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Middle Pleistocene Hominin Occupation in the Danjiangkou Reservoir Region, Central China: Studies of Formation Processes and Stone Technology of Maling 2A Site

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Middle Pleistocene Hominin Occupation in the Danjiangkou Reservoir Region, Central China: Studies of Formation Processes and Stone Technology of Maling 2A Site Journal of Archaeological Science 53 (2015) 391e407 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Journal of Archaeological Science journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas Middle Pleistocene hominin occupation in the Danjiangkou Reservoir Region, Central China: studies of formation processes and stone technology of Maling 2A site * Shuwen Pei a, , Dongwei Niu a, Ying Guan a, Xiaomei Nian a, Mingjie Yi a, Ning Ma a, Xiaoli Li b, Mohamed Sahnouni c a Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China b Beijing Museum of Natural History, Beijing 100050, China c Centro Nacional de Investigacion sobre la Evolucion Humana (CENIEH), Paseo de la Sierra de Atapuerca S/N, Burgos 09002, Spain article info abstract Article history: Danjiangkou Reservoir Region (DRR) is one of the areas where Acheulean-like stone technology (Mode 2) Received 4 March 2014 was reported in central and south China. It is located at the end of the upper reaches of the Hanshui River Received in revised form (the largest tributary of the Yangtze River). Systematic field investigations documented more than ninety 20 September 2014 Paleolithic sites along the fluvial terraces of the Hanshui and Danjiang Rivers (the latter a tributary of the Accepted 27 October 2014 upper reach of the Hanshui River). Subsequent excavations at more than 30 sites led to the discovery of a Available online 6 November 2014 large number of Paleolithic stone artifacts in the past decade, showing that early hominins lived in the region at least by the early part of the Middle Pleistocene. However, little is known from the archaeo- Keywords: Maling locality 2A (ML2A) logical record about the context of the sites and their formation processes, the technological charac- Late Middle Pleistocene teristics of the stone artifact assemblages, and whether they truly belong to Mode 2 technology or just to Site formation processes core and flake technology, and the overall hominin behavioral patterns and adaptation during the Middle Mode 2 technology to Late Pleistocene. Danjiangkou Reservoir Region (DRR) Maling locality 2A (ML2A) is buried in the front edge of the third alluvial terrace of the Danjiang River. Central China Archaeological excavations, undertaken at the site in 2011, recovered 1026 stone artifacts from a red clay deposit. Preliminary OSL dating and geomorphological comparisons between the terraces in the Hanshui River system suggest that the site is dated to the late Middle Pleistocene. Patterns of artifact concen- tration suggest that the site was buried in secondary context where the stone artifacts were transported by water from a relatively higher location nearby. The artifacts, primarily made on quartzite and quartz cobbles, include cores, whole flakes, various fragments, retouched pieces, two bifaces and a hammer- stone. All flaking is by direct hard hammer without core preparation. The majority of flakes in the early stages of core reduction indicate that the cores are not extensively reduced. Choppers are the pre- dominant core category, together with discoids, polyhedrons, and core scrapers. It should be noted that two bifacially flaked cobbles can classed as mode 2 implements. Eleven retouched pieces are recognized, and they were casually modified by direct hammer percussion. Although only two bifaces were exca- vated from this site, many more are recorded in the larger study area. The ML2A artifact assemblage may be considered as a Chinese variant of an Acheulean-like (Mode 2) industry. It can be deduced that Homo erectus was likely the responsible for manufacturing the stone artifacts. © 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In the last half century, the integration of site formation pro- cesses inquiry into Paleolithic studies has revolutionized the way archaeologists explain hominin behavior from material remains * Corresponding author. No. 142 Xizhimenwai Street, P.O. Box 643, Beijing 100044, China. Tel.: þ86 10 88369260; fax: þ86 10 68337001. (Isaac, 1967; Schick, 1986, 1991; Schiffer, 1987; Sahnouni and E-mail address: [email protected] (S. Pei). Heinzelin, 1998; Dibble et al., 2006; Bernatchez, 2010). