Journal of Archaeological Science xxx (2011) 1e14
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Journal of Archaeological Science
journal homepage: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/jas
The paleolithic site of Longwangchan in the middle Yellow River, China:
chronology, paleoenvironment and implications
Jia-Fu Zhang a, *, Xiao-Qing Wang b, Wei-Li Qiu c, Gideon Shelach d, Gang Hu a, Xiao Fu a,
Mao-Guo Zhuang c, Li-Ping Zhou a
a
MOE Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Department of Geography, College of Urban and Environmental Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China
The Institute of Archaeology, Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, Beijing 100710, China
School of Geography, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China
d
Department of East Asian Studies, Hebrew University, Jerusalem 91905, Israel
b
c
a r t i c l e i n f o
a b s t r a c t
Article history:
Received 13 November 2010
Received in revised form
28 January 2011
Accepted 15 February 2011
The Longwangchan Paleolithic site, situated on the Yellow River terraces in the Hukou area, Shaanxi
province, China, was found in 2003e2004, and two areas (Localities 1 and 2) of the site were excavated in
2005e2008. Abundant stone artifacts including microliths, a grinding stone fragment and a shovel, with
some animal bones and shells, were recovered from Locality 1. In this study, the cultural deposits from
Locality 1 were dated using radiocarbon and optical dating techniques, and the sediment properties of
the deposits were analyzed. The results show that the age of the deposits ranges from 29 to 21 ka and
most of them were deposited between 25 ka and 29 ka. This indicates that corresponds to late Marine
Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 and early MIS 2. During the human occupation period, the climate in this area
became colder and drier. Sediments from beds where the grinding slab and the shovel were found were
dated to w25 ka, which is the oldest among the grinding stones found in China. The microliths and the
grinding stone are important evidence for an incipient socio-economic process that eventually led to the
regional transition from hunting-foraging to farming.
Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
Keywords:
Longwangchan paleolithic site
Microliths
Grinding stone
Optical dating
Radiocarbon dating
Paleoenvironment
Beginning of agriculture
1. Introduction
The Longwangchan Paleolithic site (36 090 4500 N, 110 2601500 E) is
located at the Longwangchan village in Hukou Town of Yichuan
County, Shaanxi Province, China. It is about 250 km to the northeast
of Xi’an city, the capital of the province. The site was excavated in
two areas (Localities 1 and 2) over three field seasons in
2005e2008 by archaeologists from the Institute of Archaeology of
Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and the Shaanxi Provincial
Institute of Archaeology. Localities 1 and 2 are situated on a lower
(T1) and higher (T2) Yellow River terrace, respectively (Fig. 1). For
Locality 2, the cultural layer was dated to about 47 ka (Zhang et al.,
2010a). The stone artifacts found in Locality 2 include mediumsized single-edge scrapers, end scrapers and points. These tools
were manufactured from quartz and quartzite cobbles by direct
percussion.
About 40,000 stone artifacts were excavated from Locality 1.
These artifacts include microliths and grinding stones (Yin and
Wang, 2007), and are comparable with those from the north
China microlithic sites such as Xiachuan (Wang et al., 1978; Chen
and Wang, 1989; Chung, 2000).The accurate chronology of the
occupation history of the site is essential for understanding its
significance. In this paper, both optically stimulated luminescence
(OSL or optical dating) and radiocarbon dating techniques were
applied to date sediment and charcoal samples from Locality 1 of
the site. The paleoenvironment of the locality was also reconstructed based on sedimentary properties and geomorphologic
context.
2. Geomorphological setting, stratigraphy and archaeological
context
2.1. Geomorphological setting
* Corresponding author. Tel./fax: þ86 10 82754411.
E-mail address: [email protected] (J.-F. Zhang).
The Hukou area, also called the Yellow River Hukou Waterfall
National Geo-park, is well known for a large waterfall (Gong et al.,
2009). The area is situated in the middle reaches of the Yellow River
0305-4403/$ e see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.019
Please cite this article in press as: Zhang, J.-F., et al., The paleolithic site of Longwangchan in the middle Yellow River, China: chronology,
paleoenvironment and implications, Journal of Archaeological Science (2011), doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.019
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J.-F. Zhang et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science xxx (2011) 1e14
(Fig. 1). This region lies in the transitional zone between sub-humid
and semi-arid climates. The loess mantle there may reach a thickness >200 m and constitutes the main body of the Chinese Loess
Plateau (CLP). The bedrock is mainly composed of Mesozoic sandstones and shales. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 400
to 550 mm, and is mainly associated with high summer rainfall,
usually in the form of heavy rainstorms with extreme erosivity. The
Longwangchan site is located at a tributary mouth, the confluence
of the Huiluo Creek and the Yellow River, about 1.6 km upstream
from the Hukou waterfall (Fig. 1). To the west and south, it is surrounded by sandstone bedrock cliffs. It is bounded on the north and
east by the Huiluo Creek and the Yellow River, respectively. Yellow
River terraces are not well developed in this area, only some small
patches of fluvial sediments were found on the banks of the river.
The modern floodplain in the valley bottom is covered by little
sediment. All of these features indicate strong river incision, which
results in the formation of a gorge in this area. Based on field
observations, two strath terraces were identified in the site (Fig. 1).
For the higher terrace (T2), the bedrock surface (strath) is w25 m
above present river level, and is covered by a 16-m-thick loess layer
interbedded with a 1.2-m-thick sand layer of hyperconcentrated
flow deposits. This sand layer and its overlying and underlying loess
layers were dated to w30, <26 and w47 ka, respectively (Zhang
et al., 2010a). The artifacts were found in the w47 ka underlying
loess layer. For the lower terrace (T1), the bedrock strath is w9 m
above the river bed, and the terrace deposits consist of loess
Fig. 1. (a) Google Earth satellite image showing the location of the Yellow River and the Longwangchan site, and the landscape features of the Chinese Loess Plateau. The Yellow
River flows through the plateau from north to south in this area; (b) photograph (looking south) of the site, showing the positions of Localities 1 and 2 on the Yellow River terraces.
Please cite this article in press as: Zhang, J.-F., et al., The paleolithic site of Longwangchan in the middle Yellow River, China: chronology,
paleoenvironment and implications, Journal of Archaeological Science (2011), doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.019
J.-F. Zhang et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science xxx (2011) 1e14
(discussed below) directly mantling on the strath surfaces with
some scattered gravels.
2.2. Stratigraphy
For Locality 1, an area of w40 m2 was excavated, and six
stratigraphic layers were recognized from field observations
(Fig. 2a). The topsoil layer (Layer 1), 0.30e0.45 m thick, consists of
loose gray-brown soil with abundant roots of herbaceous and
woody plants. Layers 2 (0.2e0.4 m thick) and 3 (0.7e1.3 m thick)
are loose grayish-yellow and yellowish-brown silts with stone
blocks, respectively. We infer that some sediments in these two
layers are slope-wash and colluvial deposits from the higher
terrace. Chipped stone artifacts, microliths, burned bones and
charcoals were unearthed from Layer 3. A sharp contact between
Layer 3 and the underlying layer (Layer 4) is clear (Fig. 2a).
Historical tiles and wire nails found in Layers 2 and 3 and sediment
properties indicate that these two layers have been seriously
disturbed by recent human activity. For this reason, Layers 1e3 are
not considered for further investigation in this paper.
