在長白山東麓的圖們江畔，吉林省延邊朝鮮族自治州和龍市崇善鎮大洞村一片開闊的玄武岩台地中，隱藏著一座距今數萬年的遠古人類家園——吉林和龍大洞舊石器時代遺址。自2021年以來，經過考古學家連續4年的系統性考古發掘，這處遺址的考古發現為我們展現了一段跨越五萬年的石器技術演化史，以及東北亞古人類生存與遷徙的壯麗圖景。

This discovery was selected as one of the "New Archaeological Discoveries in China in 2024 Years" and entered the preliminary evaluation of the "Top Ten New Archaeological Discoveries in China in 0 Years", becoming one of the focuses of attention from all walks of life.

□ Xinhua News Agency reporters Zhang Boyu and Zhou Wanpeng

Originated from obsidian

Exploring the "strategic resources" of ancient times

    在距今約300萬年到1萬年的舊石器時代，石器原料是支撐人類技術發揮並協助進行食物資源採集的基礎。在石器加工中，有著均質特性的黑曜岩，成為古人類賴以生存的“戰略資源”。

This black, shiny stone, also known as "volcanic glass", is formed by the rapid condensation of viscous acidic lava during volcanic eruptions. The volcanic activity of Changbai Mountain has formed a wealth of obsidian raw materials, which have lasted for tens of thousands of years and have become an important carrier for people to study the survival and evolution of ancient humans today.

The discovery of the Paleolithic sites of Jilin and Longda Cave originated from obsidian. Elderly people living in Dadong Village recall that there used to be so many obsidian rocks in Dadong Village that they could be found "everywhere" and were often found when farming and plowing the land. In 2007 years, this phenomenon attracted the attention of Professor Chen Quanjia of Jilin University, which opened the prelude to the archaeological research of the Helong Dadong site.

In 4, with the launch of the "Archaeological China" project, the Jilin Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, together with Liaoning University, the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and other units, carried out active archaeological excavations at the site for 0 consecutive years. The joint archaeological team uncovered rich cultural relics at the Helong Dadong site and excavated tens of thousands of stone artifacts.

In the archaeological excavation of this Paleolithic site, scholars have made extensive use of natural science and technology methods, and gathered geology, sedimentology, chronology, paleoenvironment, molecular biology and other multidisciplinary and multi-team collaborative research to extract scientific information from the archaeological site to the greatest extent.

    “目前已知該遺址分佈範圍超過4平方公里，核心區面積約50萬平方米，是中國東北乃至東北亞面積最大、文化內涵最豐富、地層堆積最深厚的舊石器時代晚期曠野遺址。”和龍大洞遺址考古發掘項目負責人、遼寧大學考古文博學院教授徐廷說。

"This is a new discovery of paleolithic archaeology at a key time and space node." Wang Youping, a professor at Peking University's School of Archaeology and Museums, commented that the continuous accumulation of multi-period cultural relics at the Longdadong site clearly shows that the earliest use of obsidian raw materials in the Changbai Mountain area was from the small stone flake stone tool people who had lived in North China for a long time, opening a new perspective to observe the emergence and development of modern humans in East Asia.

Open the stratigraphic archive

    揭示五萬年石器技術演進圖譜

The important value of archaeological excavations is first engraved in the stratigraphic profile.

    經過對遺址核心區三個位置的發掘，考古學者共揭露出9個文化層位，出土石製品及動物化石2萬余件。徐廷介紹，經過系統的碳十四和光釋光測年，結合地層堆積與石製品特點，可將遺址舊石器時代文化層至少劃分為三個階段。

    第一階段為距今5萬年-3萬年：出土了簡單石核、石片工具，伴生野牛、野馬、犀牛等動物化石。其中一件碎骨表面可見刻劃痕跡，可能是一種骨質雕刻品。

    第二階段為距今2.8萬年-2.4萬年：石葉與細石葉技術出現，工具類型主要包括雕刻器、端刮器等。局部磨光石器與壓制剝片技術的出現，顯示出古人類石器技術演化的巨大革新。

