Recent Paleolithic field investigations in Bose Basin (Guangxi, China)

Abstract

Paleolithic stone artifacts, including bifacial handaxes, are extensively distributed in the Bose basin, an area of about 800 km2. Previous surveys and excavations identified about 57 Paleolithic sites in the basin. Unfortunately, the understanding of the basin-scale distribution of Paleolithic sites was still incomplete due to the lack of systematic archaeological field investigations. Thus, from 2009 to 2010, a comprehensive investigation of the distribution of Paleolithic sites across the entire basin was conducted. As a result, 56 new localities were identified, which brought the total number of Paleolithic sites in the basin to 113. These discoveries provide more integrated data on early hominin behavior during the Middle Pleistocene in the basin. In general, the site and artifact densities decline when moving from northwest to southeast along the Youjiang River inside the basin. A total of 747 stone artifacts, including 65 handaxes, were surface collected during these field surveys. Handaxes are found in higher densities in the northwest part of the basin, whereas they are rare in the southeast. Utilized raw materials also vary between the two regions within the basin.