The sediments of Layer 4 (0.8e1.1 m thick) are dense, light
yellow silt with no discernible bedding. The top surface of Layer 4
can be clearly observed in the section (Fig. 2a). In this study, this
surface is regarded as the top surface of the sediments in the
locality, and we designated its burial depth as 0 m. Layer 5,
0.6e0.9 m thick, consists of yellow sandy silt. This layer is characterized by a band of gray silt (w10 cm thick and w100 cm long).
Layer 6, 1.1e1.4 m thick, is composed of dense yellowish-brown silt
with no bedding. The field characteristics such as massive structure,
loose consistence and well developed vertical joints suggest that
the sediments in Layers 4, 5 and 6 are Malan loess, which accumulated during the late Pleistocene in the CLP (Liu, 1985). These
three layers are the cultural layers from which artifacts have been
excavated.
3
2.3. Archaeology
Traces of fire were observed in Layers 4e6, and about 40 hearths
were recognized from the locality (Yin and Wang, 2007). Three to
four hearth features are often observed on an excavated level. They
are round to oval (40e70 cm in diameter) in shape in plan view, and
lens shape (15e30 cm in depth) in section, and generally associated
with stone artifacts. The hearths can clearly be distinguished from
surrounding sediments by red-brown color. The hearth features are
filled with baked earth, black ash, charcoal fragments, burnt bones
and stones. Stone artifacts (mostly debitage), as well as some
animal bones and shells were found from Layers 4e6. The lithic
assemblage includes chipped stone tools, cores, flakes, angular
fragments, micro-debitage, microliths, ground stone and polished
tools (Fig. 3). The chipped tools include scrapers, points and
choppers. Microliths consist of core, blade, scraper, point and
burins. Microblades are generally 2e3 cm in length, 0.3e0.5 cm in
width and 0.1e0.3 cm in thickness. These artifacts are made from
pebbles and cobbles of chert, quartz and sandstone. These raw
materials can be found on the strath surface of the terraces and the
modern floodplain, while they are rarely found on the modern
ground surface because of thick loess deposits in this area (Fig. 1).
Therefore, we infer that the raw materials were collected from the
vicinity of the site. It is noted that the stone artifacts from Locality 2
are made from similar raw materials, and are thus considered to
have the same origin as those from Locality 1. A few polished stone
tools were also found at Locality 1. Fig. 3 shows a shovel and part of
a saddle-quern (grinding slab), which are made from sandstone.
The broken quern is 16.4 cm in length and 14.8 in width. Similar
querns were also found in the Xiaochuan Paleolithic site in Shanxi
Province (Wang et al., 1978). The shovel is 12.7 in length, 9.2 cm in
width and 0.8 cm in thickness. Most of the shell artifacts found at
Locality 1 were perforated, and used for decoration (Fig. 3). A few
animal bones were found too, most of them are broken and
Fig. 2. (a) Photograph of the south excavation section of Locality 1 showing the stratigraphy and the positions of grain size, magnetic susceptibility and OSL samples. The bottom
sample (15) from a trench in the excavation is not shown. (b) Median grain size, (c) magnetic susceptibility, (d) water content (d), (e) dose rate of fine-grained quartz, and (f) OSL
and calibrated radiocarbon ages are plotted against depth. The artifacts shown in Fig. 3 are also displayed in (f). The ages of layers 2, 5 and the upper and lower beds of 6 are 21e25,
25e26, 26 and 29 ka, respectively, based on all the radiocarbon and OSL ages determined for the entire section (see text). The water contents in (d) are for the borehole samples (see
text), and the open circles are the running average of three adjacent points.
Please cite this article in press as: Zhang, J.-F., et al., The paleolithic site of Longwangchan in the middle Yellow River, China: chronology,
paleoenvironment and implications, Journal of Archaeological Science (2011), doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.019
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J.-F. Zhang et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science xxx (2011) 1e14
Fig. 3. Artifacts from Locality 1 of the Langwangchan Paeolithic site. 1e4: microlithic cores; 5: graver; 6 and 7: scrapers; 8: Shell; 9: shovel; 10: grinding slab (quern). They are also
marked in Fig. 2f based on their burial depths.
extremely fragmentary. Because relatively large number of stones
and manufacturing debris were found at the site but the number of
animal bones is relatively small it seems that the occupation of this
open-air site was for a short period and it was used mainly for the
manufacture of stone tools. However, more research should be
done in order to confirm this hypothesis.
3. Methods
3.1. Sedimentology
High resolution continuous sampling at 2 cm intervals was
adopted for grain size analysis and magnetic susceptibility (MS)
measurements. The samples were collected from the south section
of the excavation (Fig. 2a). The sediment samples for grain size
analysis were first treated with hydrogen peroxide to remove
organic material and dilute hydrochloric acid to remove carbonates.
The samples were then deflocculated using a solution of (NaPO3)6,
and then measured using a Malvern Mastersizer 2000 laser grain
size analyzer. Low and high frequency MS was measured on the airdried samples in the laboratory using a Barington MS2 MS meter
with a resolution of 105 SI units. Low frequency readings were
taken using the 0.1 range.
3.2. Dating
3.2.1. AMS radiocarbon dating of charcoal
A total of 10 charcoal samples were taken and dated using AMS
at Peking University (Liu et al., 2007). The charcoal fragments were
collected from sediments except for sample BA091131 that is from
a hearth feature (Table 1). In the field, the samples were placed in
airtight plastic bags and immediately sealed. Hard and compact
pieces of charcoal were selected for dating by hand-picking under
a stereo microscope in the laboratory in order to exclude pieces
which appeared to be altered. All visible contaminants such as plant
roots were removed. The selected pieces were cleaned in an
ultrasonic bath with distilled water and then pretreated by the
standard AAA method (acid-alkali-acid). The radiocarbon ages were
converted into calendar years using the CalPal program (http://
www.calpal-online.de/index.html) with the calibration curve CalPal2007_HULU (Weninger and Jöris, 2008). Calibrated radiocarbon
ages (cal. ka BP) are used for comparison with OSL ages.
Please cite this article in press as: Zhang, J.-F., et al., The paleolithic site of Longwangchan in the middle Yellow River, China: chronology,
paleoenvironment and implications, Journal of Archaeological Science (2011), doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.019
J.-F. Zhang et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science xxx (2011) 1e14
5
Table 1
Radiocarbon dates on charcoal samples from the Longwangchan site.
Lab Code
Field No.
BA06005
BA06006
BA06009
BA091131
BA06008
BA06007
BA091132
BA091133
BA091129
BA091130
05YHLWC
05YHLWC
05YHLWC
05YHLWC
05YHLWC
05YHLWC
08YHLWC
08YHLWC
08YHLWC
08YHLWC
I(4)5
I(4)9
I(4)11T0206
I(4):13
I(5)6T0207
I(5)7T0206
I(5):15
I(6):3
I(5):26
I(6):14
Layer
Depth, m
Method/Material
14
4
4
4
4
5
5
5
5
6
6
0.43
0.63
0.73
0.73
1.18
1.23
1.43
1.53
2.23
2.43
AMS/Charcoal
AMS/Charcoal
AMS/Charcoal
AMS/Charcoal
AMS/Charcoal
AMS/Charcoal
AMS/Charcoal
AMS/Charcoal
AMS/Charcoal
AMS/Charcoal
21405
20915
20995
20710
21920
21740
22105
22200
24145
22230
C age, yr BP
75
70
70
60
80
115
50
75
55
55
Calibrated
25522
24859
25135
24710
26318
25993
26528
26807
28927
26842
14
C age, Cal yr BP
332
274
363
221
355
538
342
546
376
553
The conventional radiocarbon ages were calibrated using the program CalPal v1.5. (Cologne radiocarbon and palaeoclimate research package, www.calpal.de) by B. Weninger,
Radiocarbon Laboratory, University of Cologne. The uncertainties are at the 1 sigma level (i.e. 68% confidence level).
