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The interplay between Pleistocene climatic variability and hominin adaptations to diverse terrestrial ecosystems is a key topic in human evolutionary studies. Early and Middle Pleistocene environmental change and its relation to hominin behavioural responses has been a subject of great interest in Africa and Europe, though little information is available for other key regions of the Old World, particularly from Eastern Asia. Here we examine key Early Pleistocene sites of the Nihewan Basin, in high-latitude northern China, dating between ∼1.4 and 1.0 million years ago (Ma). We compare stone-tool assemblages from three Early Pleistocene sites in the Nihewan Basin, including detailed assessment of stone-tool refitting sequences at the ∼1.1-Ma-old site of Cenjiawan. Increased toolmaking skills and technological innovations are evident in the Nihewan Basin at the onset of the Mid-Pleistocene Climate Transition (MPT). Examination of the lithic technology of the Nihewan sites, together with an assessment of other key Palaeolithic sites of China, indicates that toolkits show increasing diversity at the outset of the MPT and in its aftermath. The overall evidence indicates the adaptive flexibility of early hominins to ecosystem changes since the MPT, though regional abandonments are also apparent in high latitudes, likely owing to cold and oscillating environmental conditions. The view presented here sharply contrasts with traditional arguments that stone-tool technologies of China are homogeneous and continuous over the course of the Early Pleistocene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT The Lesser Khingan Mountains of north-eastern China are heavily forested, making archaeological site identification difficult owing to poor ground surface visibility. Nevertheless, several prehistoric archaeological site discoveries have been made in recent years and a limited number of excavations have been initiated. One of the most important sites to emerge is Taoshan, which has yielded stratified stone tool assemblages dating from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to the mid-Holocene. Pollen profiles indicate significant changes in vegetation, fluctuating from steppe conditions during the LGM to forested conditions in the Bølling-Allerød interstadial (B-A) and the mid-Holocene. The stone tool assemblages from Taoshan were primarily produced from varieties of volcanic tuff, rhyolite, hornfels and agate. Geological prospecting and petrological analyses were performed to document procurement sources and changes in raw material exploitation strategies. During the LGM, the predominant raw material was vitric tuff, available from a source ca. 5-10 km from Taoshan. In the B-A and mid-Holocene layers, emphasis was on the exploitation of raw materials in gravel bars, although stone tool reduction techniques and raw material preferences changed considerably during this time interval. Diachronic changes in raw materials and exploitation strategies correspond to changes in vegetation and human adaptations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The relationship between climate change and hominin evolution over the Pleistocene in East Asia is still poorly understood, in particular due to the limited number of archaeological finds and fossils with reliable chronologies. Paleolithic sites preserved in loess-paleosol sequences in eastern Chinese Loess Plateau provide prospective evidence for understanding hominin evolution and dispersion across the Middle to Late Pleistocene in northern China. The Fenhe River Basin has been known as a key area for paleolithic sites and fossil hominins. Here, quartz Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) and K-feldspar post-infrared infrared stimulated luminescence (pIRIR) dating was employed on 61 samples from 13 paleolithic sites in the Fenhe River Basin. The reliability of the ages are checked by analysis of luminescence characteristics and comparison between quartz OSL and K-feldspar pIRIR ages. Paleoclimatic records were established using alternating loess-paleosol sequences, and multi-proxy indices of grain size, magnetic susceptibility, CaCO 3 and color from the dated sites. These results provide the reliable chronology for hominin presence in the Fenhe River Basin spanning the past three glacial-interglacial cycles. Our results show that this region experienced predominantly dusty, dry and cold conditions during glacials and comparatively moist and warm interglacial conditions, that are sensitive to variations in East Asian Summer and Winter Monsoon (EASM and EAWM respectively) intensities over glacial-interglacial timescales. The Fenhe River Basin is a key geographic refuge for hominins during glacial-interglacial climatic changes in northern China. It was occupied over glacial and interglacial periods spanning at least the last 370 ky, and the evidence for hominin presence is especially clear from ∼250 to 60 ka and since ∼35 ka. The frequency of hominin activity, as indicated by the number of archaeological sites and density of stone artifacts, increased during warm and humid periods of MIS 7 and MIS 5, in contrast to the cold, windy, and dry period of MIS 6. Site numbers increased in MIS 3 and the Last Glacial Maximum, in association with microblade technology. The dating results indicate that hominins with 'modern' features may have occurred in the Fenhe River Basin ∼140 ka ago, however, the exact timing of modern human occupation in the region needs a more combined approach consisting of morphological, ancient DNA and geochronological studies. • Feldspar pIRIR produced ages up to 250 ka for paleolithic sites in Fenhe River Basin. • Hominins occupied the basin during the past three glacial-interglacial cycles. • The climate was characterized by variations of EASM and EAWM in the basin. • Hominin activities increased in interglacials compared to that in glacial periods. • The basin was a key geographic refuge for hominins in northern China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The geographic and ecological background