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jas.2014.10.022 0305-4403/© 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 392 S. Pei et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science 53 (2015) 391e407 Understanding site formation processes is crucial for interpreting The Danjiangkou Reservoir Region (thereafter DRR) is located in artifact patterns and hominin behavior (Schick, 1987a,b; Kuman, the southern margin of Qinling Mountains in central China, which 1994, 2003; Bertran and Texier, 1995; Sahnouni et al., 2002; is conventionally regarded as the boundary between the southern Hovers, 2003; Lenoble and Bertran, 2004; McPherron, 2005; Sisk and northern climatic zones of China. In the MayeJune 1989 field and Shea, 2008; Domínguez- Rodrigo et al., 2010; Pollarolo et al., season, two damaged but relatively complete hominin crania were 2010; Benito-Calvo and de la Torre, 2011; Malinsky-Buller et al., discovered in the fourth terrace deposits of Hanshui River in 2011). It is well documented that natural processes may affect the Quyuanhekou, Yunxian (Yun county) (Xu, 1978; Li et al., 1991; Li formation of Paleolithic sites and the spatial distribution of their and Etler, 1992; Wu and Poirier, 1995). They were associated with archaeological remains (Petraglia and Potts, 1994; Kluskens, 1995; a late Early Pleistocene to early Middle Pleistocene fauna and 453 Shea, 1999; Ward and Larcomb, 2003; Brantingham et al., 2007; stone artifacts. Based on magneto e stratigraphic studies, Yan Marder et al., 2011), including flowing water which was recog- (1993) suggested that the site was formed between 0.87 Ma and nized as a primary disturbing agent affecting artifact assemblages 0.83 Ma while Feng (2008) estimated it to date to 0.8 Ma. However, and their concentration. Potentially disturbed Paleolithic sites are Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) dating, carried out on ten commonly encased in high energy deposits such as sandy channels, mammalian fossil animal teeth stratigraphically associated with gravel bars, river terraces, etc., where notable concentrations of the hominin skulls, yielded an age of 0.581 Ma ± 0.093 Ma (Chen stone artifacts occur (Schick, 1992, 2001; Petraglia and Potts, 1987, et al., 1996). In spite of the relative discrepancies of the proposed 1994; Demeter et al., 2010). Archaeologists have realized that ages, an end Early Pleistocene to early Middle Pleistocene age for fluvial sedimentary processes had great impact on the formation of the locality seems reasonable. The in situ associated stone artifacts Paleolithic sites and on the integrity of stone artifact assemblages total 317 comprising primarily casual cores and bifacially flaked (Shea, 1999; Schick, 1992; Sahnouni and Heinzelin, 1998; Benito- cobbles (Etler and Li, 1994). Recently, Feng (2008) identified 14 Calvo and de la Torre, 2011). Therefore, it is a necessity to eval- stone artifacts as Acheulean-like handaxes, cleavers, and picks. In uate Paleolithic sites for possible fluvial disturbance prior to mak- 1994 and 2004, systematic field investigations were launched in ing any hominin behavioral inferences from stone artifact the region as part of a salvage archaeological project funded by the assemblages. national government prior to the construction of the Danjiangkou The occurrence of Acheulean (Mode 2) handaxe technologies Reservoir dam. Eighty-seven Paleolithic sites have been discovered has been a matter of debate (known as “the handaxe issue”) for a along the fluvial terraces of the Hanshui River and Danjiang Rivers. long time in East Eurasian Paleolithic studies (Movius, 1948; Schick Subsequent excavations at more than 30 sites led to the discovery of and Dong, 1993; Gao and Norton, 2002; Norton et al., 2006; Norton more than ten thousand Paleolithic stone artifacts, suggesting that and Bae, 2009; Lycett and Bae, 2010; Lycett and Norton, 2010, early hominins occupied the region at least by the early part of among many others). It was generally accepted in the last century Middle Pleistocene. However, little is known about the mode of that there are also casual cores and flakes with the focus of the accumulation of the sites and to which extent fluvial agencies “chopper-chopping tool” designation (Movius, 1948). This term contributed to their formation, as well as whether the excavated now in large measure has been discarded and changed to Oldowan- stone artifact assemblages are suitable for early hominin behavior like or Mode 1 [as defined by Clark (1969, 1970) core and flake inferences. Here we report a preliminary study undertaken at a technologies (Schick and Dong, 1993; Schick, 1994; Clark, 1998; newly excavated site of Maling locality 2A in the Danjiang River Norton and Bae, 2009; Lycett and Bae, 2010; Bar-Yosef and Wang, region highlighting its formation processes and the technological 2012; Gao, 2013; Pei et al., 2013). Following the initial announce- patterns of its lithic artifact assemblage. ment of the presence of a well-documented Acheulean-like in- dustry in the Middle Pleistocene locality of Bose basin, southern China (Hou et al., 2000), more and more similar industries were 2. Stratigraphy and dating reported not only in Bose Basin (Wang et al., 2008, 2012, 2014; Huang et al., 2012; Xu et al., 2012), but also in Luonan basin The Maling locality 2A (hereafter ML2A) site (3255052.000N,
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