Preliminary Study on Raw Materials Exploitation at Donggutuo Site,Nihewan Basin,North China

The present study examines material quarrying, utilization, and exploitation strategy with respect to availability, quality and distribution at Donggutuo, a Lower Pleistocene archeological site in the Nihewan Basin of North China. Through identification of the bedrocks in the vicinity, the analysis reveals that raw materials available at the Donggutuo site are mainly chert, dolomicrite, siliceous dolomite, siliceous limestone, tectonic breccia, quartzite and intermediate lava. Related documents and a geological survey of the area demonstrate that the chert was quarried from dolomite within the Gaoyuzhuang Formation of the Mesoproterozoic Changcheng Group, and the quartzite from the Yousuopu Formation of the Archeozoic Qianxi Group, as well as from Jurassic volcanic lava. Fractures formed by tectonic movements of the Yanshan Stage and the Himalaya Stage made it convenient to quarry these materials. It is observed that fragmentary rock pieces were directly collected and quarried from local fracture belts and that this became the principal strategy of raw material exploitation adopted by the Donggutuo toolmakers. In general, raw materials were not efficiently used, and many of them could have been reduced, retouched and used again. Some suggestions are also proposed to improve the understanding of earlyhumans’ tool complex in the Nihewan Basin.

The present study examines material quarrying, utilization, and exploitation strategy with respect to availability, quality and distribution at Donggutuo, a Lower Pleistocene archeological site in the Nihewan Basin of North China. Through identification of the bedrocks in the vicinity, the analysis reveals that raw materials available at the Donggutuo site are mainly chert, dolomicrite, siliceous dolomite, siliceous limestone, tectonic breccia, quartzite and intermediate lava. Related documents and a geolog...