黄河上游拉乙亥中石器时代遗址发掘报告

EXCAVATION REPORT ON A MESOLITHIC SITE AT LAYIHAI, UPPER YELLOW RIVER

利用动物骨骼,测得拉乙亥遗址的C^(14)年代为距今6745±85年,接近中原地区的新石器时代遗址的时代。但是,在出土的文化遗物中,未发现陶器和磨光石器等新石器时代的典型标志,而且遗址埋藏于较高阶地的堆积物中,发现的大量打制石器与华北旧石器时代晚期的石制品非常相似。这个遗址的发现为研究西北地区的文化发展史提出了新的问题。

The site, reported here, excavated in 1980, is the first Mesolithic site fonnd in West China. The site is located in the region of Layihai, some 200 km southwest of Xining, the capital of Qinghai province.The cultural remains were found in the sediments of the second terrace of Yellow River. A radiocarbon date of 6745±85 BP has been obtained for this site. No pottery or polished stone tools were found at this site. The excavation has yielded 1478 specimens including cores, flakes, microblade cores, choppers, end-scrapers, side-scrapers, burins, grinding tools, bone needles and awls, and one stone bead.There is a brief description of the artifacts in this paper. While examining them, the senior author first recognized a specific technology of microblade cores present at the site, and the name of Layihai technique wars given to this technological pattern. The reconstruction of Layihai technology is illustrated in Fig. 6.The assemblage of artifacts and the animal remains suggest that the Layihai site is of Mesolithic age, or that it represents the Mesolithic level of cultural development of the stone age.