3.2.2. Optical dating of sediment
In October 2008, fourteen OSL samples were taken at 20-cm
intervals from the south section of the excavation (Fig. 2a), and the
bottom sample (LWC-OSL15) from a small trench in the excavation,
4 m away from the south section. All OSL samples were collected
using metal tubes of 4 cm diameter and 30 cm long. The tubes were
horizontally hammered into the section; after removal, their ends
were capped and then sealed with aluminum foil and tape. Sample
preparation was done under subdued red light in the laboratory’s
dark room at Peking University. The sediments at the two ends of
the tubes, which may have been exposed to light during sampling,
was removed and reserved for U, Th and K measurements. The
material from the interior of the tubes is well shielded from light,
and was used for extraction of quartz grains for luminescence
measurements (Zhang et al., 2003; Zhang and Zhou, 2007). The
samples were treated with 10% H2O2 to remove organic material,
and then dilute HCl to dissolve carbonates. Each sample was
separated into two fractions of 4e11 mm and >11 mm using Stokes’
law after it was deflocculated using a dilute sodium oxalate solution. Fine-grained (FG) quartz was obtained by treating the polymineral fine-grain (4e11 mm) fraction with silica saturated
fluorosilicic acid (H2SiF6) for w3 days at room temperature to
dissolve feldspars, followed by a treatment with 10% HCl to remove
any fluorides produced. Coarse-grained (CG, 90e125 mm) quartz
was extracted from the >11 mm fraction by wet sieving, and
immersing the sieved sample in 40% HF for 40 min and then 10%
HCl. The IR stimulation of the quartz extracts showed that feldspar
was completely removed from the extracts. The chemically purified
quartz was then prepared for luminescence measurements by
settling the fine grains in acetone onto 0.97 cm diameter aluminum
discs, or mounting the coarse grains as a monolayer on discs using
silicone oil as an adhesive. For the coarse grains, medium aliquots
(5 mm diameter mask) were created for OSL measurements, and
only 10e48 aliquots for each sample were measured because of the
limited amount of quartz extracts.
The improved single-aliquot regenerative-dose procedure
(SAR) (Murray and Wintle, 2000; Wintle and Murray, 2006) was
used to measure the single-aliquot equivalent dose (De) of the
quartz extracts. The regenerative beta doses include a zero-dose
used for monitoring recuperation effects and a repeat of the first
regeneration dose used for checking the reproducibility of the
sensitivity correction (i.e. recycling ratio). OSL signals were
measured for 40 s at 125 C, and a cut-heat of 160 C was applied.
Preheat plateau and dose recovery tests were carried out for
determining suitable preheat conditions. The net initial OSL
signals were derived from the decay curve, taking the first 0.64 s
integral of the initial OSL signal, minus a background estimated
from the last 3.2 s integral of a 40 s stimulation. The value of De
was estimated by interpolating the sensitivity-corrected natural
OSL onto the dose-response curve. The error on individual De
values was calculated based on the counting statistics and an
instrumental uncertainty of 1.0% (Duller, 2007). All luminescence
measurements, beta irradiation and preheat treatments were
carried out in an automated Risø TL/OSL-15 reader equipped with
a 90Sr/90Y beta source (Bøtter-Jensen et al., 1999). Blue light
(470 30 nm) LED stimulation (90% of 50 mW/cm2 full power)
was used for OSL measurements. Luminescence was detected by
an EMI 9235QA photomultiplier tube with three 2.5 mm Hoya
U-340 filters (290e370 nm) in front of it.
Uranium, thorium and potassium contents of the OSL sediment
samples were determined by neutron-activation-analysis (NAA).
Because the area was excavated in 2005, 2006 and 2008, the section
had been exposed to air for 1e36 months before OSL sampling. The
sediments near the surface of the section were thus partly dried up,
implying that the as-sampled water contents of the OSL samples
from the section cannot represent their in situ water contents. To
provide fresh samples for moisture content measurements, two
3.0 m deep boreholes were drilled at an unexcavated area 1 m away
from the section in June, 2009. The sediment cores were sampled at
a 10 cm interval, and the samples were immediately placed in
airtight plastic bags. The water content (mass of moisture/dry
mass) of the core samples was determined in the laboratory, and
the relative uncertainties were taken as 10%. Based on the values
(a-value) of alpha efficiency factors obtained for silt-sized quartz
reported by Rees-Jones (1995), Mauz et al. (2006) and Lai et al.
(2008), a value of 0.03 0.01 was assumed and used to calculate
the alpha contribution to the total dose rate for these samples.
Using the revised dose-rate conversion factors (Adamiec and
Aitken, 1998), the elemental concentrations were converted into
effective dose rate with the ‘AGE’ program of Grün (2009), in which
a cosmic ray contribution to the dose-rate is involved. It is noted
that the thickness of Layers 1e3 was not considered in the cosmic
ray dose-rate calculation, this is because these layers were probably
deposited recently.
4. Results
4.1. Grain size distribution and magnetic susceptibility
Fig. 2b shows a plot of the median grain size against depth for
the south section of the excavation. The averages of the median
grain size for Layers 4, 5 and 6 are 30.0 0.3, 28.0 0.4 and
27.8 0.1 mm, respectively, slightly increasing from the bottom to
upper layer. It can also be seen that the variation in median grain
size for Layers 4 and 5 is larger than that for Layer 6. The grain size
distribution curves for the sediment samples used for OSL dating
are shown in Fig. 4. All the samples exhibits a main peak at around
40 mm, and some samples also have a small peak at about 400 mm.
These indicate that the deposits typically consist of silt, while some
samples also contain coarse grains. Some of the coarse grains are
Please cite this article in press as: Zhang, J.-F., et al., The paleolithic site of Longwangchan in the middle Yellow River, China: chronology,
paleoenvironment and implications, Journal of Archaeological Science (2011), doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.019
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J.-F. Zhang et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science xxx (2011) 1e14
likely to come from the sand layer on the higher terrace or
weathered sandstone bedrock. In order to compare, the distribution curve of a typical Malan loess sample (HK07-10) from Locality
2 of the site, a modern floodplain silt sample and a fluvial sand
sample from the Yellow River (Zhang et al., 2009, 2010a) are also
shown in Fig. 4. It can be seen that the grain size distributions of the
OSL samples are very similar to that of the typical Malan loess
sample, and different from those of the fluvial samples. The MS
depth function for the south section of the excavation is illustrated
in Fig. 2c. Here, we only refer to the results of the low frequency
measurements. The average MS values of the samples for Layers 4
and 5 are 33.5 0.5 and 38.0 0.8 108 m3 kg1, respectively.
Based on MS values, Layer 6 can be divided into upper and lower
parts, and their average MS values are 46.0 0.3 and
55.1 0.5 108 m3 kg1, respectively. It can be seen that the MS
values generally increase with depth, but the values remain roughly
constant for the samples within Layer 4, 5, the upper and lower
parts of Layer 6, respectively.
