Discovery of the Houjinjiagoudongshan Paleolithic Locality in Nong’an County, Changchun, Jilin, China

Abstract

The Houjinjiagoudongshan Paleolithic Locality in Nong’an County, Jilin, is an open-air site on the second-level terrace of the south bank of the Songhua River. From May 8-15, 2020, the School of Archaeology of Jilin University and the Cultural Relics and Archaeology Research Institute of Nong’an County formed a joint team to carry out investigations. Thirty nine stone artifacts were collected from Houjinjiagoudongshan Locality, including 15 cores, 22 tools, and 2 lithic fragments. Most of the cores and tools were small sizes, but medium and micro-sized tools were occasionally seen, while no large or giant lithics were observed. The cores were simply flsked by hard hammer percussion. Scrapers account for the majority of the tools, and there are also a small quantity of borers, points, and notches. We can infer that the toolmakers had great flexibility in flaking tools and retouch repairs. On the whole, the Houjinjiagoudongshan locality shows the common characteristics of a core-flake industry of the Late Paleolithic period in the Northeast China region, so we can speculate that the cultural age of the Houjinjiagoudongshan locality should be the Late Paleolithic period.