Chronological problems in Chinese human fossil sites

Sun, Xuefeng; Lu, Ying; Wen, Shaoqing

doi:10.1360/tb-2020-0149

Cited by 8 publications

(3 citation statements)

References 29 publications

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“…However, there were few sites before and after this period, which may be attributed to the climatic conditions in this region [40]. The warm climate and abundant rainfall often lead to substantial erosion of the sedimentary deposits, which will hinder the effectiveness of paleomagnetism, stratigraphic correlation, and other dating methods for the Early Pleistocene sites [199].…”

Section: The Southern Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: The Nihewan Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The reason for the scarcity of Middle Pleistocene sites in the Nihewan Basin may be twofold: On the one hand, there are limitations in the application of dating methods [199]. Since most of the early sites in the region are buried in fluvial-lacustrine deposits, it is hard to apply the loess-paleosol sequence to define the chronology; and the U-series dating method cannot be used if no animal fossils are preserved in the Paleolithic sites of this period [40,199]. On the other hand, the environmental changes under the influence of the climate and the scarcity of resources may be one of the reasons that drove the early humans to abandon the region [36,37,40], since most of the Middle Pleistocene sites existed in the interglacial periods during which the paleosols were developed, e.g., [125][126][127].…”

Section: The Nihewan Basinmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Glacial–Interglacial Cycles and Early Human Evolution in China

Qin,

Sun

2023

Land

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China is a crucial region for investigating the relationship between climate change and hominin evolution across diverse terrestrial ecosystems. With the continuous development of palaeoclimatology, chronology, and archaeology, the environmental and hominin record of the Early and Middle Pleistocene in China is steadily accumulating, shedding light on the effects of climate change on the distribution of early human settlements and population dynamics. However, the migration and dispersal of these early humans within long-term climate fluctuations and their underlying mechanisms remain to be clarified. Based on the spatial-temporal distribution of 95 Early to Middle Pleistocene archaeological sites in China, we found that intensified hominin activities gradually shifted southward under the influence of multiple glacial–interglacial cycles. The frequent bidirectional movements of these early humans between north and south were assumed as follows. During glacial periods, hominins living in North China migrated to southern areas, while inter-glacial periods witnessed the northward expansion of hominins inhabiting South China. Among all the potential driving mechanisms, we suggest that the available resources in terrestrial ecosystems may be the most fundamental factor. Combined with paleoenvironmental and archaeological records, we provide an Asian perspective for a better understanding of how the glacial–interglacial cycles shaped early human evolution.

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Section: The Southern Chinamentioning

confidence: 99%