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Abstract: With increasing collaboration between archeology and natural sciences, research on past human–environment interactions has received more attention in recent years. This paper uses nineteen radiocarbon and OSL dates from three profiles to explore environmental evolution of the Liyang Plain, investigate the spatial and temporal distributions of archaeological sites from the Paleolithic Age to the Shang–Zhou period and discuss relationships between human cultures and environmental changes. The results show that Paleolithic sites are mainly distributed in surrounding mountainous and hilly areas, changing to the plain in the late Paleolithic Age. Climatic cooling during the Last Glacial Maximum did not cause severe damage to the regional vegetation and ecosystem, which allowed the continuous development of the late Paleolithic culture in the Liyang Plain. Suitable environmental conditions and progression of human activities facilitated rice cultivation in the early Holocene, and rice agriculture as an important food resource provided a solid material foundation for social development. The number of archaeological sites increased continuously and their distribution expanded considerably into eastern low-lying plain areas during the Neolithic Age. These trends reversed in the late Shijiahe culture, and social development did not recover until the Shang–Zhou period. Variation of site distribution in the Liyang Plain was primarily influenced by hydrological and geomorphological changes as well as climate change. However, it might also have been affected by broader regional political situations, especially during the Shang–Zhou period. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The present paper reports the recently discovered fossil teeth of Early Pleistocene Gigantopithecus blacki and associated mammalian fauna from Baeryan Cave, Bijie County in Guizhou Province, and also reviews briefly the known fossil sites of Gigantopithecus in south China of Pleistocene. In Early Pleistocene, Gigantopithecus had a wider distribution, but withdrew southward in Middle Pleistocene to a limited area mainly in South China, and it disappeared in the Late Pleistocene according to the present fossil records. Diet and habitat analysis from carbon isotope evidence is used to investigate the reasons for the extinction of Gigantopithecus, which fed on a pure C3 diet and lived in a forest habitat. It was clearly different from early hominins in South and East Africa, such as Australopithecus africanus, Paranthropus robustus and Paranthropus boisei, which had C4 diets. The extinction of Gigantopithecus was also related to the great changes of climate and environment of the Pleistocene, especially the last one million years, during which Homo became more and more prosperous and exerted great pressure on G. blacki. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]