2004年丹江口库区调查发现的石制品

2004年在丹江口库区发现并复查了43处旧石器旷野地点, 共采集石制品367件。石制品包括石核、石片和石器, 石器类型主要有刮削器、砍砸器、石球、手镐、手斧等。这些旷野地点分布在沿江两岸的第2、第3和第4级阶地上, 时代从旧石器早期延续到晚期。各阶地的石器工业面貌较为一致, 表现出以砾石及大中型石片加工而成的重型工具为主的特点。手镐、手斧等具有阿舍利技术特征的重型工具的发现, 促使我们重新思考东、西方早期文化之间的异同, 并为进一步探讨早期人类的迁徙、扩散和区域间的文化交流提供了重要材料。     

中国旧石器时代手斧的特点与意义

手斧的存在与否及其意义是我国史前考古学界长期争论的问题。中国旧石器时代遗存中存在着手斧这一类器物,但它们在形态、技术、组合关系、丰度上与旧大陆西侧有很大区别; 大多数手斧与手镐应属同质异型, 是中国乃至东南亚砾石石器文化中居于从属地位的特定成员, 是更新世生活在热带-亚热带的先民开发利用植物根茎食材的大型挖掘工具。他们在渊源上有本土砾石文化的根基, 可能受到小规模人群迁徙和文化交流的影响, 体现着"本土起源+外来影响"的融合发展过程。中国的手斧存在着材料的不完备性和研究的肤浅性, 体现在绝大多数标本的地层和时代归属不明, 研究多停留在对少数"典型标本"主观定性的层面, 缺乏全面客观的材料分析和详实的观测、统计数据, 很多争论缘于缺乏共同遵循的类型学标准, 陷入表层的术语纷争。未来的研究必须加强地层、年代和形态、技术分析的基础性工作, 充分运用现代科技手段提取信息和数据, 并从理论层面深入揭示手斧这类遗存所蕴含的先民生存与演化的意义。     

田阳百峰遗址发现的含手斧石制品研究

百峰遗址位于百色盆地西部右江南岸的第四级河流阶地。本文报道我们在该遗址调查时采集的37件石制品,其中包括2件手斧和16件手镐。这些手斧和手镐均用扁平砾石为毛坯加工而成,暗示生活在百色盆地的早期人类加工石器时利用附近可获得的原料。在遗址的网纹红土地层中,新暴露出来的石制品和玻璃陨石处于同一层位,显示百色盆地第四级阶地的石制品制作时代与玻璃陨石的降落事件时间一致,在中更新世早期。     

丹江口库区第四级阶地旧石器遗址调查简报

丹江口库区是国内发现的又一处阿舍利技术表现较为集中的区域。目前,该地区发现的旧石器旷野地点达100余处,其中经过发掘的地点有30余处。这些地点主要集中在丹江口库区规划淹没水位线以下区域,即汉江和丹江第二级和第三级阶地。为进一步探讨阿舍利技术在该地区出现的最早时间和起源方式等问题,我们对区域内第四级阶地进行了系统野外调查。新发现旧石器时代旷野地点24处,采集石制品273件,其中包括手斧、手镐和石刀等具有阿舍利技术风格的大型工具。研究表明,古人类在原料利用上具有选择性,脉石英主要用于生产中、小尺寸的石制品,而千枚岩和粗面岩主要用于加工阿舍利大型工具。不同类型石核反映了古人类在剥片策略上的多样性。加工技术方面,小型工具与大型工具共存,且不同类型的大型工具反映出较为完整的阿舍利工业器物组合面貌。     