4.2. Radiocarbon ages
The radiocarbon ages obtained are listed in Table 1, and shown
in Fig. 2f. For Layer 6, the upper sample (BA091129) at a depth of
2.23 m is about 2 ka older than the underlying sample (BA091130)
at a depth of 2.43 m. The latter is consistent with the radiocarbon
ages of the charcoal samples from Layer 5. The comparison with the
OSL age of w29 ka for fine-grained quartz (discussed below) indicates that the age of sample BA091130 may be inaccurate. It is
inferred that this sample is likely to be slightly contaminated by
younger carbon deriving from underground water at the depth of
2.43 m (Bird et al., 2002), and the contaminant carbon was not
eliminated by the standard AAA pretreatment. Alternatively, this
sample may also be incorporated from Layer 5. This date will
therefore be excluded from further consideration. The 14C dates
obtained for the four charcoal samples at depths of 1.53e1.18 m in
Layer 5 are almost identical, and their average is 26.4 0.2 ka. The
14
C ages of the four charcoal samples at depths of 0.73e0.43 m in
Layer 4 are statistically consistent, and yield an average age of
25.1 0.2 ka. It is noted that the hearth charcoal sample (BA091131)
and a sedimentary charcoal sample BA06009 are from the same
Fig. 4. Grain size distribution curves for the OSL sediment samples. The distribution of
a loess sample (HK07-10) from Locality 2, a modern floodplain silt sample and a fluvial
sand sample from the Yellow River (Zhang et al., 2010a, b) are also displayed for
comparison.
depth, and they gave similar ages (Table 1), suggesting that the
sedimentary charcoal sample is in situ.
4.3. Optical dating
4.3.1. Water contents and dose rates
The water contents of the two core samples at the same depth of
the two boreholes are almost identical. Their average values,
ranging from 8 to 18% with an average of 12.3 0.5%, are shown in
Fig. 2d. Water contents decrease from 15% at a depth of 0.2 cm to 8%
at a depth of 1.2 m, and then increase with depth until it reaches to
18% at a depth of 3.0 m. The shale bedrock acts as an impermeable
layer that prevents drainage, this results in increased water
contents for the bottom samples. The open circles in Fig. 2d are the
running average of three adjacent points, and are taken as the longterm water content of the OSL samples at the same depth as
borehole samples. The calculated water contents and dose rates are
listed in Table 2. The dose rates for the samples from Layer 6 are
generally smaller than those for the samples from Layers 4 and 5
(Fig. 2e).
4.3.2. Luminescence properties
Accurate dating of sediments using luminescence techniques
are, to a large extent, dependent on the luminescence properties of
dated materials, especially when the SAR protocol is used to
determine equivalent dose. Preheat plateau tests were first carried
out on the FG quartz of sample LWC-OSL-10 and the CG quartz of
sample LWC-OSL-06 at the preheat temperature of 160e280 C at
20 C increments. At least 3 aliquots per temperature step for each
sample were measured. The individual De values obtained as
a function of preheat temperature are displayed in Fig. 5, in which
the recuperation and recycling ratios are also shown. Fig. 5 indicates no systematic dependence on preheat temperature at least in
the ranges 160e260 C for sample LWC-OSL-10 (Fig. 5a) and
160e280 C for sample LWC-OSL-06 (Fig. 5b). Over the whole range
of preheat temperatures, the recycling ratios are close to unity, and
the recuperation values are less than 1.45%. These show that the
samples appear to behave well in the SAR protocol over the tested
temperature range.
Dose recovery tests were also performed to further validate the
SAR procedure. The natural OSL signals in quartz aliquots were first
removed by exposing the aliquots to blue light within the reader at
room temperature for 100 s. The residual OSL signals were examined by a second 100 s OSL measurement at least 2000 s after
bleaching, and no OSL signals could be observed. The aliquots were
then irradiated with a laboratory beta dose approximately equal to
the natural dose (De) of the sample. This laboratory dose (given
dose) was then taken as unknown, and the aliquots were treated as
“natural samples”. After a storage of at least 10,000 s, the ‘De’s of the
irradiated aliquots were measured using the SAR protocol. Fig. 6a
shows the dose recovery ratios (the ratios of the measured to given
dose), recycling ratios and recuperation as a function of preheat
temperature for the FG quartz of sample LWC-OSL10. The average
dose recovery ratios at each preheat temperature are within 6% of
unit in the range of 160e260 C, with very small recuperation and
the recycling ratios close to unity. The above procedure was then
applied to all the FG quartz fractions using preheat temperatures of
200 and 220 C, and all the CG quartz fractions using 200 C. The
results are shown in Fig. 6b. The average dose recovery ratios for the
three conditions are 0.99 0.01, 0.94 0.01 and 1.01 0.01,
respectively. This suggests that the given doses were adequately
recovered for both the FG and CG quartz when a preheat temperature of 200 C was used. Relatively, the given doses were
systematically slightly underestimated when the preheat temperature of 220 C was adopted for FG quartz (Fig. 6b). The difference
Please cite this article in press as: Zhang, J.-F., et al., The paleolithic site of Longwangchan in the middle Yellow River, China: chronology,
paleoenvironment and implications, Journal of Archaeological Science (2011), doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.019
J.-F. Zhang et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science xxx (2011) 1e14
7
Table 2
The results of optical dating of sediment samples from the Longwangchan site.
Lab No.
Field No.
