湖南道县玉蟾岩遗址早期陶器及其地层堆积的碳十四年代研究

Radiocarbon Dating of Early Pottery and Strata at Yuchanyan Site in Daoxian, Hunan Province

位于湖南道县的玉蟾岩遗址包含大量灰烬,丰富的动物遗存,砾石和石片石器以及骨角器。从出土遗物,特别是人工制品来看,该洞穴应是一处旧石器晚期狩猎采集者的营地。洞穴堆积反映出人类的一系列短期活动或栖居,其间穿插着遗址被废弃的时期。微形态学研究显示堆积中的红色粘土条带是当时人类从洞外搬进来的。该遗址还出土了若干陶片,可以复原成2件或更多的陶器。多数陶片出自于1993和1995年的发掘。另有10多件陶片在2004和2005年的发掘中被发现。我们将在本文介绍该洞穴堆积的年代研究过程和结果,包括样品的采集、预筛选和前处理过程,以及最后对保存好的炭屑和骨头样品的测年。玉蟾岩遗址的年代为距今21000～13800年(校正后,后同),年代数据表明下层堆积中存在人类栖居的间断,陶片的年代为距今17,000～18,000年。这些陶片是在中国发现的制造陶器的最早证据之一。

Yuchanyan Cave in Dao Xian County, Hunan Province (PRC) contains large amounts of ash, as well as a rich animal bone assemblage, cobble and flake artifacts, bone tools and shell tools. The artifacts indicate that the cave was a Late Paleolithic foragers' camp. They reflect a series of ephemeral occupations, punctuated by periods of abandonment. There are also imported bands of red clay, and most interestingly the fragmentary remains of two or more ceramic pots. Most of these potsherds were discovered during the first excavations in 1993, and 1995. Several additional potsherds were found in the recent excavation. Here we report the ages of the sediments after detailed prescreening, pretreatment and dating of the best preserved charcoal and bone samples. The dates range from around 13,800 years cal BP to 21,000 years cal BP. We also establish that the age of the ancient pottery is between 16,000-18,000 years cal BP. These ceramic potsherds therefore seem to be one of the earliest evidence for pottery making in China.