The earliest Late Paleolithic in North China: Site formation processes at Shuidonggou Locality 7

Shuidonggou (SDG) has long been recognized as the type site complex for the Chinese Late Paleolithic, as defined by the presence of blade technology and by its chronology. Recent field and laboratory research conducted in the past decade has revealed the presence of Paleolithic ornaments and two different technological components of an industry equivalent to the early Upper Paleolithic – Levallois-like blades and simple core and flakes which appear at SDG localities. Although clearly important for Paleolithic research in China and broader Old World prehistoric studies, relatively little is known about the SDG site formation processes and the specifics of site context. Here, we explore the various formation processes and sedimentary context associated with the stone artifact assemblage from one key site – Shuidonggou Locality 7 (SDG7).Contrary to earlier suggestions that the SDG7 lithic accumulations are the result of secondary deposition, our study indicates that SDG7 has been preserved in near-primary context. Features that were previously argued to reflect fluvial disturbance are in fact localized collapse features caused by saturated sediment load in loess deposits in a lakeshore context. Multiple lines of evidence support the argument that the site preserves the original foraging behavior of the SDG hunter–gatherers. This evidence consists of the sedimentary matrix and the distribution patterns of archaeological materials (particularly the artifact assemblage composition, debitage size distribution, artifact conditions, orientation analysis, inclination, and spatial patterning). The SDG7 archaeological deposits were buried rapidly in shallow lake margin deposits of fine sands, silts, and clays that were minimally disturbed and subjected only to relatively low energy hydraulic forces. This indicates that the SDG7 occurrences are suitable for early hominin behavioral studies in North China at the start of the Late Paleolithic.