scholarly journals Reconstructing vegetation and climate in the Nihewan Basin, North China, during the middle Pleistocene (~603-587 ka) to trace the evolution of human environments

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yun Zhu ◽  
Yi-Feng Yao ◽  
Qi Wei ◽  
David K Ferguson ◽  
Yu-Fei Wang
Keyword(s):  
North China ◽  
Living Environment ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Forest Steppe ◽  
Conifer Forest ◽  
Nihewan Basin ◽  
New Findings ◽  
Early Humans ◽  
Vegetation And Climate

Abstract Aims The Nihewan Basin of North China, considered the cradle of Eastern civilisation, contains a set of late Cenozoic strata and artefacts used by Homo erectus in the early Pleistocene (~1.66 Ma -780 ka) and the cranial bones and teeth of early H. sapiens from the late middle Pleistocene (~370-260 ka). Palynological studies provide an opportunity to explore the living environment of early humans. Methods Palynological samples from the Hutouliang Section (~603-587 ka) of the Xiaodukou Formation of the Nihewan Basin were treated by heavy liquid flotation. Based on the palynological assemblages from the section, vegetation and climate in the Nihewan Basin were reconstructed. Important Findings The dynamic vegetation changed from temperate needle- and broad-leaved mixed forest-steppe (mainly Picea, Abies, Betula, Juglans, Artemisia and Chenopodiaceae) to conifer forest (mainly Pinus, Picea and Abies), which saw the replacement of H. erectus by early H. sapiens. The comparison of the Nihewan Basin with other human sites around the world during the same period reveals that early humans preferred to live in caves, accompanied by relatively open steppe or forest-steppe environments, inhabited by numerous mammals. Therefore, it is inferred that the emergence of dense conifer forest and the disappearance of open steppe environments in the Nihewan Basin at approximately 603-587 ka provide new evidence that early humans followed most mammals to steppe or forest-steppe environments and thus left the Nihewan Basin. These new findings not only enrich our knowledge of early human behaviour, such as their diet, migration and settlement, but also fill in gaps in paleovegetation and paleoenvironmental research in the Nihewan Basin during the middle Pleistocene (780-400 ka).

scholarly journals Stable Isotope Analysis of Mammalian Enamel From the Early Pleistocene Site of Madigou, Nihewan Basin: Implications for Reconstructing Hominin Paleoenvironmental Adaptations in North China

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhe Xu ◽  
Shuwen Pei ◽  
Yaowu Hu ◽  
Ignacio de la Torre ◽  
Dongdong Ma
Keyword(s):  
Stable Isotope ◽  
North China ◽  
Isotope Analysis ◽  
Lacustrine Sediments ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Archaeological Site ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Isotopic Signatures ◽  
Nihewan Basin

The reconstruction of environmental and climatic changes in the Pleistocene is an essential contribution to our understanding of human evolutionary and behavioral adaptations. Well preserved fluvio-lacustrine sediments at Nihewan basin have yielded a rich record of Early Pleistocene Paleolithic sites and mammalian fossils which provide a unique opportunity for exploring hominin behavior and paleoecology in North China. Taxonomic studies of mammalian fossils have provided important clues to the general environmental setting and landscapes of Early Pleistocene humans in the fluvio-lacustrine basin of Nihewan, but little is known about their isotopic signatures. In this paper, mammal teeth species at the Madigou archaeological site (ca. 1.2 Ma) were selected for bulk and sequential enamel stable isotope (C, O) analysis. Results show a variety of ecological environments, including grassland and sparse forest landscapes, and distinct patterns across taxa. C3-C4 mixed vegetation predominated, but C4 vegetation was also relevant at times. Madigou early humans likely experienced cold/warm or dry/wet fluctuations in this northern China basin. We hypothesize that the environmental fluctuations and diversified landscapes may have driven flexibility in various aspects of early human technological behaviors, and allowed hominins to face the environmental challenges of northern latitudes after the initial expansion from Africa into East Asia at the onset of the Middle Pleistocene Climate Transition.

Early human occupation in mainland East Asia: Implication for climate change and human evolution

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rixiang Zhu
Keyword(s):  
East Asia ◽  
Southern China ◽  
Human Migration ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Middle Pleistocene ◽  
Human Flourishing ◽  
Old World ◽  
Northern Latitudes ◽  
Early Humans ◽  
Early Human

<p>East Asia is a key area for early human migration and evolution in the Old World. During the early Pleistocene, humans began to spread out of Africa. Detailed magnetostratigraphic dating coupled with high-precision isotopic chronology of early humans in mainland East Asia, western and southeastern Asia has provided insights into our understanding of early human adaptability to a variety of environments in the eastern Old World. Before the Middle Pleistocene, early humans occupied over a broad latitudinal range, from temperate northern China (e.g., the Nihewan Basin and the Loess Plateau) to subtropical southern China (e.g., the Yuanmou Basin). Thus oldest recorded human dispersal to East Asia apparently culminated in the ability to adapt diverse environments. Around the Middle Pleistocene Climate Transition, when the climate of Earth underwent profound changes in the length and intensity of its glacial-interglacial cycles with the dominant periodicity of high-latitude climate oscillations changing from 41 kyr to 100 kyr, there is a prominent early human flourishing in the high northern latitudes of East Asia and geographic expansion from low, through middle, to high northern latitudes of the area. The improved ability to adjust to diverse environments for early humans could have benefited from the increasing variability of global, regional and local paleoclimates and paleoenvironments and from the innovation of diet, e.g., the use of animal tissues.</p>

Pollen evidence for the environmental context of the early Pleistocene Xiashagou fauna of the Nihewan Basin, north China

2020 ◽  
Vol 236 ◽  
pp. 106298
Author(s):  
Zhen Zhang ◽  
Yuecong Li ◽  
Chenzhi Li ◽  
Qinghai Xu ◽  
Ruchun Zhang ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North China ◽  
Environmental Context ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Nihewan Basin

scholarly journals The Lithic Assemblages of Xiaochangliang, Nihewan Basin: Implications for Early Pleistocene Hominin Behaviour in North China

PLoS ONE ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 11 (5) ◽  
pp. e0155793 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shi-Xia Yang ◽  
Ya-Mei Hou ◽  
Jian-Ping Yue ◽  
Michael D. Petraglia ◽  
Cheng-Long Deng ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North China ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Lithic Assemblages ◽  
Nihewan Basin ◽  
Hominin Behaviour

Magnetostratigraphic dating of the Donggutuo and Maliang Paleolithic sites in the Nihewan Basin, North China

2005 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hongqiang Wang ◽  
Chenglong Deng ◽  
Rixiang Zhu ◽  
Qi Wei ◽  
Yamei Hou ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
North China ◽  
Northern China ◽  
Central China ◽  
Early Pleistocene ◽  
Paleomagnetic Data ◽  
Magnetic Studies ◽  
North Central ◽  
Nihewan Basin

AbstractA 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.

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