广西百色盆地高岭坡遗址的地层及年代

广西百色盆地旧石器工业因含有众多的手斧且年代早到803 kaBP而闻名于世。盆地内发育有7级河流阶地,其中第IV级阶地发现有手斧和玻璃陨石。自从1973年第一个石器地点被发现,越来越多的遗址或地点被调查发现和发掘。以前研究认为,百色盆地旧石器只出自网纹红土层,年代均为803 kaBP。2013年以前,通常只在土状堆积的上部发掘,从来没有人对第IV级阶地的沉积物从地表到底部砾石层进行系统发掘,因此关于第IV级阶地的整体地层堆积情况及含石器层位很模糊。2013-2014年,广西文物保护与考古研究所会同田东县博物馆对百色盆地最重要的旧石器遗址之一——田东高岭坡遗址进行了系统的考古发掘。此次发掘从遗址的地表往下一直发掘到砾石层,揭露出厚度超过7m的完整地层序列,发现1处小型石器制造场和1处用火遗迹。在不同地层中发现石制品800多件,包括砍砸器、手镐、刮削器等。涵盖旧石器和新石器两个时代。根据地层对比和石制品的特征及测年结果,我们把旧石器时代文化遗存可分为3期：第一期的年代早于或等于803 kaBP,第二期为15 kaBP,第三期约为10 kaBP。     

Middle Pleistocene handaxes from the Korean Peninsula

We present four biface assemblages from an archaeologically poorly known region of the Old World: Middle Pleistocene Korea. The handaxes are derived from a series of Middle Pleistocene localities in the Imjin/Hantan River Basins (IHRB) in Korea. The best known of these localities is Chongokni, although a number of equally important sites in the IHRB have been discovered and excavated over the course of the past two decades (e.g., Kumpari, Chuwoli, and Kawoli). Reanalysis of the age of the Chongokni deposits suggests a hominin occupation between 350-300 ka. Comparative study of the IHRB handaxes with the well-known bifacial implements from Olorgesailie (Kenya) and Hunsgi-Baichbal (India) indicates that the often-noted "thick" trait of the East Asian handaxes differs at a statistical level across the various regions of the Old World. The finds from the IHRB sites, and the Chinese sites of Bose and Dingcun that contain handaxes-like implement, question the validity of the Movius Line sensu stricto. However, why East Asian Middle Pleistocene hominins did not consistently produce more refined bifaces across broader regional and/or temporal facies, remains open to question. Thus, the absence of similar sites in wider areas of Early and Middle Pleistocene East Asia suggests that the Movius Line sensu lato is still supportable and warrants additional detailed cross comparative studies of the stone toolkits east and west of the line.     

百色盆地高岭坡遗址的石制品

高岭坡旧石器遗址位于百色市田东县境内的林逢镇檀河村,文化层为右江南岸第4级阶地的砖红壤层。本文材料为1986~1995年发掘和采集的、由中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所收藏的834件石制品。石制品类型有石核、石片、工具、备料和断块;石片和断块占较大比例;工具既有手斧、手镐和砍砸器等重型工具,也有刮削器、凹缺器、石锥和鸟喙状器等轻型工具。两个类群在原料和毛坯选择上有明显差异。工具均采用锤击法,主要从较平的一面向较凸的另一面进行单向加工,辅以交互和错向加工。拼合石片以及大量细小石片、断块等的存在显示,该遗址为一处石器制造场所。     

梁山遗址旧石器材料的再研究

位于秦岭南麓的梁山遗址是汉水流域最早发现的旧石器时代遗址,其研究历史可追溯至上个世纪五十年代,八十年代又进行过3次野外考察,共发现有十几处旧石器地点,发表了初步研究报告。本文从技术、类型学角度对当时在梁山龙岗寺地点中采集的部分标本进行研究,表明梁山遗址是一个含手斧的旧石器时代初期工业,工具类型包括砍砸器、石球、手斧、薄刃斧、刮削器、凹缺器等。梁山遗址独特的地理位置,使得该石器工业在中国南、北方旧石器文化关系中具有纽带作用。     

