14C AMS Dating the Transition from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic in South China

Sixun Yuan, Guoxing Zhou, Zhiyu Guo, Zimo Zhang, Shijun Gao, Kun Li, Jiangjun Wang, Kexing Liu, Bin Li and Xiangyang Lu

To study the transition from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic period and its duration, samples of charcoal, bone, flowstone and shells excavated from Bailiandong and Miaoyan caves, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, South China were dated using the Peking University AMS facility and liquid scintillation counter. The remains excavated from these sites show typical characteristics of the transition from the Paleolithic to the Neolithic. Radiocarbon dating results show a rapid transition from ca. 20 to 10 ka BP.

[Radiocarbon Volume 37, Number 2, 1995]