behind the development and spread of microblade technologies in Asia is a topic of considerable research interest. Microblade technologies are geographically widespread, and present in southern Siberia, the Russian Far East, Mongolia, northern China, the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago. Here we examine microblade sites of Northeast China which date to from ~28,000 years ago to the end of the Pleistocene. Though microblade assemblages in Northeast China are found to share a number of technological traits, regional divergences are identifiable on account of raw material differences. Technological changes through time correspond with climatic and environmental shifts during Marine Isotope Stage 2 (MIS 2). Microblade technology has its root in southern Siberia on the basis of early age ranges, and thereafter, these assemblages diffused widely, both southward and eastward into China. Microblade industries subsequently underwent a standardization process in Northeast China, leading to the formation of pressure flaking microblade technology on typical wedge-shaped cores of the Northern Microblade Industry (NMI). The NMI appears to have then diffused relatively rapidly across northern and eastern Asia, perhaps representing population movements and cultural interactions. • An up-to-date examination of microblade assemblages of Northeastern China. • The distribution, availability and size of raw materials influenced lithic assemblages. • The development of microblade industries is related to climatic shifts in MIS 2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Knowledge about the Early and Middle Pleistocene hominin record of China is steadily increasing owing to the on-going implementation of palaeoanthropological surveys and excavations. Yet, relatively little attention has been paid to the effects of climate variability on hominin populations in China and its influence on archaeological site distributions and hominin behaviours. The Mid-Pleistocene climate transition (MPT), dating to between ∼1.2–0.7 Ma in Eastern Asia, is characterized by significant changes in the length and intensity of glacial-interglacial cycles and in monsoon intensity and terrestrial conditions, which have been implicated in influencing the occupation history of basins within China. Here, the MPT is examined relative to archaeological site distributions across China to determine potential long-term geographic and behavioural effects on hominin populations before, during and after this critical period. Changes in the geographic distribution of hominins are demonstrated across the MPT, with significant shifts in the number of sites in high and low latitudes, likely as a response to changing ecosystems. Technological innovations, including the development of Large Cutting Tools, occur in the MPT and afterwards, possibly a response to the formation of open habitats in South China. Geographic and behavioural shifts in the hominin record challenge traditional views about the long-term, conservative nature of the biological and cultural evolution of hominins in Eastern Asia, and instead demonstrate dynamic responses of populations to ecosystem changes across the Early and Middle Pleistocene. • An up-to-date review of the Early and Middle Pleistocene hominin record of China. • Hominin site distributions changed across the Mid-Pleistocene climate transition (MPT). • Technological innovations occurred in the MPT and afterwards. • The shifts across the MPT indicate that early hominins were effected by, and responded to ecosystem changes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The emergence of Homo sapiens in Eastern Asia is a topic of significant research interest. However, well-preserved human fossils in secure, dateable contexts in this region are extremely rare, and often the subject of intense debate owing to stratigraphic and geochronological problems. Tongtianyan cave, in Liujiang District of Liuzhou City, southern China is one of the most important fossils finds of H. sapiens, though its age has been debated, with chronometric dates ranging from the late Middle Pleistocene to the early Late Pleistocene. Here we provide new age estimates and revised provenience information for the Liujiang human fossils, which represent one of the most complete fossil skeletons of H. sapiens in China. U-series dating on the human fossils and radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence dating on the fossil-bearing sediments provided ages ranging from ~33,000 to 23,000 years ago (ka). The revised age estimates correspond with the dates of other human fossils in northern China, at Tianyuan Cave (~40.8-38.1 ka) and Zhoukoudian Upper Cave (39.0-36.3 ka), indicating the geographically widespread presence of H. sapiens across Eastern Asia in the Late Pleistocene, which is significant for better understanding human dispersals and adaptations in the region., (© 2024. The Author(s).)

The Nihewan Basin of China preserves one of the most important successions of Paleolithic archeological sites in Eurasia. Stratified archeological sites and mammalian fossils, first reported in the 1920s, continue to be recovered in large-scale excavation projects. Here, we review key findings from archeological excavations in the Nihewan Basin ranging from ~1.66 Ma to 11.7 ka. We place particular emphasis on changes in stone tool technology over the long term. Though Pleistocene lithic industries from East Asia are often described as simple in character, re-evaluation of the stone tool evidence from the Nihewan Basin demonstrates significant, though periodic, innovations and variability in manufacturing techniques through time, indicating adaptive and technological flexibility on the part of hominins. Synthesis of paleoenvironmental and archeological data indicate changes in hominin occupation frequency in the Nihewan Basin, with chronological gaps suggesting that continuous presence in high, seasonal latitudes was not possible prior to the Late Pleistocene., (© 2019 The Authors. Evolutionary Anthropology published by Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)