Archaeological discovery and research at Bianbiandong early Neolithic cave site, Shandong, China

The Bianbiandong cave site (36 degrees 03'42 '' N, 118 degrees 28'17 '' E; altitude 389 m a.s.l.) is located in the central part of modern Shandong Province in an area of low elevated mountains and hilly plains. Beginning in 2005, investigation and excavation was undertaken during three field campaigns. Stratified deposits found included burnt earthen surfaces, pits and pit stoves, from which items such as potshards, stoneware, and objects made from antler and animal bones were collected and documented. Sand tempered pottery included shards of a cauldron and bowl, plus jar type vessels which had been fired under a low temperature and were generally red or reddish-brown. The only smoothed stone implements found were grinding slabs and hand stones. Chipped stone tools included stone-flakes, scrapers and microlithic stone-cores. Among the bone and antler objects were needles, awls and spear points. Animal remains, including shellfish and other aquatic organisms were generally small or medium sized. The oldest radiocarbon date (i.e. Bianbiandong phase 1) was obtained on a human skull (ca. 8000-7600 cal. BC) without clear archaeological context. We assume that the human individual might have been buried in the cave before it was used as camp by later foragers. Phase 2 is represented by a cluster of dates which was obtained from material related to cultural layers 3A, 3B, 4 and pits with pottery, stone and bone artifacts ranging between ca. 7700-7100 cal. BC. The pottery shares typological features with Houli culture pottery but predates it by about one thousand years. Therefore, the Bianbiandong finds phase 2 bridge the gap between late Palaeolithic and Houli culture which so far, in the Shandong area, has been regarded as earliest Neolithic material. Phase 3, i.e. layer 2, was dated to ca. 5400-4900 cal. BC which corresponds to the gap between Houli culture and Beixin culture or to the very onset of Beixin culture. This indicates that the Houli-Beixin chronological gap is an artifact and might soon be overcome when more finds are systematically radiocarbon dated. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000344237300013&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=8e1609b174ce4e31116a60747a720701Geography, PhysicalGeosciences, MultidisciplinaryA&HCISCI(E)2ARTICLEMayke.Wagner@dainst.de169-18234