New discovery of Acheulean artifacts from the fluvial gravel bed of terminal Early Pleistocene in Bose Basin, southern China

Abstract

Until now, there are few archaeological evidence to document the lithic technology or behavior of the hominin in East Asia during the Early Pleistocene period. Here, we present the Acheulean assemblage including 4 cores, 4 scrapers and 9 bifacial large-cutting-tools from the gravel beds of the Fengshudao and Hengshandao sites in the Bose Basin of Guangxi, southern China, to promote research work in this area. This Acheulean assemblage is completely within the variations of the Acheulean techno-complexes in East Asia. This newly identified Acheulean artefacts further expands the spatio-temporal distribution range of the Acheulean population in East Asia. Acheulean artefacts in the gravel bed indicate an earlier occupation of Acheulean population in Bose Basin before 800 ka. And, except for the floodplain environment, the Acheulean population in the Bose Basin may also explore and settle the gravel bar environment as their western counterpart during the early Pleistocene period. It has to be admitted that we have found relatively few stone artifacts so far, and further excavation and direct dating of stone artifacts from the gravel bed in the Bose Basin will further advance the study of the Acheulean industry in eastern Asia.