泥河湾盆地中部东坡旧石器时代早期遗址的发现

东坡遗址发现于泥河湾盆地中部的泥河湾层, 东距虎头梁村约800m。该遗址于2001年试掘了4㎡, 出土石制品32件和少量破碎的动物化石。石制品以小型为主; 类型包括石核、石片、工具、断块等, 以石片和断块居多。石制品原料采自遗址附近的砾石层, 主要有流纹岩、石英闪长岩、燧石、石英和板岩等, 以流纹岩和石英闪长岩居多。经ESR方法测定, 遗址的年代为321±15ka BP, 属于旧石器时代早期偏晚。该遗址是泥河湾盆地中部地区首次发现的旧石器早期文化遗址, 具有重要的科研价值。

The First Lower Paleolithic Site of Dongpo Discovered in the Middle Nihewan Basin

Located in the middle part of the Nihewan Basin, the Dongpo(DP)site (40°09'53'N, 114°29'18'E) was discovered in 1999 and excavated tentatively in 2001. It is 880m above the sea-level and 60cm below the surface with distance of 800m far from east Hutouliang village.
The excavation was carried out in four square meters and dug down at 10 cm interval for each spit. Consisting of 11 layers in 78 meters at thickness of the stratigraphy, the cultural remains of DP site belong to typical fluvial-lacustrine sedimentary sequence of “Nihewan Bed” in North China. The cultural layer is eighth layer in the eighth layer deposits of yellow silty sand and 20— 30cm at thickness.
The unearthed materials include 32 stone artifacts and some fragmentary bones. The stone artifact assemblage includes cores, flakes, retouched tools and chunks. The stone artifacts look not transported for long distance. Among them 13 stone artifacts are noted to be made originally on high weathered rhyolite raw materials and supposed to be taken as a unusual technological behavior of the tool maker.
The general features of these artifacts are summarized as follows: 1) Six sorts of raw material were utilized in core reduction and tool manufacture at the site: rhyolite, chert, quartz, quartzose sandstone, slate and quartz diorite.
They are identical from the gravel layer in vicinity. Rhyolite is the predominant raw material used for producing stone artifacts at the site. 2) Among total 32 stone artifacts, flakes and chunks are the largest number of them. The others include one bigger core and 9 retouched tools. Two pieces can be refitted as a convex-edged scraper. 3) The retouched tools include scrapers, end scrapers, notched scrapers and denticulates. 4) The lithic industry appears quite similar character to many other Lower Paleolithic sites of the region. It belongs to the small tool industry of the Lower Paleolithic culture tradition of North China.
The average age of DP site is given about 321 ± 15ka through dating method of ESR that indicates a period of the Lower Paleolithic(LP). As a first discovered LP site in the middle part of the Nihewan Basin, the discovery and excavation of Dongpo site are important for enriching the information of the LP culture in Nihewan Basin and helpful to study the early human’s technique and behavior in this region.