The Petrology of the Wong Tei Tung Stone Tool Manufacturing Site, Sham Chung, Hong Kong Sar, China

• Main Authors: Vin Davis, Rob Ixer
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: University of York 2009-09-01
• Series: Internet Archaeology
• Subjects: archaeology; stone tools; metasediment; quarry; volcaniclastic; tuffite; manufacture site; rhyolite; Hong Kong; Chinese neolithic; knapping
• Online Access: http://intarch.ac.uk/journal/issue26/davisixer_index.html

The Wong Tei Tung archaeological site was discovered in 2003. Two periods have been proposed: an earlier period dating to around 40,000 years bp, and a later period dating to around 7000 years bp, but these dates should be treated cautiously. Initially, reported research found a few traits of the Wong Tei Tung assemblage to be similar to South-east Asia lithics, especially the short axe and Sumatralith cores. It has been reported that the Wong Tei Tung assemblage is a lithic cluster of certain 'techno-complex' implements rather than an archaeological culture; it offers a glimpse of lithic manufacturing in adaptation to its particular coastal environment. The published evidence points to a production of stone tools that considerably exceeded anticipated immediate local need. It is likely, therefore, that products from the site were distributed widely across the Zhujiang Estuary (Pearl River) area and beyond (Fig. 1: map). This article presents the results of initial investigations into the geological setting of the site; provides new petrographic descriptions using data obtained from thin sections and geochemical analyses; and makes tentative comparisons with similar archaeological stone tool manufacturing sites in Britain.