A Preliminary Study Of The Dongliangmao Lower Paleolithic Site In Jixian County, Shanxi Province, North China

Dongliangmao site is an lower paleolithic site located in Jixian County,Shanxi Province.The site was discovered in 2009 and excavated for two consecutive years.The excavations exposed an area of about 1200m2 and a section of 15 m depth.Stratigraphic accumulation mainly belongs to the Lower Middle Pleistocene,and cultural relics are mainly buried in gravel layers.Totally 2,705 artifacts were unearthed,including 22 lithic products and 2,683 animal fossils.The stone assemblage includes flakes,chunks and retouched tools,which were made of quartzite and flint.The tools were chipped and retouched into small-sized scrapers and points by direct hammer percussion.The animal fossils can be identified as Myospalax fontanieri,Ochotono sp.,Carnivora,Dicerorhinus merki J?ger,Equus sp.,Megaloceros pachyosteus Young,Bovinae,and Sus sp.et al.Burial analysis shows that the fossil weathering is mainly moderate and severe;the abrasion is mainly mild,followed by moderate;the fossilization is mainly severe;in the analysis of bone surface color,the earlier the stratum is,the deeper the bone surface color is,and the transition from shallow to deep is shown from early to late.According to the standard fossil Megaloceros pachyosteus Young unearthed in the site and the loess-paleosol sequence around the site,Dongliangmao site is in the early Middle Pleistocene of 730,000-530,000 years.Animal fossils reflect the gradual transition from a warm and humid forest environment to a semi-arid sparse forest grassland or grassland.Based on a comparative analysis of 110 sites around Dongliangmao in the same period,we find that the sites belonging to Zhoukoudian locality 1-Shiyu System are mostly distributed to the north,while the sites belonging to Dingcun-Kehe System are distributed to the south.The sites in the south of Shaanxi,northwest of Henan,south of Shanxi and south of Hebei,which run from northeast to southwest and are located in the transitional area between the south and the north,on the one hand,have the characteristics of huge stone industry in north China,on the other hand,they have the color of cobble tools industry in south China,which is of great significance to the study of cultural exchanges between the south and the north.There are only 5 sites belonging to the early Middle Pleistocene with Dongliangmao,and among the 5 sites,only the Chenjiawo and 11 th layer of Peking Man site are close to Dongliangmao site.Overall,Dongliangmao lithic products are more regular and exquisite,and should be more advanced in technology and culture.The discovery of Dongliangmao Site has advanced the prehistoric human history in Jixian County from about 30,000 years before present in the late Paleolithic period to the early Paleolithic period.It is of great significance to enrich the culture in the middle reaches of the Yellow River and even in the early Middle Pleistocene in the north,as well as to understand the human culture,technology and behavior at that time.At the same time,because the focus of this study is animal fossils,it can provide reference for us to understand the evolution of animal species and environmental background at that time.