Search

Late Pleistocene witnessed significant changes in lithic technological behaviors, mobility patterns and subsistence strategies in northeastern Eurasia, which are also correlated with paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes. Integrating artifact analysis and paleoenvironmental evidence, Taoshan, a newly excavated archaeological site, provides a crucial case study for evaluating human adaptation in Northeast China. Taoshan site was excavated in 2013–2014, uncovering three prehistoric layers and abundant remains. Here we present the results of a systematic techno-typological analysis of the Late Pleistocene assemblages of the site, and place special emphasis on diachronic cultural developments and underlying dynamics.

Homo sapiens was present in northern Asia by around 40,000 years ago, having replaced archaic populations across Eurasia after episodes of earlier population expansions and interbreeding1–4. Cultural adaptations of the last Neanderthals, the Denisovans and the incoming populations of H. sapiens into Asia remain unknown1,5–7. Here we describe Xiamabei, a well-preserved, approximately 40,000-year-old archaeological site in northern China, which includes the earliest known ochre-processing feature in east Asia, a distinctive miniaturized lithic assemblage with bladelet-like tools bearing traces of hafting, and a bone tool. The cultural assembly of traits at Xiamabei is unique for Eastern Asia and does not correspond with those found at other archaeological site assemblages inhabited by archaic populations or those generally associated with the expansion of H. sapiens, such as the Initial Upper Palaeolithic8–10. The record of northern Asia supports a process of technological innovations and cultural diversification emerging in a period of hominin hybridization and admixture2,3,6,11. Evidence for ochre processing Novel miniaturized lithics showing hafting Implications for cultural adaptations Methods

North-east China occupies an important geographic position for understanding the process of Neolithisation in East Asia. Although archaeologists have long debated the trajectory of change in this region, a lack of intensive survey and excavation has precluded convincing interpretations. This article presents research on the newly excavated sites of Huayang and Taoshan in the southern Lesser Khingan Mountains, with a particular focus on the lithic assemblages. Comparative and environmental analyses demonstrate the largely uniform trajectory of lithic technologies across north-east China and close correspondence with Late Glacial palaeoclimatic and palaeoenvironmental changes.

The study of lithic raw material plays an important role in developing archeologists’ understanding of the different adaptive strategies and behaviors of prehistoric people. In this paper, we present new evidence from the Huayang site that reveals lithic raw material procurement and exploitation strategies dating to around 14 ka cal. BP. The Huayang site is located in the southern portion of the Lesser Khingan Mountains in Northeast China, a key region for examining migration, diffusion, and interaction among hunter-gatherers in East and Northeast Asia. Our results indicate that diversified lithic raw materials were found and procured from local riverbeds and reduced at the site. Each raw material was reduced with distinctive knapping strategies and, as a result, there is a strong discrete spatial pattern for each of the different raw material types. Intra- and inter-site comparative analyses suggest a uniform trend towards localization and diversification of lithic raw materials in the southern Lesser Khingan Mountains, Northeast China during the Late Glacial, which seems to be associated with the paleoclimatic amelioration and the demographic expansion during this period. Introduction - The Huayang site Materials and methods - Raw material identification and geological survey - Lithic raw material economy, spatial distribution, and refitting Results - Raw material types - Raw material sources - Procurement patterns and reduction sequences of raw materials - Spatial distribution and raw material exploitation Discussion and conclusions - Lithic raw material economy of Huayang - Lithic resource localization and diversification as adaptive strategies

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 to 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. Introduction Results - Stone-tool-knapping skills recorded in the Cenjiawan assemblage - Technological comparisons of the Nihewan Basin assemblages Discussion

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 Bolling–Allerod 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.

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.

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.

Levallois approaches are one of the best known variants of prepared-core technologies, and are an important hallmark of stone technologies developed around 300,000 years ago in Africa and west Eurasia1,2. Existing archaeological evidence suggests that the stone technology of east Asian hominins lacked a Levallois component during the late Middle Pleistocene epoch and it is not until the Late Pleistocene (around 40,000–30,000 years ago) that this technology spread into east Asia in association with a dispersal of modern humans. Here we present evidence of Levallois technology from the lithic assemblage of the Guanyindong Cave site in southwest China, dated to approximately 170,000–80,000 years ago. To our knowledge, this is the earliest evidence of Levallois technology in east Asia. Our findings thus challenge the existing model of the origin and spread of Levallois technologies in east Asia and its links to a Late Pleistocene dispersal of modern humans. Levallois stone-tool technology found at the Guanyindong Cave site in southwest China was dated to approximately 170,000–80,000 years ago, which is much earlier than previously thought.