Layer
Depth,
m
Grain size,
mm
U, ppm
Th, ppm
K, %
Water
content, %
Dose rate, Gy ka1
L1387
LWC-OSL-1
4
0.20
3.97 0.13
9.97 0.35
1.91 0.04
13.7
L1388
LWC-OSL-2
4
0.40
3.64 0.12
10.10 0.34
1.88 0.04
12.9
L1389
LWC-OSL-3
4
0.60
2.98 0.11
10.30 0.34
2.10 0.05
11.7
L1390
LWC-OSL-4
5
0.80
2.84 0.11
10.50 0.35
2.02 0.04
10.8
L1391
LWC-OSL-5
5
1.00
2.72 0.11
10.70 0.34
2.03 0.04
8.8
L1392
LWC-OSL-6
5
1.20
2.65 0.11
10.60 0.34
2.03 0.04
8.1
L1393
LWC-OSL-7
5
1.40
3.65 0.12
10.10 0.31
1.91 0.04
9.3
L1394
LWC-OSL-8
5
1.60
2.98 0.10
10.50 0.33
1.92 0.04
11.2
L1395
LWC-OSL-9
6
1.80
3.05 0.11
10.80 0.32
2.04 0.04
12.5
L1396
LWC-OSL-10
6
2.00
2.80 0.10
10.60 0.33
1.96 0.04
14.0
L1397
LWC-OSL-11
6
2.20
2.74 0.10
10.50 0.33
1.88 0.04
14.7
L1398
LWC-OSL-12
6
2.40
2.68 0.10
10.50 0.32
1.83 0.04
15.4
L1399
LWC-OSL-13
6
2.60
2.85 0.10
10.20 0.32
1.92 0.04
16.7
L1400
LWC-OSL-14
6
2.80
2.64 0.10
10.00 0.31
1.94 0.04
17.1
L1401
LWC-OSL-15
6
3.00
4e11
90e125
4e11
90e125
4e11
90e125
4e11
90e125
4e11
90e125
4e11
90e125
4e11
90e125
4e11
90e125
4e11
90e125
4e11
90e125
4e11
90e125
4e11
90e125
4e11
90e125
4e11
90e125
4e11
90e125
2.58 0.10
10.40 0.31
1.85 0.04
17.4
3.84
3.27
3.73
3.18
3.79
3.27
3.72
3.21
3.79
3.27
3.78
3.26
3.87
3.30
3.64
3.12
3.74
3.21
3.52
3.03
3.40
2.92
3.31
2.84
3.36
2.89
3.29
2.84
3.22
2.77
in dose recovery ratio for FG quartz between the preheat temperatures of 200 and 220 C indicates that the luminescence properties
of these samples are sensitive to preheat temperature. This is
further confirmed by the comparison of the De values obtained for
all the FG quartz fractions using the SAR protocol with preheats of
200 and 220 C for 10 s, the De values obtained at a preheat
temperature of 220 C for most of the samples are slightly smaller
than those obtained at 200 C (Fig. S1). The good recycling ratios for
both FG and CG quartz fractions indicate that sensitivity changes
0.16
0.08
0.16
0.08
0.15
0.08
0.14
0.08
0.14
0.08
0.14
0.08
0.16
0.08
0.15
0.08
0.15
0.08
0.14
0.08
0.14
0.08
0.14
0.08
0.14
0.08
0.13
0.08
0.13
0.08
Number of
aliquots
De, Gy
Optical
age, ka
5
10
5
10
5
10
5
10
5
15
5
15
5
10
5
10
5
10
12
25
5
10
5
10
5
15
5
32
5
15
82.10 2.11
85.85 3.05
85.69 1.48
96.77 2.93
101.53 1.95
106.88 5.92
89.97 0.90
92.01 2.75
85.51 1.72
97.18 3.64
86.23 2.38
98.15 2.45
89.42 2.09
91.37 3.18
91.63 3.18
86.91 3.41
95.49 2.43
89.17 3.09
88.18 2.27
80.39 2.75
87.73 1.67
81.13 2.21
94.81 2.59
98.48 2.38
93.23 2.02
115.48 9.92
94.02 1.88
125.87 5.80
92.49 2.20
115.24 2.97
21.4
26.3
23.0
30.4
26.8
32.6
24.2
28.7
22.6
29.8
22.8
30.1
23.1
27.7
25.2
27.9
25.6
27.8
25.1
26.5
25.8
27.8
28.7
34.7
27.7
39.9
28.6
44.3
28.8
41.6
1.1
1.2
1.0
1.2
1.2
2.0
1.0
1.1
1.0
1.3
1.1
1.0
1.1
1.2
1.3
1.3
1.2
1.2
1.2
1.1
1.2
1.0
1.4
1.2
1.3
3.6
1.3
2.4
1.4
1.6
that may occur during the measurements are adequately corrected
for. Therefore, the De values obtained at a preheat temperature of
200 C for fine and coarse grains were used for age calculation.
4.3.3. Optical ages
The optical (OSL) ages for the samples were calculated from
equivalent dose divided by dose rate (Table 2, Fig. 2f). The FG quartz
OSL ages range from 28.8 1.4 ka for sample LWC-OSL-15 at
a depth of 3.0 m to 21.4 1.1 ka for sample LWC-OSL-1 at a depth of
Fig. 5. Plots of equivalent dose, recycling ratios and recuperation versus preheat temperature for the fine-grained quartz (4e11 mm) of sample LWC-OSL-10 (a) and the coarsegrained quartz (90e125 mm) of sample LWC-OSL-06 (b). The individual values (open diamonds) and the means with associated errors (solid squares) are displayed. Recuperation is
expressed as the corrected zero-dose OSL in percentage of corrected natural OSL intensity.
Please cite this article in press as: Zhang, J.-F., et al., The paleolithic site of Longwangchan in the middle Yellow River, China: chronology,
paleoenvironment and implications, Journal of Archaeological Science (2011), doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.019
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J.-F. Zhang et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science xxx (2011) 1e14
Fig. 6. (a) Dose recovery ratios for the OSL samples. (a) A dose recovery test performed on the fine-grained quartz of sample LWC-OSL-10, using different preheat temperatures;
(b) dose recovery tests on fine-grained quartz from all fifteen samples using preheat temperatures of 200 and 220 C, and on all the coarse-grained quartz using 200 C. Open
diamonds represent the values for individual aliquots, and the solid squares refer to the mean of at least three aliquots and associated errors.
0.2 m, and are generally in stratigraphic order except for sample
LWC-OSL-3 at a depth of 0.6 m. For Layer 6, the OSL age values can
be divided into two units, as indicated by the MS record, corresponding to the lower and upper parts of the layer. The OSL ages of
four samples from each unit are identical within errors, and the
average ages of the lower and the upper parts are 28.5 0.3 and
25.4 0.2 ka, respectively. For Layer 5, the ages of the three samples
at depths of 1.0e1.4 m are identical, and their average is
22.8 0.1 ka, which is slightly younger than the age of the overlying sample (LWC-OSL-4) at a depth of 0.8 m. The FG OSL ages of
the three samples from Layer 4 were are in correct stratigraphic
order. The CG quartz of the samples in the stratigraphic sequence
yields OSL ages from 44.3 2.4 to 26.3 1.2 ka (Table 2). These CG
quartz OSL ages are not in strict stratigraphic order (Fig. 2f), and are
larger than the corresponding FG OSL ages except for the upper part
of Layer 6 in which the four samples are statistically identical.
5. Discussion
5.1. Sedimentological properties
The sedimentary properties of deposits can help us to understand changes in depositional environment and explain the results
of optical dating. Grain size distribution is widely used to elucidate
transport processes and discriminate different depositional environments (e.g. Mason and Folk, 1958; Friedman, 1961; Visher, 1969;
Mclaren and Blowles, 1985; Draut et al., 2008). For loess deposits,
the grain size distribution is also employed as an indicator of winter
monsoon (e.g. An et al., 1991b; Xiao et al., 1995; Sun et al., 2004).
Loess deposits are usually characterized by bimodal grain size
distributions, and their frequency curve shows a wider kurtosis
(relatively poorer sorting) and a less negative skewness than
floodplain deposits (e.g. Sun et al., 2002, 2004; Pan et al., 2009). The
shapes of the grain-size distribution curves for the OSL samples,
and the comparison with those of the typical loess and fluvial
samples (Fig. 4) indicate that the deposits from Locality 1 of the
Longwangchan site are of aeolian origin, not of fluvial origin. The
aeolian origin is also supported by their field characteristics such as
vertical joints, massive structure and no horizontal bedding as
mentioned above.
MS of sediments is a factor reflecting their capacities to be
magnetized by a magnetic field, i.e. the concentrations of magnetic
minerals in the sediments. MS has been widely used as a proxy for
climatic variation, and also used for correlating regional stratigraphic units, especially for Chinese loess (e.g. Kukla et al., 1988; An
et al., 1991a; Banerjee, 1995). Recently, the MS method has also
been applied in archaeogeophysical study (Dalan, 2008). Here the
MS properties of the sediments are characterized by little change in
MS values within a layer (Layers 4 and 5, or upper and lower parts
of Layer 6), suggesting that the sediments within a layer are relatively homogeneous. This is also indicated by the relatively uniform
grain size and dose rates throughout these layers (Fig. 2e).
