A Study On The Lithic Artifacts From The Paleolithic Locality Yuzui 2, Yun County, Hubei Province

This thesis introduces the general situation about excavation and the formation process of the Paleolithic locality Yuzui 2. On the basis of the lithic classification, it futher analyzes some lithic characteristics such as raw material, manufacture techniques, lithic assemblage, and correspondent human behavior.Through the experiment on chopping tools, it discusses the material properties of chopper and flaking technique, and it simultaneously discusses the pattern of human adaptation of Han River basin Paleolithic with the study of excavated materials. The Paleolithic locality Yuzui 2 is located on the second terrace of the north bank of the Han River. The excavation area is altogether 500 square meters. And 334 artifacts are unearthed from the site.The site has four layers. The amount of lithic artifacts unearthed in the first and the second layers are very few. According to the stratigraphic observation, they are formed mainly from perturbation. The majority of lithic artifacts stems from the third layer. There are not any lithic artifacts found in the fourth layer.The terrace in which Yuzui No.2 Paleolithic locality located formed when the rivers vertical erosion functioned. Besides the transformation owing to the ancient human activities, there are at least three times of perturbation processes in the formation of the site. According to the distributional analysis of the lithic artifacts, it is found that most lithic artifacts concentrate in the east area of the site, along a belt of gravels. A certain amount of lithic artifacts is discovered in the western part. In the center of the site, the lithic artifacts is quite scarce, only few chunks and fragments found.Quartz is the dominant raw materials being used, hornfel and the sandstone next. In addition, there are also some clasolite and shale. The principal flaking technique is direct hammer percussion. The retouch method is primarily with a hammer. The lithic assemblage consists of core(19),flake(17),chunk(63), block(141), fragment(46) and tool(37). Tool type includes chopper, scraper, point, pick and cleaver. Most of them are chopper, and the next is scraper.It suggests that the site is probably dated in the late pleistocene.The lithic experiment is divided into 2 sections, including the replication and use, with the local lithic materials, and contrasts them with the unearthed chopping tools. The experiment indicated that the chopper is a kind of expedient tool.