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Luminescence chronology and lithic technology of Tianhuadong Cave, an early Upper Pleistocene Paleolithic site in southwest China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 December 2019

Yue Hu ,
Qijun Ruan ,
Jianhui Liu ,
Ben Marwick  and
Bo Li Open the ORCID record for Bo Li [Opens in a new window]
Yue Hu
Affiliation:
Department of Archaeology, Sichuan University, 29 Wangjiang Road, Chengdu610064, China Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales2522, Australia
Qijun Ruan
Affiliation:
Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology, Kunming, Yunnan650118, China
Jianhui Liu
Affiliation:
Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archeology, Kunming, Yunnan650118, China
Ben Marwick
Affiliation:
Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington98105, USA
Bo Li*
Affiliation:
Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales2522, Australia ARC Centre of Excellence for Australian Biodiversity and Heritage, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales2522, Australia
*
*Corresponding author at: Centre for Archaeological Science, School of Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of Wollongong, Wollongong, New South Wales2522, Australia. E-mail address: bli@uow.edu.au (B. Li).
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Abstract

Tianhuadong is a cave site located in the northwest of Yunnan Province, China. Since 2010, several surveys and one test excavation have yielded more than 1000 stone artifacts. The lithic assemblage shows some features of Levallois and Quina technologies, similar to those found in Middle Paleolithic sites in the Western Hemisphere. In this study, we summarize the lithic industry and propose a reliable chronology for the site using optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating of individual quartz grains extracted from sediments. We applied the standardized growth curve method to deal with the problem associated with the saturation in natural OSL signals in quartz. Our dating results yielded ages of 90–40 ka, suggesting that the associated lithic assemblage could be assigned to Marine Oxygen Isotope Stages 5 and 4 and could potentially represent Middle Paleolithic technologies. Because the number of Middle Paleolithic sites in southwest China is small, this site provides one of the few traces of human occupation in southwest China during the early upper Pleistocene. Thus, it is important for understanding hominin evolution and dispersal in this region.

Keywords

Southwest ChinaMiddle PaleolithicLuminescence datingSingle grainStandardized growth curves
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 94 , March 2020 , pp. 121 - 136
Copyright
Copyright © University of Washington. Published by Cambridge University Press, 2019

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Footnotes

†

These authors contributed equally to this study.

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