Archaeology, Ethnology & Anthropology of Eurasia 40 (4) 2012

Annotation:  The Paleolithic of Dzungaria (Xinjiang, Northwest China) Based on Materials from the Luotuoshi Site Excavations at the Bairaki Lower Paleolithic Site, Trans-Dniesteria, in 2011 Upper Paleolithic Rock Crystal Artifacts from the Southeastern Shore of Lake Bolshiye Allaki, the So The Use of Animal Hair in Ceramic Manufacturing at the Tytkesken-2 Neolithic Site, Western Siberia Kyordyughen Site, Ymyiakhtakh Culture, Yakutia: An Interpretation of Burial Rite An Analysis of Mitochondrial DNA from the Pakhomovskaya Population of the Late Bronze Age, Western S Kozlov Mys-2 Burial Ground and Issues of Chronology for the Early to Late Iron Age Transition in the New Early Iron Age Statue from Sary-Arka “Horse-Headed” Staffs and the Cult of the Horse Head in Northwestern Asia in the 2nd Millennium BC Ceramics of the Ulakhan-Segelennyakh Culture, Early Bronze Age, Yakutia Scythian Burial Mound of the 4th Century BC at Kremenevka, Northeastern Azov Region A Carnelian Cabochon from Tashara-Karier-2, the Upper Ob Basin: Technological Issues Soils of an Early Medieval (4th–6th Centuries) Settlement in the Middle Tobol Region and their Paleo Folklore Parallels Between Siberia and South Asia and the Mythology of the Eurasian Steppes   

The Paleolithic of Dzungaria (Xinjiang, Northwest China) Based on Materials from the Luotuoshi Site

A.P. Derevianko, Gao Xing, J.W. Olsen, and E.P. Rybin.

The paper reports the results of an analysis of surface collections of artifacts made at the Luotuoshi site in Dzungaria, Xinjiang, northwest China. The site was discovered in 2004 by a joint Chinese-Russian-American archaeological expedition. A techno-typological analysis of the artifacts was carried out noting aeolian abrasion of the artifacts’ surfaces. This technocomplex is quite homogenous and is characterized by a combination of Levallois-like and subprismatic blade-based reduction techniques. Analogs of the Luotuoshi assemblage have been identifi ed within the lithic industries of the Altai, the Orkhon-1 and Tolbor-4 sites in Mongolia, and at Shuidonggou in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region in China, all of which have been attributed to the Early Upper Paleolithic. Luotuoshi is the first site associated with the blade-based Early Upper Paleolithic discovered in northwest China and its particular features make it possible to correlate this technocomplex with those from southern Siberia and northern Central Asia.

Keywords: China, Xinjiang, Central Asia, Early Upper Paleolithic, lithic technology.