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Multiphase timing of hominin occupations and the paleoenvironment in Luonan Basin, Central China

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 January 2017

Huayu Lu ,
Hongyan Zhang ,
Shejiang Wang ,
Richard Cosgrove ,
Xuefeng Sun ,
Jun Zhao ,
Donghuai Sun ,
Cunfa Zhao ,
Chen Shen  and
Ming Wei
Huayu Lu*
Affiliation:
School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Institute for Climate and Global Change Research, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Hongyan Zhang
Affiliation:
School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Institute for Climate and Global Change Research, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Shejiang Wang
Affiliation:
Archaeology Program, School of Historical and European Studies, La Trobe University. Victoria 3086, Australia Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China
Richard Cosgrove
Affiliation:
Archaeology Program, School of Historical and European Studies, La Trobe University. Victoria 3086, Australia
Xuefeng Sun
Affiliation:
School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Institute for Climate and Global Change Research, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Jun Zhao
Affiliation:
School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Institute for Climate and Global Change Research, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Donghuai Sun
Affiliation:
School of Resources and Environment, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou 730000, China
Cunfa Zhao
Affiliation:
School of Geographic and Oceanographic Sciences, Institute for Climate and Global Change Research, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China
Chen Shen
Affiliation:
Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Canada, M5S2C6
Ming Wei
Affiliation:
Archaeology Program, School of Historical and European Studies, La Trobe University. Victoria 3086, Australia
*
⁎Corresponding author. Fax: + 86 25 83592686. E-mail address:huayulu@nju.edu.cn (H. Lu).
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Abstract

Thousands of Paleolithic artifacts have been recovered from Paleolithic sites in the Luonan Basin, in the upper South Luohe River of central China. Their discovery suggests that the basin was an important area for hominin settlement during the Pleistocene. However, the initial timing of this occupation and the environmental conditions for this period are still largely unknown. In addition, the sediments are not well dated and most of the artifacts lie on the surface. In an attempt to resolve these issues, a new systemic paleomagnetic analysis was carried out on the loess deposits that contain in situ stone tools. Our detailed loess–paleosol analyses of the stratigraphy of different sites in the basin and Chinese Loess Plateau shows the accumulation of the loess since at least 1.1 million years (Ma) ago. Moreover, recently discovered in situ cores, flakes and retouched stone tools in these deposits show that hominins used this region repeatedly from 0.8–0.7 Ma to 0.4–0.3 and 0.2–0.1 Ma. Pedostratigraphic analyses, magnetic susceptibility and carbon isotope analyses also indicate that these hominins lived in a subtropical to warm-temperate climate with broad-needle-leaf forest vegetation mixed with grasses.

Keywords

Paleolithic artifactsLoessPleistoceneLuonan BasinCentral China
Type
Research Article
Information
Quaternary Research , Volume 76 , Issue 1 , July 2011 , pp. 142 - 147
Copyright
University of Washington

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