洛南盆地的大型石刀

以大型石片为毛坯加工而成的修背石刀是非洲大陆旧石器时代早期阿舍利石器工业中较为常见的器物之一,在中国旧石器时代早期遗址中未见报道。1995年春夏之交至2004年2月,在位于陕西省秦岭山地东部的洛南盆地南洛河上游干流及其支流两侧阶地共发现旷野类型旧石器地点268处,获得各类石制品13 581件,从中甄别出大型石刀24件,本文对这类器物的涵义进行了界定,探讨了其加工制作的方式,比较了大型石刀与薄刃斧以及重型刮削器之间的异同,并以此为基础对洛南盆地19处旷野类型旧石器地点中所发现的大型石刀进行了系统研究。     

Regional Comparison of the Shapes of Later Acheulean Handaxes

This article documents an unexpected regional difference in the shapes of later Acheulean hand-axes. Almost 1,200 handaxes from 17 sites located in Europe, East Africa, India, and the Near East were measured using a polar coordinate technique and compared using discriminant analysis and analysis of variance. One group of handaxes, those from Israel, clearly stood apart. The reasons for this distinction are unclear but may relate to raw material, time, or, perhaps, cultural tradition.     

Stratigraphie et chronologie du site de Gaolingpo dans le bassin de Bose,sud de la Chine

The Bose Paleolithic industry in the Bose Basin, Guangxi, South China is well known in the international scientific community for its bearing handaxes dated back to 803 ka. Seven terraces were developed in the basin and terrace 4 is the most important because handaxes and tektites were recovered from this terrace. Since the first site was discovered in 1973, additional sites of the Bose Paleolithic industry have been investigated and excavated, most of which are located on terrace 4. The previous studies concluded that there is only one phase within this industry and its age is 803 ka. However, before 2013, no attempt had been made to dig down to the basal gravels from the top of terrace 4 in archaeological excavations. Therefore, the stratigraphy and the layers from which the stone artifacts derive of terrace 4 are not clear. In 2013–2014, we conducted an excavation of 200 m² at the Gaolingpo site, which is one of the most important Paleolithic sites in the Bose Basin. We excavated to the basal gravel deposits from the top of this terrace, and a section of more than 7 meters thick deposit was exposed and clearly shows the stratigraphic layers of Pleistocene and Holocene deposits. Furthermore, features and about 800 stone artifacts including choppers, picks, scrapers, etc. were excavated from several stratigraphic layers, which are different in age and other aspects. Based on stratigraphy and the stone artifacts, three stages of Paleolithic cultural remains from the Gaolingpo site can be established. The first stage is in the age of at leat 803 ka. The second stage can be dated to 15 ka and the third stage to about 10 ka.     

丹江口库区果茶场Ⅱ旧石器遗址发掘简报

丹江口库区果茶场Ⅱ旧石器遗址位于汉水上游左岸第三级阶地, 海拔150-155m, 2009年4-5月中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所对该遗址进行了发掘,揭露面积500m2, 出土石制品132件。石制品类型有石锤、石核、石片、石器和断块, 其中石器包括刮削器、砍砸器、手镐、手斧。剥片和加工石器的原料主要为磨圆度较高的河卵石, 锤击法为主要的剥片技术, 石核和石片的尺寸以中小型居多; 石器中, 砍砸器、手镐主要以砾石为毛坯直接加工, 刮削器多采用小型石片毛坯进行加工, 而手斧则以大石片为毛坯进行两面加工。遗址上部地层为强烈氧化的红色黏土层, 含钙质结核和锰质薄膜; 下部发育网纹红土。地层沉积物性质和地貌分析表明遗址年代大致为中更新世。     

丹江口库区的薄刃斧

目前,具有阿舍利技术因素的工具组合已发现于包括百色盆地和洛南盆地在内的多个地区,其不同于奥杜威文化所代表的石核-石片技术体系,反映出中更新世以来中国境内古人类技术演化存在的多样性和复杂性。薄刃斧作为阿舍利技术体系中富有特征性的工具类型,为我们研究遗址的文化属性提供了重要依据。本文对丹江口库区调查发现的薄刃斧标本进行了分析,结果表明,在技术、形态以及所占石制品比例等方面,丹江口库区薄刃斧既表现出与旧大陆西部典型薄刃斧的一致性,同时也具有一定程度的变异性,这种变异性可能主要受到原料、生态环境、遗址性质和人群规模等因素的影响。     

