A Study On Lithic Artifacts Unearthed From Layer 3 And 4 Of Maanshan ?,Yangyuan County,Hebei Province

The Maanshan site, which belongs to the Hutouliang Upper Paleolithic site complex, is located in Nihewan basin of Yangyuan county,Hebei province. It was excavated by Beijing University and Hebei Cultural Relics Research Institute during 1997-1998. In 2014, a new area of the site (Maanshan site?), about 100 meters southeast to the original excavation area, was excavated by a field team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences. This paper made a study on the 2844 pieces of artifacts unearthed from layer 3 and 4 of the new excavation area. These two cultural horizons were dated to 5,905-5,730 Cal.BP and 16480-15920 Cal.BP respectively, bother by AMS 14C dating method. This paper focused on lithic type technology and raw material exploitation strategy, so that to reveal the role of lithics in different economic strategies; discuss the transformation of living style and human dispersal and interaction.This study indicates that Maanshan site ? is mainly a primary deposit. The stone assemblage of this two cultural horizons are same,both consist of flak cores, flakes, wedge-shaped microbalde cores, microblades, chunks, chips and retouched tools, such as points, end scrappers and scrappers. In addition, These two cultural horizons almost share the same raw material type, include rhyolite, chert, vein quartz, dolomite, basalt, quartzite, opal, agate, shale and chalcedony, while only rhyolite and chert were major materials used to produce cores, flakes, microblade cores, microblades and tools.The material used in layer 3 is similar to that of layer 4, but it is different from other contemporaneous sites, which use chert as the major lithic material, in Nihewan basin. A possible explanation is that the occupants collected and reused the raw materials which were abandoned in the site by the previous inhabitants. Because of reuse, the raw materials that have already been acquired would save much time and energy, compared to acquiring new raw materials. Making full use of raw materials produces greater economic advantage. The high reduction intensity for lithic tools, and high utilization for cores and flakes indicates high utilization of raw materials.From a macroscopic perspective of microblade remains found in Nihewan basin, the analysis suggested that, during the Late Pleistocene to Middle Holocene period, wedge-shaped microblade core technology had transformed into conical core technology, and chert had become the major raw material. At the same time, people in Nihewan basin adopted different adaptive strategies for the development of food production. These two layers represent two different populations with different lithic technologies and adaptive strategies. Layer 3 represents a settled agricultural community including hunter-gatherer components; while layer 4 represent highly mobile hunter-gatherer groups. The position and role of lithic technology in their livelihoods, was different.