零散分布可能反映了此时遗址处于古人类活动的边缘地带。遗址剥片方法以硬锤锤击法为主,石核剥片序列主要以转向为主,古人类对石料进行单层或多层开发;同时部分石器破碎后古人类可能对其进行再利用。平面分布显示发掘区内可能存在两个相对集中的剥片区域,并且古人类在同一区域剥片和加工石器。然因遗址石制品原料性质、发掘面积等局限性,拼合分析的优势并未在此项研究中尽现。今后此类研究应结合其他研究方法,综合多方面信息解释遗址形成过程、石器技术及遗址空间利用方式。     

Prehistoric Chronology of the Common Bean in the New World: The Linguistic Evidence

Glottochronology and the comparative method of historical linguistics provide a linguistic approach for dating the common bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.) that both complements and supplements archaeological dating techniques such as accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS). For example, the comparative approach reveals that prehistoric languages of eastern North America having glottochronological dates earlier than 700 B.P., such as Proto-Iroquoian (2700 B.P.), lacked words for bean. Protolanguages of the region with glottochronological dates younger than 700 B.P. had bean terms. These linguistic results accord with the AMS finding that beans do not become archaeologically visible in the region until around C.E. 1300. The earliest AMS date for beans of Mesoamerica is around 2300 B.P. This date is considerably younger than glottochronological dates for prehistoric languages of the area, such as Proto-Mayan (3400 B.P.), for which bean terms are posited. Linguistic findings for protolanguages of Mesoamerica suggest that the regional bean chronology is considerably older than that indicated through archaeological dating.     

Precision dating of the Palaeolithic: a new radiocarbon chronology for the Abri Pataud (France), a key Aurignacian sequence

This paper presents a new series of AMS dates on ultrafiltered bone gelatin extracted from identified cutmarked or humanly-modified bones and teeth from the site of Abri Pataud, in the French Dordogne. The sequence of 32 new determinations provides a coherent and reliable chronology from the site’s early Upper Palaeolithic levels 5–14, excavated by Hallam Movius. The results show that there were some problems with the previous series of dates, with many underestimating the real age. The new results, when calibrated and modelled using a Bayesian statistical method, allow detailed understanding of the pace of cultural changes within the Aurignacian I and II levels of the site, something not achievable before. In the future, the sequence of dates will allow wider comparison to similarly dated contexts elsewhere in Europe. High precision dating is only possible by using large suites of AMS dates from humanly-modified material within well understood archaeological sequences modelled using a Bayesian statistical method.     

甘肃省徐家城旧石器遗址发掘简报

徐家城遗址主要埋藏于水洛河右岸第二级阶地上覆的马兰黄土中,出土石制品5500余件、动物化石近600件,并筛选出大量碎屑(石/骨)等。遗址共有分4个文化层,包括第5,第4C,第4B和第4A文化层; 各文化层石制品类型与技术相近, 反映了中国北方石片石器技术传统的特征。石制品以中、小型为主,包括搬入石材(7.1%)、石核(2.6%)、石片(24.6%)、断块(12.6%)、碎块/片(49.4%)、石器(3.2%)和无法分类者(0.4%); 石器类型以边刮器、尖状器为主, 石锥、砍砸器为重要类型,凹缺器、端刮器、锯齿刃器等较少且不典型。石器毛坯选择以片状为主, 绝大多数为单面加工,加工程度较低。主要文化层第4B、第4C层为原地埋藏,据地貌、地层分析和AMS-14C年龄测定,推断其年龄在约36ka-43ka BP(未校正)之间。     

High resolution radiocarbon spike confirms tree ring dating with low sample depth

Radiocarbon (¹⁴C) has been used to date carbon-rich objects in Earth science, archeology, and history since the 1940s. New methods, using spikes in ¹⁴C caused by solar proton events, can be used to annually date wood when crossdating is not possible, such as when sample size is low, samples are floating in time, or external disturbances lead to insecure dates. Here, we use a spike in radiocarbon during a solar energetic particle (SEP) event in 774/775 CE to confirm crossdating of a poorly-replicated King Billy pine (Athrotaxis selaginoides) chronology. Low sample depth between 1498 and 1523 CE (two trees) prevented confident dating of the early period of the chronology. Three core samples with strong correlation with the master chronology that likely included the 774/775 CE Miyake SEP event were identified for radiocarbon isotope analysis. We sectioned segments centered on the estimated 774/775 CE date and then isolated the holocellulose in each sample. Samples were sent to an accelerator mass spectrometry (AMS) for radiocarbon measurements. The AMS data confirmed the crossdating accuracy of the tree ring series and reinforces the applicability of this technique to anchor poorly dated tree ring series in time. In addition, we found sample processing with a microtome proved superior for holocellulose extractions and yielded more accurate ¹⁴C measurements. We recommend sampling with a microtome, processing at least three samples per year, and including sample masses greater than 100 ug C to confirm dating using radiocarbon spikes.     