A Human Deciduous Tooth and New 40Ar/39Ar Dating Results from the Middle Pleistocene Archaeological Site of Isernia La Pineta,Southern Italy

Isernia La Pineta (south-central Italy, Molise) is one of the most important archaeological localities of the Middle Pleistocene in Western Europe. It is an extensive open-air site with abundant lithic industry and faunal remains distributed across four stratified archaeosurfaces that have been found in two sectors of the excavation (3c, 3a, 3s10 in sect. I; 3a in sect. II). The prehistoric attendance was close to a wet environment, with a series of small waterfalls and lakes associated to calcareous tufa deposits. An isolated human deciduous incisor (labelled IS42) was discovered in 2014 within the archaeological level 3 coll (overlying layer 3a) that, according to new ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar measurements, is dated to about 583–561 ka, i.e. to the end of marine isotope stage (MIS) 15. Thus, the tooth is currently the oldest human fossil specimen in Italy; it is an important addition to the scanty European fossil record of the Middle Pleistocene, being associated with a lithic assemblage of local raw materials (flint and limestone) characterized by the absence of handaxes and reduction strategies primarily aimed at the production of small/medium-sized flakes. The faunal assemblage is dominated by ungulates often bearing cut marks. Combining chronology with the archaeological evidence, Isernia La Pineta exhibits a delay in the appearance of handaxes with respect to other European Palaeolithic sites of the Middle Pleistocene. Interestingly, this observation matches the persistence of archaic morphological features shown by the human calvarium from the Middle Pleistocene site of Ceprano, not far from Isernia (south-central Italy, Latium). In this perspective, our analysis is aimed to evaluate morphological features occurring in IS42.     

关于百色手斧问题——兼论手斧的划分标准

本文从讨论手斧的定义出发 ,归纳出划分手斧的标准 ,并以此来衡量百色手斧 ,认为百色手斧是真正手斧。由于百色手斧的原料 (多为石英岩 )质地粗糙、结构面多、且有的在制作工具时已被风化 ,这在很大程度上影响手斧的制作质量 ,因此 ,百色手斧更多地显示出早期类型手斧的特点。百色手斧和印度、中东以及非洲的部分手斧有许多相同之处。这些相同之处主要是由于原料相同或相近的结果。文中论述的百色手斧 ,部分尚属首次报道。     

The Lower Palaeolithic assemblage of Layers 15–18 (Unit G) at Hummal. An exemplary case addressing the problems placing undated,archaic-looking stone tool assemblages in the Early and Lower Palaeolithic record by techno-typological classification

The site of Hummal is situated in the region of El Kowm in central Syria. The site comprises an archaeological sequence covering the entire Pleistocene epoch, and encompasses all major Palaeolithic complexes currently known in the Middle East. At the base of the site, 14 m below today's ground level, several layers with a lithic assemblage attributed to the Lower Palaeolithic have been excavated over the past years. At present, the collection recovered from this lowest succession at Hummal contains more than 700 stone artefacts and more than 3000 bone fragments. The lithic assemblage is characterized by a simple flaking technique and the presence of different pebble tools, such as choppers, hammerstones and sphaeroids. Additionally four handaxes were recovered, which have a symmetric shape, are clearly bifacial and rather flat. The lithic assemblage from the lowermost layers of the Hummal excavation largely resembles an Archaic, Lower Palaeolithic assemblage, belonging to the so-called Oldowan or Mode 1 stage. However, the presence of well-shaped and symmetric handaxes sheds doubt on the validity of this attribution to a Mode 1, Oldowan or the Early Acheulean Stage. It can, therefore, be debated, whether the common classifications of lithic industries are adequate for describing the archaeological record from the period in question in the Middle East.     

