L'étude des bifaces de la Hanshui River Valley, Chine

Hanshui River valley is a frequently human active region. Early human left rich stone artefacts in this region. A number of Palaeolithic sites are distributed in the upper reaches of Hanshui River valley. As yet, there are about 40 handaxes sites. The material of handaxes in. Hanshui River valley is mainly the siliceous lime stone, quartzite, sandstone, tuff, etc. Handaxes made on pebble are in a higher proportion than those made on flake. The shape of handaxes is mainly triangular and ovate. The retouch technique is direct hammer retouch, lacking soft hammer retouch. These handaxes are retouched according to function and the blank's shape. Most of the handaxes don't retouch on the handle. This is the character of handaxes in China. The discovery of handaxe industry in China poses a question: the origin of this industry is from Africa or Asia? In our opinion, the handaxes discovered in China are very similar to the Acheulian handaxes in European and South Korea, but its different from that in Africa. The main reasons contributed to the difference are the environment, the stone material and technical method etc. So I think the handaxe industry in China was born locally. It is very important for us to study Palaeolithic culture in Asia and Europe.