    第三階段為距今1.7萬年-1.5萬年：細石葉技術趨於成熟，剝片技術和石器加工技術更趨多樣化，兩面器數量明顯增多，標誌著古人類適應能力得到了巨大提升。

    三期文化層如同三部連續的歷史紀錄片，清晰展示了從距今5萬年-1.5萬年，大洞遺址石器工業從小石片向石葉-細石葉技術轉變的重要過程。

From the simple stone tools in the early days to the delicate fine stone leaf tools in the later period, the evolution of technology reflects the improvement of human ability to adapt to the environment, and has also become a vivid witness to the evolution of ancient humans in Northeast Asia.

Gao Xing, a researcher at the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, believes that the development of a complete system of technology from stone leaves to fine stone leaves provides very important information for the study of the technological evolution of humans in the late Paleolithic Age, as well as the migration, adaptation, communication and integration of early modern people.

At the site of Helong Cave, archaeologists also harvested some "surprises".

    在第三文化層發掘一件赤鐵礦原料的雕刻品，距今1.7萬年左右，表面泛金屬光澤，呈片狀，周身有數道刻劃痕跡，整體神似某種動物形象，可能是長白山地區最早的藝術表達之一，對於我們理解古代人類的精神世界和象徵行為，具有非常重要的價值。

    此外，考古發掘還在距今2.8萬年-2.4萬年的地層中發現人工活動面以及1處人工石圈。人工石圈由9塊自然礫石構成，向心分佈，整體呈長橢圓形，成為探究古人類居所演化的新線索。

Constructing an archaeological scale

Key pieces of the puzzle to decipher the prehistory of Northeast Asia

    經過系統的考古發掘工作，考古學者依託和龍大洞遺址首次構建了長白山地區距今五萬年以來清晰且連續的文化序列，見證了石器技術從石核石片技術向細石葉技術的轉變，新發現的動物化石也在該地區十分罕見，為該區域其他遺址與相關材料建立了對比研究的參照尺規。

More importantly, experts believe that because the obsidian formed by volcanic eruptions in the same area at the same time has the same geochemical characteristics, and different volcanic eruption magma has different geochemical characteristics, the obsidian geochemical characteristics can be regarded as a kind of stone tool "DNA".

Through the analysis of the "DNA" of this stone tool, scholars have traced the origin of its raw materials and found that there is an extensive network of obsidian raw materials around the Sea of Japan, and the obsidian raw materials at the Dadong site come from the Changbai Mountains, but a small part is also related to the Russian Far East, revealing the movement and cultural interaction of prehistoric peoples in Northeast Asia.

Xu Ting said that the cross-regional similarity between the obsidian network and the instrumental style of the Helong Dadong site confirms the extensive movement and migration of ancient humans in Northeast Asia during the Last Ice Age. For example, the earliest stone core stone flake stone tools in the site have maintained a high degree of consistency with the stone tool tradition in northern China, and the subsequent stone leaf and fine stone leaf technology have widely influenced the Korean Peninsula, the Russian Far East and Hokkaido, Japan.

The diversified scientific research results show that in the context of technological change and population alternation, the population active in the Helong Dadong site has better adaptive genetic variation characteristics, masters simple and efficient stripping technology and stone tool processing technology, and carries out a highly mobile hunter-gatherer life in the unique cultural and ecological unit of Changbai Mountain.

Xu Ting believes that with the deepening of Paleolithic archaeological work in the Changbai Mountain area, the Paleolithic culture transmission corridor connecting the Russian Far East coastal area, the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago will be gradually constructed, which is of great significance for exploring the problems of ancient human survival adaptation, technology diffusion and population migration in the Changbai Mountain area.

Up to now, the archaeological excavation of 270 square meters has been completed at the site of Helong Cave, "This is just the tip of the iceberg. "In the future, with further archaeological excavations, I believe that the Dadong site will continue to refresh our understanding of the production and lifestyle of ancient people in Northeast Asia in the late Paleolithic period." ”

(According to Xinhua News Agency)