Comparison of handaxes from Bose Basin (China) and the western Acheulean indicates convergence of form, not cognitive differences

Alleged differences between Palaeolithic assemblages from eastern Asia and the west have been the focus of controversial discussion for over half a century, most famously in terms of the so-called 'Movius Line'. Recent discussion has centered on issues of comparability between handaxes from eastern Asian and 'Acheulean' examples from western portions of the Old World. Here, we present a multivariate morphometric analysis in order to more fully document how Mid-Pleistocene (i.e. ～803 Kyr) handaxes from Bose Basin, China compare to examples from the west, as well as with additional (Mode 1) cores from across the Old World. Results show that handaxes from both the western Old World and Bose are significantly different from the Mode 1 cores, suggesting a gross comparability with regard to functionally-related form. Results also demonstrate overlap between the ranges of shape variation in Acheulean handaxes and those from Bose, demonstrating that neither raw material nor cognitive factors were an absolute impediment to Bose hominins in making comparable handaxe forms to their hominin kin west of the Movius Line. However, the shapes of western handaxes are different from the Bose examples to a statistically significant degree. Moreover, the handaxe assemblages from the western Old World are all more similar to each other than any individual assemblage is to the Bose handaxes. Variation in handaxe form is also comparatively high for the Bose material, consistent with suggestions that they represent an emergent, convergent instance of handaxe technology authored by Pleistocene hominins with cognitive capacities directly comparable to those of 'Acheulean' hominins.     

Cultural conservatism and variability in the Acheulian sequence of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov

The Acheulian Technocomplex exhibits two phenomena: variability and conservatism. Variability is expressed in the composition and frequencies of tool types, particularly in the varying frequencies of bifaces (handaxes and cleavers). Conservatism is expressed in the continuous presence of bifaces along an immense time trajectory. The site of Gesher Benot Ya‘aqov (GBY) offers a unique opportunity to study aspects of variability and conservatism as a result of its long cultural-stratigraphic sequence containing superimposed lithic assemblages. This study explores aspects of variability and conservatism within the Acheulian lithic assemblages of GBY, with emphasis placed on the bifacial tools. While variability has been studied through a comparison of typological frequencies in a series of assemblages from the site, evidence for conservatism was examined in the production modes expressed by the reduction sequence of the bifaces. We demonstrate that while pronounced typological variability is observed among the GBY assemblages, they were all manufactured by the same technology. The technology, size, and morphology of the bifaces throughout the entire stratigraphic sequence of GBY reflect the strong conservatism of their makers. We conclude that the biface frequency cannot be considered as a chrono/cultural marker that might otherwise allow us to distinguish between different phases within the Acheulian. The variability observed within the assemblages is explained as a result of different activities, tasks, and functions, which were carried out at specific localities along the shores of the paleo-Hula Lake in the early Middle Pleistocene.     

丹江口库区彭家河旧石器遗址发掘简报

丹江口库区彭家河旧石器遗址位于湖北省丹江口市土台乡彭家河村三组,埋藏于汉水右岸第三级基座阶地的红色黏土层中。2006年11月—2007年1月对该遗址进行抢救性发掘,揭露面积600m2,出土石制品184件,砾石80件。石制品类型包括石器、石核、石片和断块等。石制品总体以大型居多,但也存在少量小型石片和碎屑。古人类选择阶地底部河卵石为原料进行剥片和加工石器;石器以大型为主,手镐和砍砸器是主要类型;古人类多在砾石或石核一端采用锤击法打制石器。石器面貌具有中国南方旧石器主工业的鲜明特点。发掘显示彭家河遗址为原地埋藏,地貌和地层对比显示该遗址形成于中更新世。     

Pleistocene Macaca from Hoxne, Suffolk, England

Pleistocene macaque remains are uncommon in Great Britain. In addition to three specimens previously known from three sites, four teeth from Hoxne, Suffolk are recorded here. Closely resembling teeth of modern Macaca sylvanus (Barbary ape), they were recovered from a Middle Pleistocene stratum containing stone artifacts (including handaxes) and fauna including cold-climate lemmings.