Fig. 2f shows that the 14C ages of the samples from different
depths for Layer 5, the upper and lower parts of Layers 6 are
statistically indistinguishable; the OSL ages show similar uniformity within each layer. The most likely explanation for this is that
the stratigraphic integrity of the deposits within a layer was
disturbed by anthropogenic activities or pedoturbation (Wood and
Johnson, 1978; Bateman et al., 2003; Khaweerat et at., 2010;
Feathers et al., 2010), as demonstrated by a large scatter in De in
Fig. S2. The mixing of the sediments within a layer results in that
14
C or OSL ages do not exactly reflect the true deposition age of
a sample, but represent the mean age of all sediments within the
layer. This is because if these samples are naturally deposited, and
have not been affected by post-depositional disturbance, the upper
samples would be younger than the underlying ones, as indicated
by the OSL ages of the loess samples from the Luochuan section
(Fig. 7a). The hiatus between layers indicated by ages suggests that
the upper sediment of the underlying layer was eroded. This close
age relationship could also be the result of rapid deposition (e.g.,
Adler et al., 2008). However, this appears not to be supported by the
rate of loess deposition in the CLP as indicated by Fig. 7a.
5.2. Comparison of fine-grained and coarse-grained quartz OSL
ages
It can be seen from Fig. 2f that the CG quartz OSL ages are older
than the corresponding FG quartz OSL ages for the OSL samples
except for those from the upper part of Layer 6, where the errors
somewhat overlap. The difference between them is up to 55%
Please cite this article in press as: Zhang, J.-F., et al., The paleolithic site of Longwangchan in the middle Yellow River, China: chronology,
paleoenvironment and implications, Journal of Archaeological Science (2011), doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.019
J.-F. Zhang et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science xxx (2011) 1e14
9
Fig. 7. The archaeological deposits from Locality 1 compared to the Luochuan loess section: (a) OSL ages (Lu et al., 2007), (b) lithology (Kukla and An, 1989), (c) median quartz grain
size (Xiao et al., 1995) and (d) magnetic susceptibility (An et al., 1991a). (e) and (f) are the Marine Oxygen Isotope curve (Martinson et al., 1987) and speleothem oxygen isotope
record (Wang et al., 2001, 2008), respectively.
(15.7 ka) for sample LWC-OSL-14 at a depth of 2.8 m. As discussed
above, the luminescence properties of FG and CG quartz showed that
both of them are suitable for OSL dating using the SAR procedure,
implying that their large age discrepancy cannot be explained by
differences in luminescence properties. The most likely explanation
for this difference is that the FG and CG grains have different levels of
residual OSL signals prior to burial due to their specific transport
processes. The FG and CG grains are inferred to have different
origins. The silt-sized and fine grains, the main component of the
deposits, are believed to be of aeolian origin as discussed above, and
thus considered to be well bleached at the event to be dated and
yield more reliable OSL ages relative to coarse grains. This is also
supported by the comparison of OSL dates with radiocarbon dates
(discussed below). The coarse grains are inferred to be poorly
bleached prior to burial. This is due to that some coarse grains could
be from the nearby sandstone. Their OSL ages appear to be overestimated. On the other hand, the comparison of the FG and CG OSL
ages also implies that these deposits are not fluvial in origin. If the
sediments were fluvial in origin, coarse grains would have yielded
more reliable ages, because they are generally considered to be
relatively well bleached compared to fine grains (e.g. Olley et al.,
1998; Hu et al., 2010; Zhang et al., 2010a). Thus it is important to
select quartz grains of suitable size for optical dating in order to
obtain reliable ages, as also suggested by previous investigations
(e.g. Zhang et al., 2010a; Hu et al., 2010; Avni et al., 2010).
5.3. Comparison of OSL with radiocarbon ages and chronology
Optical dating estimates the time that has elapsed since the
sample was last exposed to daylight and buried. This means that
sediment deposition ages can be directly determined using optical
dating techniques (e.g. Aitken, 1998). Age estimates in optical
dating depend on the estimation of accurate De and dose rate of the
dated samples. The OSL signals in some sediments had not well
zeroed before burial, this would results in age overestimation.
Changes in moisture content and burial depth during the burial
period can result in inaccurate estimation of dose rate.
Radiocarbon dating estimates the time of the death of an
organism. Radiocarbon dating of charcoal is generally expected to
yield reliable ages for archaeological and other sites. However,
dating some sedimentary charcoal fragments may be problematic
due to chemical alteration or contamination by younger carbon
(e.g. Smith et al., 2001; Bird et al., 2002), especially for older
samples, such as those older than 25 ka (e.g. Higham et al., 2009a,
b). Even radiocarbon ages for hearth charcoal samples from the
same cultural layer are not statistically consistent (e.g. Graf, 2009),
suggesting that contamination may vary from sample to sample. On
the other hand, charcoal from an archeological site may not relate
to human activity (e.g. Valladas et al., 2003; Gillespie and Brook,
2006), or provides the dates which may not reflect the deposition
age of the sediments due to mobilization or re-deposition of older
charcoal (e.g. Blong and Gillespie, 1978; El-Daoushy and Eriksson,
1998; Bubenzer et al., 2007). The above discussion suggests that
it is very important to confirm the validity of radiocarbon dates of
charcoal obtained for a site by comparing with other independent
age controls.
The radiocarbon and optical ages obtained for the Longwangchan site are completely independent of each other, because
they are based on different physical principles, and applied to
different materials which may have different origins. Both of the
Please cite this article in press as: Zhang, J.-F., et al., The paleolithic site of Longwangchan in the middle Yellow River, China: chronology,
paleoenvironment and implications, Journal of Archaeological Science (2011), doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.019
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J.-F. Zhang et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science xxx (2011) 1e14
radiocarbon and optical dating methods are commonly employed
for dating an archaeological site in order to avoid any chronological
distortion caused by inadequacies of any particular methods (e.g.
Morwood et al., 2004; Roberts et al., 2005, 2009; Prescott et al.,
2007; Richter et al., 2009; Zhang et al., 2010b). The validity of the
radiocarbon and OSL ages obtained for the section should be
evaluated for each sample before a detail chronology of the
deposits in the site can be reliably established.
Fig. 2f demonstrates that the calibrated radiocarbon ages and
the FG quartz OSL ages obtained for the whole section are generally
comparable and in stratigraphic order. For Layer 6, the radiocarbon
age of sample BA091130 at a depth of 2.43 m is broadly consistent
with the FG OSL ages of the four samples from the lower part of the
layer, and the charcoal sample (BA091129) at a depth of 2.23 m is in
excellent agreement with the FG OSL ages, suggesting that this
charcoal sample has not been contaminated by younger carbon,
and the charcoal age can reflect its deposition age. The 14C and OSL
dates suggest that the lower part of Layer 6 was accumulated
around 29 ka. This is also the formation age of the T1 terrace. The
four FG OSL dates of the loess samples from the upper part of Layer
6 are slightly younger than the 14C ages of the overlying layer (Layer
5), suggesting that the OSL ages are possibly slightly underestimated. Based on the 14C ages of overlying and underlying layers,
this part is inferred to accumulate at about 26 ka. An age gap of
about 3 ka between the upper and lower bed of Layer 6 may be
caused by erosion events between 26 and 29 ka, but the erosion
surface between them has not been observed in field.
