| Houjiayao Site refers to Site 74093 of Xujiayao cultural ruins site, situated in Yangyuan County of Hebei Province. Houjiayao Site was discovered in 1974, and excavated in 1974,1976,1977 and 1979 respectively. All told,20 fossils of fossil hominids, tens of thousands of stone products and a cluster of animal fossils were unearthed. It is currently a major excavation site and major source of materials of Xujiayao cultural ruins. Following the discovery, Site 74093 was combined with Site 73113, discovered in 1973, which is collectively referred to as "Xujiayao ruins". Up till now, scholars have generally mistaken Site 74093 for Xujiayao ruins, located in Shanxi Province, thereby provoking disputes about ownership and jurisdiction.There has been enormous research into Houjiayao Site, and it is one of the extensively studied sites, with conspicuous achievements, of the Middle Palaeolithic in Northern China. But at the same time, much controversy has arisen. There is a tremendous difference with regard to the chronological age, with values of absolute chronological age ranging from less than 20000 years to around 400 to 500 thousand years, which has hugely hampered accurate understanding of the Site. In recent years, some scholars have begun to pay attention to properties of the burial layers, arguing that cultural relics were not buried in the originally recognized Nihewan bed. They have put forward new research topics. Fossils of fossil hominids at Houjiayao Site have been thoroughly studied with very important findings. But such cultural relics as stone products and animal fossils, with the largest number among archaeological finds, have not been studied carefully. Due to remote antiquity and loss, we have only had a limited and incomplete understanding of the Site, with very few publications.From 2007 to 2013, Hebei cultural relics research center conducted a new investigation and excavation of the Site and obtained a formation of new materials, which has thrown new light on previously held views and provided new evidence to solve contentious issues related to the site.This paper, based on this formation of materials as well as previous publications and a variety of research findings, has explored causes of problems which arose in the past, and analyzed the problems in light of new evidence, in order to settle them and understand the Site in a comprehensive and objective manner.The equation of Site 74093 with Xujiayao ruins and placement of it under Shanxi’s management are the root cause of confusing names, unclear jurisdiction and subsequent disputes and conflicts. Based on on-site investigation, the two sites of Xujiayao cultural ruins are located wide apart, at an interval of over 2300 meters. Site 74093 is located in Houjiayao Village, Yangyuan County, Hebei Province. According to the general principle for naming archaeological sites, it is recommended that Site 74093 be named Houjiayao Site and that this site belong to Hebei Province in accordance with the principle of territorial jurisdiction over archaeological sites. This way of naming follows the traditional way of naming Paleolithic sites, is in conformity with the recently issued criteria for naming immovable relics, and is not in conflict with the naming of existing " Xujiayao ruins" and "Site 74093. In this way, it is not only more conducive to the confirmation of the ownership of the site, and to site management and protection, but also beneficial for moderating conflicts and promoting social development in a harmonious manner.A new archaeological survey shows that Nihewan bed in the vicinity of Houjiayao Site was largely eroded and reconstructed by later rivers. Observed on the broken walls of the gully, Nihewan bed eroded U-shape troughs, filled in again later by fluvial deposits. Houjiayao Site is just located in one of the troughs. Through archaeological excavations, the interface between Nihewan bed and river terraces was found 4 meters below cultural layers. Cultural relics were found on the erosion surface, or the third-tier terrace of Liyigou formed through land re-deposition after the erosion of Nihewan bed, instead of previously identified Nihewan bed. This understanding enabled archaeomagnetic dating to determine the source of the age-old ruins. Archaeomagnetic dating is not able to measure the interval between deposits and to correctly reflect the era of the Site. At the same time, because cultural relics at Houjiayao Site came from Nihewan bed, belongingg to the Upper Pleistocene; therefore, the time of deposits at Nihewan bed was extended to Xujiayao formation of the Upper Pleistocene. Prerequisites for the existence do not exist anymore and it is not possible to prove, from the era of Houjiayao Site, that Nihewan bed extended to the Upper Pleistocene. The purpose cannot be achieved, which makes its existence meaningless. Therefore, it is recommended to remove "Xujiayao formation" from the list of lithostratigraphic units.Stone products at Houjiayao Site have the following features:raw materials from local resources, direct stripping of pieces with a hard hammer by hammering method, crushing method occupying a central role, the vast majority of stone products being small stone tools, stone products including stone hammers, stone cores, stone splinters, stone implements, waste pieces and broken pieces, most of semi-finished products being stone pieces, forward processing being central, most