Dating archaeobotanical remains: a cautionary tale from Port au Choix,Newfoundland

In this paper we report on the first ¹⁴C dated archaeological seeds from the island of Newfoundland, Canada. Ninety-three archaeobotanical specimens were recovered from a midden deposit adjacent to a small dwelling at Point Riche (EeBi-20), a large Dorset Palaeoeskimo site near Port au Choix, northwestern Newfoundland. These remains were collected from a seemingly secure context within the midden, but AMS ¹⁴C testing of a sample of specimens produced modern ¹⁴C dates, indicating that the remains are intrusive to the Dorset occupation. While the majority of Newfoundland-based research assumes antiquity of archaeobotanical remains, we recommend using AMS ¹⁴C dating and other proxy data in future archaeobotanical studies to confirm antiquity prior to making interpretations regarding human–plant interactions.     

Dating the demise: neandertal extinction and the establishment of modern humans in the southern Caucasus

This paper considers the recent radiometric dating (¹⁴C-AMS, TL, ESR) of 76 late Middle and early Upper Paleolithic samples from Ortvale Klde Rockshelter, located in the Republic of Georgia. We present a critical evaluation of each date based on its stratigraphic and archaeological context, its pretreatment and contamination history, and its resulting accuracy and precision, the goal being to establish a sound chronology for the site. Only by systematically identifying aberrant dates within a data set and isolating them from further analysis can we hope to understand cultural and biological phenomena on an accurate temporal scale. Based on the strict discard protocol outlined here, we omit 25% of the dated samples from the analysis. The remaining data speak to the lengthy tenure of Neandertals in the region, but also to their relatively rapid demise and the establishment of modern human populations ∼38-34 ka ¹⁴C BP (42-39 ka cal BP_Hulu). We compare these chronometric data with those from the neighboring sites of Bronze and Dzudzuana caves, as well as Mezmaiskaya Cave, located in the northern Caucasus. While the lack of key contextual information limit our ability to subject these other data sets to the same critical evaluation procedure, they provide the first interregional temporal assessment of the Middle to Upper Paleolithic “transition,” the results of which suggest an initial expansion of modern humans into the southern Caucasus followed by expansion along the Black Sea coast and into the northern Caucasus.     

Hovk 1 and the Middle and Upper Paleolithic of Armenia: a preliminary framework

The territory of present day Armenia is a geographic contact zone between the Near East and the northern Caucasus. Armenian Middle and Upper Paleolithic records are both few and patchy as a result of the historical paucity of systematic archaeological research in the country. Consequently, it is currently difficult to correlate the Armenian Middle and Upper Paleolithic records with those from other neighboring regions. We present new archaeological and chronometric data (luminescence, U-Th, and ¹⁴C) from our ongoing research at Hovk 1 Cave in northeast Armenia. We discuss in particular two activity phases in Hovk 1 Cave for which we have outline chronometric data: (1) an early Middle Paleolithic occupational phase, dated by optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) to 104 ± 9.8 ka BP_OSL; and (2) a Paleolithic occupational phase characterized by microlithic flakes dated by AMS ¹⁴C to 39,109 ± 1,324 calibrated years BP_Hulu. The two phases are separated by a hiatus in hominin occupation corresponding to MIS 4 and an episode in early MIS 3. These chronometric data, taken together with the preliminary paleoenvironmental reconstruction of the Hovk 1 Cave and environment, suggest that these activity phases represent short-lived and seasonal use of the cave presumably by small groups of hunters during episodes of mild climate. Neither tool manufacture nor butchery appears to have taken place within the cave, and consequently, the archaeological record included, for the most part, finished tools and blanks. We address the chronology and techno-typological aspects of Hovk 1 lithics in relation to: (1) the Paleolithic records of Armenia, and (2) the broader interregional context of early Middle Paleolithic hominin occupation and the Middle-Upper Paleolithic transition in the Caucasus.     

Human remains from the Austrian Gravettian: the Willendorf femoral diaphysis and mandibular symphysis

Early excavations at the Willendorf site complex in Austria yielded a femoral diaphysis collected between 1883 and 1887 and a mandibular symphysis discovered in 1908--1909. The femoral section, Willendorf 1, derives from the Willendorf I site and direct AMS (14)C dating (24,250+/-180 years B.P.) assigns it to layer 9. The Willendorf 2 mandibular piece was excavated from layer 9 of the Willendorf II site, which is AMS (14)C dated to 24,000--23,900 years B.P. The Willendorf 1 femoral piece is relatively small and exhibits a pronounced pilaster and linear aspera, moderately elevated relative cortical area, and a level of diaphyseal robusticity in the middle of the European earlier Upper Paleolithic human range of variation, assuming similar body proportions. The Willendorf 2 mandibular symphysis has an inferior lingual torus, a planum alveolare, and a mental trigone with indistinct lateral tubercles, a clear fossa mentalis and a midline basilar rounding. In these features it is close to the majority of European earlier Upper Paleolithic mandibles.