In Layer 5, the radiocarbon ages of the four charcoal samples are
w3.6 ka older than the FG quartz OSL ages of the three loess
samples from the depths of 1.0e1.4 m. We inferred that the OSL
ages may be underestimated because the long-term water contents
of the three sedimentary samples might not be accurately estimated. The measured water contents of these samples are lower
than those of other samples in this section as shown in Fig. 2d. For
example, sample LWC-OSL-6 at a depth of 1.2 m was dated to
22.8 1.1 ka when the measured water content of 8% was used for
age calculation, a date of 25.0 1.2 ka will be obtained if its water
content is taken as 17%, the value measured for the base of the
secction. It is noted that in situ water content is affected by rainfall
immediately prior to sampling (Qiu et al., 2001; Seneviratne et al.,
2010), and the long-term water content is also influenced by the
moisture which fluctuates during the burial period (e.g. Chen et al.,
2010; von Suchodoletz et al., 2010). As shown in Fig. 2b, the grain
size of the sediments in Layer 5 changes rapidly, suggesting more
pore spaces between grains than those in the overlying and
underlying layers, the variation in grain-size which in turn influences differences in water content, especially that climate has
fluctuated significantly throughout the burial history of the
samples (discussed below). For these reasons we believe that the
deposition age of Layer 5 is about 26-25 ka. Compared to the age of
the overlying layer (Layer 4), we infer that the deposition of Layer 5
ended at > 25 ka. The shovel and quern from this layer are thus
inferred to be w25 ka old.
The 14C dates for Layer 4 are bracketed by the FG OSL ages of the
loess samples (Fig. 2f). The stratigraphically self-consistent OSL
ages suggest that the OSL ages more accurately reflect the true time
of deposition for this layer. Layer 4 is thus regarded to be deposited
in the period of 25 to 21 ka.
The 14C and FG OSL dates obtained suggest that Layers 6, 5 and 4
at Locality 1 were deposited at 29e26, 26e25, 25e21 ka, respectively, i.e, the human occupation at Locality 1 ranges from 29 ka to
21 ka. In northern China, other contemporaneous sites include
the site of Zhoukoudian (Upper Cave, 39 41’N, 115 550 E)
(Chen et al., 1992), Shuidonggou Locality 2 (38 17’N, 106 30’E)
(Madsen et al., 2001; Gao et al., 2002), Pengyang (35 50’N,
106 38’E) (Ji et al., 2005), Xiachuan (3527’N,112 020 E) (Chen and
Wang, 1989); ZL05 (originally “ZL005” or “Sumiaoyuantou”,
3517N0 , 106 050 E) (Ji et al., 2005; Barton et al., 2007). All these sites
are located in regions south of 40 N latitude (Barton et al., 2007).
5.4. Paleoenvironment
The loess/palaeosol sequences in the CLP record world-wide and
regional climate and environmental changes (e.g. Chen et al., 1997;
An, 2000; Porter, 2001). The Luochuan (35 430 N, 109 250 E) loesspaleosol sequence (Fig. 7) has been widely investigated, and
considered as a type section in the CLP (e.g. Liu, 1985; An et al.,
1991b; Porter and An, 1995; Xiao et al., 1995). The Longwangchan
site is located about 100 km away from the Luochuan section. The
deposits of Locality 1 is equivalent in age to the lower part of the
L1LL1 loess unit (Kukla and An, 1989) of the Luochaun loess section.
L1LL1 is the upper part of Malan loess (L1), representing an
extremely cold and dry interval of the last glacial cycle (Fig. 7), and
indicative of the strongest winter monsoon (Chen et al., 1997). The
MS curve of the section of Locality 1 shows variations similar to
those of the equivalent segment of the Luochuan section (Figs. 2c
and 7), indicating the variations in winter monsoon intensity.
Although the grain size of the sediments from Locality 1 generally
increases from bottom to upper layers, the grain size curves of the
two sections are not well matched. This may be because the grainsize curve of the Luochuan section was determined by measuring
quartz grains (Xiao et al., 1995), and the post-depositional disturbance for the deposits of Locality 1 as discussed above. In addition,
the comparison of grain size curves between very high resolution
sections in the CLP is more difficult (e.g. Derbyshire et al., 1995). The
relatively large variation in grain size for Layers 4 and 5 may indicates abrupt fluctuations in climate over the period of Layers 4 and
5 (Chen et al., 1997; Porter, 2001).
The oxygen isotope curves of speleothem calcite from the Hulu
Cave (Wang et al., 2001) in southeast China, Dongge Cave in southcentral China (Yuan et al., 2004), Sanbao Cave (Wang et al., 2008)
and Jiuxian Cave (Cai et al., 2010) in central China have provided
a proxy for monsoon intensity in China. Higher speleothem d18O
values represent strong winter monsoons (cold/dry), and lower
values suggest stronger summer monsoons (warm/wet). Fig. 7
indicates that the sediments of Locality 1 were deposited during
late MIS 3 and early MIS 2 (Martinson et al., 1987). The speleothem
d18O record indicates that the climate during this period was
dominated by a strongly intensified winter monsoon and a weakened summer monsoon. The moisture was reduced from moderate
wet or wet at w30 ka to rather dry condition at w20 ka, and the
insolation was also reduced (Herzschuh, 2006). These are consistent with the change in grain size and MS values for the section of
this locality. The main vegetation types in the CLP during this
period were Artemisia-rich steppes or ArtemisiaeChenopodiaceaerich desert steppes, and are characterized by strong spatial and
temporal variability (Herzschuh and Liu, 2007).
It is inferred from above discussion that the bedrock channel of
the Yellow River in the study area was abandoned, and the river
incised to lower level at w29 ka. Loess began to accumulate on
the newly abandoned channel (strath surface of the T1 terrace). The
human occupation was approximatedly coincident with the
beginning of loess deposition. The local river incision rate of
w0.3 m/ka over the past 29 ka is obtained by dividing the height
(9 m) of the strath above the modern river bed by the abandonment
age (29 ka) of the strath. The sediment properties of the deposits
indicate that the terrace probably has rarely been flooded by the
Yellow River since its formation, which may relate to the cold and
dry climate during the occupation period and the rapid bedrock
Please cite this article in press as: Zhang, J.-F., et al., The paleolithic site of Longwangchan in the middle Yellow River, China: chronology,
paleoenvironment and implications, Journal of Archaeological Science (2011), doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.019
J.-F. Zhang et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science xxx (2011) 1e14
incision rate. This means that the formation of the terrace created
a local environment suitable for human habitation.
5.5. Implications for the regional transition from hunting foraging
to farming
Archaeological findings at the Longwangchan site are important
because they represent a crucial but poorly understood phase in the
history of the human occupation of north China. Scholars working
in different parts of the world agree that the development of
agriculture is one of the most fundamental processes in human
history. It not only altered the subsistence strategies, dietary habits,
and living conditions of humans in many regions of the world, but
at the same time it is also associated with meaningful transformations in social relations and cultural formations that
dramatically changed the nature of human societies and set the
stage for the development of complex societies (e.g. Bar-Yosef,
2001; Cauvin, 2000; Hodder and Cessford, 2004; Peterson and
Shelach, 2010; Winterhalder and Kennett, 2009). If we are to
examine the causes for this meaningful transformation of human
economy and society, we cannot look for it in the archaeological
record of the already developed agricultural villages of the Holocene period, but should rather examine the longer trajectory of
socio-economic change that occurred during the late Pleistocene
and early Holocene. Unfortunately, our archaeological knowledge
of these periods in north China is very limited. As one recent study
points out, among the handful of centers of independent agricultural development in the world, north China is the only one for
which we cannot reconstruct the full trajectory from hunter-gatherer societies to agricultural communities (Bettinger et al., 2007).
