Optical dating of the Jingshuiwan Paleolithic site of Three Gorges, China

The Jingshuiwan Paleolithic site occupies the second terrace on the right bank of the Yangtze River. The lithic assemblage is characterized by choppers and scrapers made on pebbles and large flakes—the typical lithic industry of South China. Deposits of the site are mainly composed of fluvial sediments. Quartz grains extracted from these fluvial sediments from which the artifacts were uncovered were dated using the optically stimulated luminescence/single-aliquot regenerative-dose technique. The dating results show that ancient human activities at this site took place in the early Upper Pleistocene (ca. 70 ka). The successful age analysis of the Jingshuiwan site is considered as a major break-through in chronological analysis of Paleolithic open site in the Three Gorges region and even in South China. The dates obtained help to establish a more complete chronological framework of the Paleolithic cultural sequence in the region, and bear significant implications in studying modern human origins in China.