An updated age for the Xujiayao hominin from the Nihewan Basin, North China: Implications for Middle Pleistocene human evolution in East Asia

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).

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Early humans in East Asia: Insights into climatic influence on human evolution

10.5194/egusphere-egu21-16330 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Rixiang Zhu

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

East Asia ◽

Human Evolution ◽

Terrestrial Ecosystems ◽

Climatic Influence ◽

Quaternary Climate ◽

Nihewan Basin ◽

Pleistocene Climate ◽

Northern Latitudes ◽

Early Humans

<p>East Asia is a key area for probing into the interplay between Quaternary climate change and human adaptations to diverse terrestrial ecosystems. Integrated chronology based mainly on high-resolution magnetostratigraphy in conjunction with detailed biostratigraphy and high-precision isotopic dating of early humans and Paleolithic stone tools in mainland East Asia, western and southeastern Asia has provided insights into our understanding of climatic influence on human evolution in a variety of environments in the eastern Old World. For example, there is a prominent geographic expansion for early humans from low southern latitudes (e.g., tropical SE Asia and subtropical Yuanmou Basin and Bose Basin), through middle latitudes, to high northern latitudes (e.g., the Nihewan Basin). Especially, increased toolmaking skills and technological innovations are evident in temperate Nihewan Basin at the onset of the Mid-Pleistocene Climate Transition. The improved ability to adjust to diverse environments for early humans in East Asia has contributed to better understanding how climate change has shaped early human evolution.</p>

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

Frontiers in Earth Science ◽

10.3389/feart.2021.789781 ◽

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.

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Springtime daily variations in lower-tropospheric ozone over east Asia: the role of cyclonic activity and pollution as observed from space with IASI

Atmospheric Chemistry and Physics ◽

10.5194/acp-15-10839-2015 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 15 (18) ◽

pp. 10839-10856 ◽

Cited By ~ 20

Author(s):

G. Dufour ◽

M. Eremenko ◽

J. Cuesta ◽

C. Doche ◽

G. Foret ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Carbon Monoxide ◽

East Asia ◽

Tropospheric Ozone ◽

North China Plain ◽

North China ◽

Low Pressure ◽

The North ◽

The North China Plain ◽

Co Observations ◽

Low Pressure Systems

Abstract. We use satellite observations from IASI (Infrared Atmospheric Sounding Interferometer) on board the MetOp-A satellite to evaluate the springtime daily variations in lower-tropospheric ozone over east Asia. The availability of semi-independent columns of ozone from the surface up to 12 km simultaneously with CO columns provides a powerful observational data set to diagnose the processes controlling tropospheric ozone enhancement on synoptic scales. By combining IASI observations with meteorological reanalyses from ERA-Interim, we develop an analysis method based only on IASI ozone and CO observations to identify the respective roles of the stratospheric source and the photochemical source in ozone distribution and variations over east Asia. The succession of low- and high-pressure systems drives the day-to-day variations in lower-tropospheric ozone. A case study analysis of one frontal system and one cut-off low system in May 2008 shows that reversible subsiding and ascending ozone transfers in the upper-troposphere–lower-stratosphere (UTLS) region, due to the tropopause perturbations occurring in the vicinity of low-pressure systems, impact free and lower-tropospheric ozone over large regions, especially north of 40° N, and largely explain the ozone enhancement observed with IASI for these latitudes. Irreversible stratosphere–troposphere exchanges of ozone-rich air masses occur more locally in the southern and southeastern flanks of the trough. The contribution to the lower-tropospheric ozone column is difficult to dissociate from the tropopause perturbations generated by weather systems. For regions south of 40° N, a significant correlation has been found between lower-tropospheric ozone and carbon monoxide (CO) observations from IASI, especially over the North China Plain (NCP). Considering carbon monoxide observations as a pollutant tracer, the O3–CO correlation indicates that the photochemical production of ozone from primary pollutants emitted over such large polluted regions significantly contributes to the ozone enhancements observed in the lower troposphere via IASI. When low-pressure systems circulate over the NCP, stratospheric and pollution sources play a concomitant role in the ozone enhancement. IASI's 3-D observational capability allows the areas in which each source dominates to be determined. Moreover, the studied cut-off low system has enough potential convective capacity to uplift pollutants (ozone and CO) and to transport them to Japan. The increase in the enhancement ratio of ozone to CO from 0.16 on 12 May over the North China Plain to 0.28 over the Sea of Japan on 14 May indicates photochemical processing during the plume transport.

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Mineral-magnetic signal of long-term climatic variation in Pleistocene fluvio-lacustrine sediments, Nihewan Basin (North China)

Journal of Asian Earth Sciences ◽

10.1016/j.jseaes.2010.05.001 ◽

2010 ◽

Vol 39 (6) ◽

pp. 692-700 ◽

Cited By ~ 13

Author(s):

Hong Ao

Keyword(s):

North China ◽

Lacustrine Sediments ◽

Climatic Variation ◽

Magnetic Signal ◽

Nihewan Basin ◽

Mineral Magnetic

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Analysis of lithic technology of Lower Pleistocene sites and environmental information in the Nihewan Basin, North China

Quaternary International ◽

10.1016/j.quaint.2012.09.024 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 295 ◽

pp. 215-222 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Y. Liu ◽

Y.M. Hou ◽

H. Ao

Keyword(s):

North China ◽

Lithic Technology ◽

Environmental Information ◽

Nihewan Basin ◽

Lower Pleistocene

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A Middle Pleistocene Homo from Nesher Ramla, Israel

Science ◽

10.1126/science.abh3169 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 372 (6549) ◽

pp. 1424-1428

Author(s):

Israel Hershkovitz ◽

Hila May ◽

Rachel Sarig ◽

Ariel Pokhojaev ◽

Dominique Grimaud-Hervé ◽

...

Keyword(s):

East Asia ◽

Middle Pleistocene ◽

Genetic Contribution ◽

Genetic Studies ◽

European Continent ◽

Second Molar ◽

Qualitative And Quantitative ◽

Quantitative Analyses ◽

Parietal Bones ◽

European Group

It has long been believed that Neanderthals originated and flourished on the European continent. However, recent morphological and genetic studies have suggested that they may have received a genetic contribution from a yet unknown non-European group. Here we report on the recent discovery of archaic Homo fossils from the site of Nesher Ramla, Israel, which we dated to 140,000 to 120,000 years ago. Comprehensive qualitative and quantitative analyses of the parietal bones, mandible, and lower second molar revealed that this Homo group presents a distinctive combination of Neanderthal and archaic features. We suggest that these specimens represent the late survivors of a Levantine Middle Pleistocene paleodeme that was most likely involved in the evolution of the Middle Pleistocene Homo in Europe and East Asia.

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Wars and Rumours of War, 1918-1945: Japan, the West and Asia Pacific

10.5117/9781898823636 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Roger Buckley

Keyword(s):

East Asia ◽

General Public ◽

British Literature ◽

North China ◽

Contextual Analysis ◽

Asia Pacific ◽

The West

Supported by an in-depth Introduction and contextual analysis, this six-volume set complements Series I (1918-1937 – From Armistice to North China), addressing the history between 1938 and1945. Despite the widespread operation of war-time censorship and surveillance, publishers in the West and, to a lesser degree in East Asia, put out a range of material that remains of considerable value to later generations. Some of the texts selected are undeniably partisan but the quantity of the published material (and to some extent its quality) left the general public with a vast and varied archive of printed matter that deserves to be consulted and debated by today's researchers and students. Greater attention is given to American and British literature rather than Chinese or Japanese simply by virtue of the practical realities.

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