宁夏水洞沟遗址第7地点发掘报告

水洞沟遗址第7地点发现于2002年,位于水洞沟遗址核心区,2003年至2005年共进行三次系统发掘,揭露35个水平层,面积25m2,出土包含石制品、动物化石、鸵鸟皮及装饰品等文化遗物上万件。遗址埋藏在边沟河左岸第二级基座阶地,文化层为灰白-灰黄-灰绿色粉砂及黏土质粉砂,厚度在3m以上,遗址堆积后期局部受到小规模水流改造,但石制品组合基本保留了制作完成后的总体面貌。石制品原料取自附近的河流和湖泊成因的砾石;石制品是一个包含石核、废片、石器、砸击品和打制工具但以废片为主体的组合,个体以小型居多;锤击法为剥片的基本方法,砸击法被偶尔使用,刮削器为石器的主要类型,石器为锤击法简单修理而成。石器工业总体显示北方小型石片石器传统。光释光年代初步测定表明古人类在该遗址活动的时间大致发生在27~25ka BP,属旧石器时代晚期。

A Preliminary Report on the Excavations at Shuidonggou Locality 7 in Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region,North China

Shuidonggou Locality 7 (SDG7), as one newly discovered and excavated sites in the Shuidonggou site cluster, is c. 300 m southeast of SDG1. The site is situated 1205 m a.s.l. on the 2th terrace of the left bank of a tributary named the Biangou river of the Yellow river at N 38°17′52″, E 106°30′21″. It was discovered in 2002 and excavated in 2003, 2004, and 2005 as an important research locality of the Shuidonggou multi-disciplinary project directed by Prof. Gao Xing from IVPP. The excavations exposed an area of 25 m2. Twelve stratigraphic layers were identified at the site, with a total thickness of more than 10 m. Archaeological remains including 9,901 lithic artifacts, more than 1,000 animal fossils and ostrich egg shell fragments, as well as two ostrich egg shell beads are limited to the five lowest layers above the basal gravel layer. The three middle cultural layers have yielded OSL dates of c. 25,200 to 27,200 BP. Technologically, the SDG7 lithic assemblage is dominated by debitage (N=9617, 97.13%), followed by retouched pieces (N=121, 1.22%), freehand cores (N=106, 1.07%), bipolar elements (N=52, 0.53%), and percussors (N=5, 0.05%). Lithic raw materials derive from local sources. Silicified limestone, dolomite, and chert dominate, while quartzite, chert, and quartz are less common. Most artifacts are small in size. Freehand flaking is more prominent than bipolar technique at the site. Complete flake types demonstrate that the later stage of core reduction is represented by a high percentage (60.15%) of Type III and VI flakes. Only 6 complete flakes have blade dimensions and with no blade cores unearthed, blade technology was not used by hominins at this site. Scrapers (N=105, 86.78%) dominate retouched pieces, followed by notches, denticulates, and points. Most of the retouched pieces were casually retouched on the dorsal surface by direct hammer percussion. The SDG7 lithic assemblage shows small flake technology in North China. It can be inferred that the coming integrated research of SDG7 will shed light on the study of relationship between blade and flake technology, different technologies through population movements, origin of modern human behavior, and hominin occupation adapted to the environment in the Shuidonggou site or generally North China.