Lingjing: a key archaic hominin site from Henan China

Lingjing (34° 04′ 08.6″ N, 113° 40′ 47.5″ E, elev. 117 m) is an open-air site located about 120 km south of the Yellow River in northeast Xuchang County, Henan Province, northern China (Figure 1). This water-lain deposit with a still active water spring was discovered in 1965 when microblades, microcores (Zhou, 1974; Chen, 1983), and faunal remains were found on the surface (Li et al., 2017b). From 2005 to 2018, excavations of a 551m² area allowed the identification of eleven geological layers, numbered from 1 at the top to 11 at the bottom, within a 9m deep sedimentary sequence (Figure 2). The top of the sequence includes layers 1-4, Holocene in age, which yielded material culture spanning from the Shang-Zhou Dynasties to the Neolithic. Layer 5 spans from the Younger Dryas to the LGM and contains microblade technology, microcores, bone artefacts, perforated ostrich eggshells, ochre, faunal remains, and the first evidence of pottery appearing in the region (Li and Ma, 2016; Li et al., 2017a; Z. Li et al., 2018). Layers 6 to 9 are sterile. Layers 10 and 11 were deposited during the early Late Pleistocene. Both yielded lithic artefacts and faunal remains (H. Li et al., 2018). Two incomplete human skulls were found in layer 11 (Figure 3). They bear a mosaic of morphological features interpreted as indicating both regional continuity and interregional population dynamics (Wu et al., 2014; Trinkaus and Wu, 2017; Li et al., 2017b). It was suggested these human remains, alongside those found at Xujiayao, Hebei, could potentially attributed to the Denisovan taxon (Martinón-Torres et al., 2017), although genetic and proteomic data is still needed to test this hypothesis.

Figure 1. Map showing the location of the Lingjing site (Li Z. et al., 2019).

Figure 2. Stratigraphy of the Lingjing site (Doyon et al., 2018).

Figure 3. Two incomplete skulls found at the Lingjing site (Li Z. et al., 2017).

The faunal assemblage from the early Late Pleistocene layers mainly includes Equus przewalskii, Equus hemionus, and Bos primigenius remains. The faunal spectrum is complemented with skeletal elements of Canis cf. lupus, Vulpes sp. Ursus sp., Meles sp. Panthera cf., tigris, Pachycrocuta cf. sinensis, Palaeoloxodon sp., Coelodonta antiquitatis, Dicerorhinus mercki, Sus lydekkeri, Hydropotes pleistocenica, Cervus (Sika) sp., Cervus (E.) elaphus, Elaphurus davidianus, Sinomegaceros ordosianus, and Procapra przewalskii

(Li and Dong, 2007; Dong and Li, 2009; van Kolfschoten et al., in press). Despite the presence of hyena remains and coprolites at the site (Li and Dong, 2007; Wang et al., 2014, 2015), this species likely played a limited role in the accumulation of the faunal assemblage (Zhang et al., 2011a). The skeletal element profile of equids and bovids dominated by limb bones (>60%), the high frequency of cut-marks (~34%), and their location on bone midshafts indicate Lingjing layer 11 was a kill-butchery site (Zhang et al., 2009, 2011a, 2011b, 2012). The grassland-dominated vegetation with a mosaic of scattered and mixed forests (Li and Dong, 2007; Wang et al., 2014) combined with the presence of an active water spring surely attracted both humans and animals at Lingjing throughout the early Late Pleistocene, as attested by the uninterrupted vertical distribution of faunal and lithic remains in layers 10 and 11 (H. Li et al., 2018).

Optically Stimulated Luminescence (OSL) ages indicate the deposition of layer 10 and 11 occurred between 96-125 ka (Nian et al., 2009), which spans most of MIS5 (MIS5e to MIS5b). The Lingjing hominins mainly exploited local lithic raw material such as quartz and quartzite. Sandstone, basalt, and chert are also represented in marginal proportions (H. Li et al., 2018, 2019). The lithic assemblage includes hard hammers, some of which were recycled into cores (Figure 4), a variety of cores (i.e., multifacial, discoidal, single platform, etc.), flakes, formal tools (i.e., scrapers, notches, denticulates, borers, points, choppers, etc.), and debris (Figure 5; H. Li et al., 2019). With regard to the shaping and re-sharpening of stone implements, retouch by hard hammer percussion dominates the assemblage (74.2%). However, the use organic soft hammer percussion (8.5%) and pressure flaking (12.0%) have also been documented (H. Li et al., 2019). The use of organic soft hammer percussion and pressure flaking was confirmed by the taphonomic and technological analysis of the faunal remains which allowed the discovery of the oldest bone tools from East Asia (Figure 6; Doyon et al., 2018) and the earliest evidence for organic pressure flakers in the world (Doyon et al., 2019). Together with the identification of use wear on some lithic artefacts (Li, 2007), this evidence suggests knapping activities, and tool manufacture, use, and repair occurred at the site. The use of bone for knapping activities related to carcass processing has also been documented. Indeed, a number of herbivore metapodials bears impact scars and fractures interpreted as resulting from their use as bone hammer in marrow extraction activities (van Kolfschoten et al., in press), a behaviour that is also observed at Schöningen 13II-4 (van Kolfschoten et al., 2015; Hutson et al., 2018). Finally, layer 11 also yielded two engravings on weathered rib fragments (Figure 7), one of which was covered with ocher (Z. Li et al., 2019). This discovery represents the oldest use of bone and ochre for symbolic purpose in East Asia.

Figure 4. Selection of hard hammer used in knapping activities (Doyon et al., 2019).

Figure 5. Selection of stone tools from the Lingjing site (Li H. et al., 2019).

Figure 6. Selection of bone retouchers and organic soft hammer from the Lingjing site (Doyon et al., 2019).

Figure 7. Two engravings made on weathered bone from the Lingjing site (Li Z. et al., 2019).

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