inevitably all the variability factors inherent to the débitage method used and resulting from human and not mechanical action.

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A detailed magnetostratigraphic investigation, coupled with rock-magnetic studies, was carried out on a lacustrine sequence in the eastern Nihewan Basin, Northern China, which contains the Donggutuo and Maliang Paleolithic sites. Magnetite and hematite were identified as the main carriers for the characteristic remanent magnetizations. Magnetostratigraphic results show that the lacustrine sequence recorded the late Matuyama and Brunhes chrons. Furthermore, the Maliang artifact layer occurs just below the Brunhes/Matuyama boundary, and the Donggutuo artifact layer is just below the Jaramillo onset. Therefore, the age of the Maliang and Donggutuo artifact layers can be definitely estimated to be about 0.78 myr and 1.1 myr, respectively. These two paleomagnetic ages, coupled with previously obtained paleomagnetic data of the Majuangou, Xiaochangliang, Banshan, Lantian, and Xihoudu Paleolithic sites, suggest an expansion and lengthy flourishing of human groups from northern to north-central China during the entire Early Pleistocene.

The date of the first settlement of the Americas remains a contentious subject. Previous claims for very early occupation at Pedra Furada in Brazil were not universally accepted (see Meltzeret al.1994). New work at the rockshelter of Boqueirão da Pedra Furada and at the nearby open-air site of Vale da Pedra Furada have however produced new evidence for human occupation extending back more than 20 000 years. The argument is supported by a series of14C and OSL dates, and by technical analysis of the stone tool assemblage. The authors conclude that the currently accepted narrative of human settlement in South America will have to be re-thought. The article is followed by a series of comments, rounded off by a reply from the authors.