摘要
The Jingshuiwan Paleolithic site occu- pies the second terrace on the right bank of the Yangtze River. The lithic assemblage is characterized by choppers and scrapers made on pebbles and large flakes——the typical lithic industry of South China. Deposits of the site are mainly composed of fluvial sediments. Quartz grains extracted from these fluvial sediments from which the artifacts were un- covered were dated using the optically stimulated luminescence/single-aliquot regenerative-dose tech- nique. The dating results show that ancient human activities at this site took place in the early Upper Pleistocene (ca. 70 ka). The successful age analysis of the Jingshuiwan site is considered as a major break- through in chronological analysis of Paleolithic open site in the Three Gorges region and even in South China. The dates obtained help to establish a more complete chronological framework of the Paleolithic cultural sequence in the region, and bear significant implica- tions in studying modern human origins in China.
The Jingshuiwan Paleolithic site occupies the second terrace on the right bank of the Yangtze River. The lithic assemblage is characterized by choppers and scrapers made on pebbles and large flakes the typical lithic industry of South China. Deposits of the site are mainly composed of fluvial sediments. Quartz grains extracted from these fluvial sediments from which the artifacts were uncovered were dated using the optically stimulated luminescence/single-aliquot regenerative-dose technique. The dating results show that ancient human activities at this site took place in the early Upper Pleistocene （ca. 70 ka）. The successful age analysis of the Jingshuiwan site is considered as a major breakthrough in chronological analysis of Paleolithic open site in the Three Gorges region and even in South China. The dates obtained help to establish a more complete chronological framework of the Paleolithic cultural sequence in the region, and bear significant implications in studying modern human origins in China.
基金
This work was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China （Grant Nos. 40472016, 40471010 ＆ 49925307）.
关键词
旧石器时代
光学定年
河成阶地
人类起源
Three Gorges region, Jingshuiwan Paleolithic site, optical dating, fluvial terrace, modern human origin.