of products being scrapers, with a few pointed devices, carving tools and stone drills, and stone balls, as a special tool, accounting for a fairly high proportion. Stone industry can be summed up as small stone tool industry with an advanced technique of making stone balls, typical of the small stone tool industry in Northern China. Possibly, an advanced level of making stone balls is closely related to special hunting activities at the Site.The stone industry at this site is consistent with small stone tool industry undergoing perpetual development at Nihewan basin; it is an important link during the evolution of small stone tool industry at Nihewan Basin. The common characteristics of stone products bear much resemblance to those at Donggutuo, Banjingzi, Xinmiaozhuang, and Xibaimaying. Given the antiquity of Donggutuo Site, the exquisiteness of stone processing techniques went beyond its era, without any universal significance of the time. Houjiayao Site more closely resembles Banjingzi Site, Xinmiaozhuang Site and Xibaimaying Site; the exquisiteness of stone processing at Houjiayao Site is a little inferior to that at other sites mentioned above, possibly older in age. Compared with major sites from the later stage of the Lower Paleolithic in Northern China, Houjiayao Site is very similar to the 15th site of Zhoukoudian Site in terms of stripping method, combination of stone products, types of stone products, and stone processing techniques. It differs a lot from Site 100 of Dingcun Site; it bears much resemblance to Zhiyu Site, but with much difference in the extent of an abundance of stone types and the exquisiteness of stone processing.Mammalian fossils at Houjiayao Site include the following 24 types of fossils in addition to human fossils, namely Crocidura wongi, mole rat, Lepus wongi (similar), Ochotona thibetana (similar), Myospalax fontanieri, Phodopus roborovskii, gerbil (unidentified), brown rat, Palaeoloxodon naumanni (similar), wolf, tiger (similar), Equus przewalskii, wild ass, Coelodonta antiquitati, pig (unidentified), Hetao Megaloceros, Cerus cf. C. (sika) grayi, Cervus elaphus, Spirocerus peii, spirocerus xujiayao, Przewalski’s gazelle, Gazella subgutturosa, antelope (unidentified), and Bos primigenius. The genera of the fauna were common types during the late pleistocene, with a few residual types in the Pleistocene. Representative types were typical ones discovered at Peking Man Site-- Spirocerus peii, Cervus grayi and Phodopus boulei, indicative of a savanna environment, specifically a vegetation landscape mixed with grassland, shrubs, and forest. The era of the fauna was markedly later than that of Formation B at the first site of Zhoukoudian, namely between the fauna at Dali Man Site and those at Site 100 of Dingcun Site.The fossils of Xujiayao Man discovered at the Site had special characteristics of Chinese fossil hominids. There was a universal "Inca bone" between the parietal bone and occipital bone, with incisors being shovel-shaped, which indicated that Xujiayao Man was on the continuous line of human evolution in China. Fossils had primitive features similar to Peking Man as well as advanced features similar to modern man. With regard to observable and explicable forms and measurement data, there were 37 primitive features closer to Peking Man, accounting for 51.4%, with 17 advanced features closer to modern man or Neanderthal man, accounting for 23.6%, and with 18 features between Peking Man and modern man or Neanderthal man, accounting for 25%. Xujiayao Man fossils were in an intermediate stage between Homo erectus and modern man, with more primitive features, closer to Homo erectus and farther from modern man, sharing more similarities with fossils of Dali Man, at an early stage of evolution from homo erectus to modern man. Compared with Dingcun Man fossils, Xujiayao Man had more primitive features despite some similarities between the two.Results from pollen analysis have shown that when Houjiayao Man lived, Houjiayao Site was mainly covered with cryophilic and hygrophilous plants such as pines and spruces, indicative of cold and humid conditions with an annual average temperature 2-4℃ lower than in present days; as a result, the Site was at the Ice Age. Although it was cold in the region, a high level of precipitation at the era provided fossil hominids with plentiful animals and plants and necessary conditions for sustaining life.By excluding the result of remoter antiquity obtained by archaeomagnetic dating with regard to the Site, coupled with findings that top parts of existing Nihewan beds in eastern, central and western parts of Nihewan Basin were more concentrated in the Middle and Late Pleistocene, that is, about 300000 to 400000 years ago, considering that there were deposits with an interval of 200000 years between top parts of existing Nihewan bed and the topsoil, and that Houjiayao Site was buried in the topsoil at the top of Nihewan bed, it is reasonable to reach a conclusion that its era should be within the range. According to the existing chronological data of this site, and in comparison with stone products, animal fossils, and fossils of fossil hominids, it is arguable that the era of the Site dated back to about 170000 years ago. The period at the time belonged to Dali Ice Age, corresponding to an early phase of stage 6 of deep-sea oxygen isotopes. |
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