The archaeological assemblage of Locality 1 of the Longwangchan site can help fill this gap in our archaeological knowledge and provide crucial data to address one of the most intriguing
riddles of human history: why, after more than a million years as
successful hunters and gatherers, did some human societies change
their subsistence strategy and become food producers? While we
need more data that directly pertains to the animals and plants that
the prehistoric population of Longwangchan utilized, analysis of
the artifacts so far recovered from this site provides some intriguing
insights. The stone tools assemblage of Locality 1 is dominated by
blades, especially microblades. Microlith production is, in fact,
a regional phenomenon and they are commonly found at late
Pleistocene sites throughout north China as well as Mongolia,
Siberia, the Korean peninsula and Japan (Chen and Wang, 1989;
Chen, 2007; Kuzmin, 2007). The ability to produce such tiny artifacts represents a development in sophisticated techniques of
working with stone and a much more efficient use of raw materials.
It also represents a more complex way of producing tools, as the
microliths were probably imbedded into wooden or bone handles
to form the cutting edges of composite tools such as knives, sickles,
or arrows. Although slight variations in the style and relative
number of microliths may exist from site to site, we argue that the
overall regional trend is to be associated with socio-economic
changes.
The development of microlithic industries and related tool-kits,
such as grinding stones (see below) and the somewhat later
appearance of ceramic vessels, must be associated not only with
technological developments during the late Holocene period but
also with changes in the economic strategies of the societies that
produced these artifacts. Although there is no scholarly consensus,
most archaeologists associate microlithic industries with diversification of food sources (e.g. Aikens, 1992; Madsen et al., 1996).
Microliths, which were flexible multi-function artifacts, could be
used for hunting (functioning as arrowheads) but also for gathering
plants (the cutting edges of reaping tools such as sickles and knives)
11
and other food gathering and processing tasks (Chen, 2007;
Madsen et al., 1996). As hunting implements, the small microliths
represent a transition from a specialized hunting strategy focused
on one or very few types of highly productive big animals to an
opportunistic strategy of hunting small game. Such an understanding is closely associated with the ‘broad-spectrum’ hypothesis, which views the expansion of the food resources utilized by
hunter-gatherers, and especially the exploitation of secondary food
sources such as smaller animals, seeds and nuts, as a crucial
precondition for the development of agriculture (among others,
Stiner, 2001).
It is against this background that we should evaluate the
importance of the c. 25 ka old quern (grinding slab) and shovel
found at Locality 1. While similar artifacts are known from late
Plistocene and early Holocene sites in north and south China (Wang
et al., 1978; Zhao et al., 2004; Zhou, 2000), this grinding slab is the
oldest one found anywhere in China, and is among the earliest in
the world. Ground stone artifacts, and especially flat grinding slabs
and polished stone axes, were traditionally associated with the socalled ‘Neolithic Revolution’. Since the original definition of the
‘Neolithic Revolution’ by V. Gordon Childe, almost 90 years ago, it
has been shown that in many places around the world grinding
stones were produced by non-agriculturalist societies during the
late Holocene (e.g. Fullagar and Field, 1997; Wright, 1994). Because
grinding is a labor-intensive method of processing food, its invention during this period must have been related to the desire to
consume second rate and hard-to-digest food resources. Thus,
grinding stones are associated with the ‘broad-spectrum’ economic
strategy and especially with the increased utilization of grains. At
least one place in the Levant, the Ohalo II site, the analysis of plant
starch extracted from a c. 23 ka old ground stone (probably used as
an anvil) suggests that it was indeed used for the processing of
grass seeds, including barley and possibly wheat (Piperno et al.,
2004).
According to the commonly held model for the beginning of
agriculture, intensive harvesting, consumption and planting of wild
grains, especially cereals, eventually led to their domestication (e.g.
Jones, 2007), and thus grinding slabs such as the one found at
Locality 1 are directly associated with the transition to agriculture.
However, recent residue and usewear analyses conducted on two
grinding stones (one flat ’quern’ and one long and narrow ’hand
stone’) from Donghulin suggest that they were probably used to
process acorns and not cereals (Liu et al., 2010). Donghulin is
located in the western suburbs of Beijing, on the second terrace of
the Qingshui River, and was dated to c. 10 ka ago. It contains, apart
from the grinding stones, other ground stones as well as microliths
and pot shards (Zhao, 2006). While few if any similar experiments
have been conducted on grinding and pounding stones of preagricultural and early agricultural sites, acorn and walnut remains
are often found even in relatively advanced agricultural sites in
China (e.g. Duan, 2007; Kong and Du, 1985).
The above discussion may suggest that the processing of acorns
and other nuts was the major function of the early grinding stones
in north China, or that they were used to process both grains and
nuts. Either way, we argue that those tools represent an important
change in the economic strategy of societies located in north China
during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene. The exploitation of
a much larger variety of plants and animals which were abundantly
found in their environment e the so-called ‘broad-spectrum’
strategy e allowed these societies to reduce the size of their
foraging territory and eventually to become semi-sedentary. Acorns
and nuts, which are known to have been found in very productive
patches, could have played an important role in this process. Even if
the plants and animals which were to become the staple domestic
foods of the agriculturalist societies of north China were initially
Please cite this article in press as: Zhang, J.-F., et al., The paleolithic site of Longwangchan in the middle Yellow River, China: chronology,
paleoenvironment and implications, Journal of Archaeological Science (2011), doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.019
12
J.-F. Zhang et al. / Journal of Archaeological Science xxx (2011) 1e14
not very important, this process of sedentarism, probably only at its
incipient stages during the Pleistocene, and experimentation with
secondary food sources can be seen as the initial step toward their
domestication. More complex scenarios such as these may better
explain the long time span between the initial appearance of
grinding stones and the early evidence for the domestication of
grains in north China.
Additionally, the Longwangchan site has highly significant
implications for our understanding of human adaptations to
climate change, and to the relationship between cultural evolution
and climate change in the CLP during the MIS 3/2 transition (Barton
et al., 2007; Madsen and Elston, 2007; Madsen et al., 2007). The
findings also help us better understand the development of
microlithic technology in China, especially in north China (Gai,
1985; Chen and Wang, 1989; Elston and Brantingham, 2002).
6. Conclusions
The archaeological findings from Locality 1 of the Longwangchan site are comparable to those from contemporaneous
sites in north China. The deposits in the locality were dated to
21e29 ka using radiocarbon and optical dating techniques and
most of the deposits were deposited between 25 ka and 29 ka. Both
the radiocarbon and optical ages are excellent consistent, and they
are generally in stratigraphic order and span late MIS 3 and early
MIS 2. Human occupation of this site was contemporaneous with
the formation of the lowest Yellow River terrace in this area. During
the human occupation of Locality 1, the climate was dominated by
strong winter monsoon, and became colder and drier. The chronology of the deposits indicates that the grinding stone (quern) is
about 25 ka old, which is the oldest one of its kind known in China.
This grinding slab may imply an incipient change in the economic
strategy of the local community. Eventually such changes are
related to that the regional transition from hunting foraging to
farming. This needs further investigations including the extraction
of plant starch grains from the grinding stones and usewear
analyses.
Acknowledgments
This work was supported by the National Natural Science
Foundation of China (NSFC, No. 40871009). We also thank Prof.
Wei-Wen Huang for discussion. We appreciate the helpful
comments provided by the two anonymous reviewers.
Appendix. Supplementary data
Supplementary data associated with this article can be found in
online version at doi:10.1016/j.jas.2011.02.019.
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