Donggutuo (DGT) is one of the richest archaeological localities in the Nihewan Basin of North China, thereby providing key information about the technological behaviours of early hominins in eastern Asia. Although DGT has been subject of multiple excavations and technological studies over the past several decades, few detailed studies on the lithic assemblages have been published. Here we summarize and describe the DGT lithic assemblages, examining stone tool reduction methods and technological skills. DGT dates to ca. 1.1 Ma, close to the onset of the mid-Pleistocene climate transition (MPT), indicating that occupations at DGT coincided with increased environmental instability. During this time interval, the DGT knappers began to apply innovative flaking methods, using free hand hard hammer percussion (FHHP) to manufacture pre-determined core shapes, small flakes and finely retouched tools, while occasionally using the bipolar technique, in contrast to the earlier and nearby Nihewan site of Xiaochangliang (XCL). Evidence for some degree of planning and predetermination in lithic reduction at DGT parallels technological developments in African Oldowan sites, suggesting that innovations in early industries may be situational, sometimes corresponding with adaptations to changes in environments and local conditions.

3D terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) provides both 3D point coordinates and intensity data of scanned object surface. The intensity data can be used to discriminate different materials, since it partly represents the object reflection characteristic at the laser wavelength. In addition to laser reflectance properties of object, the intensity data is influenced by many other factors, such as instrument mechanism, environmental condition, distance and incidence angle. In this paper, the effects of distance and incidence angle are studied. Except for standard reflector, some building facades of various kind of material were used as experimental samples. Experimental survey find that the intensity is inversely proportional to distance and incidence angle, but their relations do not agree with the theoretical model. Several models were selected to describe the relations between intensity and distance, intensity and incidence angle. The suitability of each model was analyzed by its correlation coefficient.

Xiaochangliang (XCL), located in the Nihewan Basin of North China, is a key archaeological locality for understanding the behavioural evolution of early humans. XCL dates to ca. 1.36 Ma, making it one of the earliest sites in Northeast Asia. Although XCL represents the first excavation of an Early Pleistocene site in the Nihewan Basin, identified and excavated in the 1970's, the lithic assemblages have never been published in full detail. Here we describe the lithic assemblages from XCL, providing information on stone tool reduction techniques and the influence of raw materials on artefact manufacture. The XCL hominins used both bipolar and freehand reduction techniques to manufacture small flakes, some of which show retouch. Bipolar reduction methods at XCL were used more frequently than previously recognized. Comparison of XCL with other Early Pleistocene sites in the Nihewan Basin indicates the variable use of bipolar and freehand reduction methods, thereby indicating a flexible approach in the utilization of raw materials. The stone tools from XCL and the Nihewan sites are classifiable as Mode I lithic assemblages, readily distinguished from bifacial industries manufactured by hominins in Eastern Asia by ca. 800 ka.

Terrestrial laser scanner (TLS) can provide the measurement of a large number of physical points distributed on the observed surface. A fast earthwork calculating method is proposed based on the redundant number of acquired points, which leads to a very accurate and high resolution reconstruction of the observed surfaces. This paper describes the three main steps of the method, namely the acquisition of the earthwork data based on TLS, the pre-processing of point cloud data, the earthwork calculation and accuracy evaluation based on point cloud data. Furthermore, it illustrates the performance of the proposed method with a validation experiment.

Statistical analysis is a useful method for setting the whole string of dam displacement measures in mathematical expressions. A statistical model is usually obtained by the method of stepwise regression. The stepwise regressions based on the least square method have limitations such as the lack of stability of the set of selected variables and bias in the parameter estimates. However, the Artificial Immune Algorithm (AIA) provides good performance as an optimization algorithm. This paper proposes an immune statistical model, which merges the statistical model and the immune algorithm together, to resolve the data analysis problems of dam horizontal crest upstream–downstream displacement. The stepwise regression model and immune statistical model have been compared, showing that the immune statistical model provide a higher degree of accuracy in predicting the future behavior of the dam.

Deformation monitoring is typically undertaken using spare, point-wise geodetic surveying techniques, such as total station or GPS. Deformation monitoring using terrestrial laser scanning is gaining considerable attention mainly due to the high spatial resolution of the acquired data. It can provide dense 3D information of the surface of an object. A disadvantage of the technique may be the difficulty to assess some fixed benchmarks on the surface of the deforming area, unless they are special targets that can be recognised by the accompanying software. To solve this problem, a new automatic deformation acquisition method based on nurbs surface was presented. The paper discusses methods of nurbs surface modelling implemented for deformation monitoring and approaches used to measure the deformation from surfaces. Finally, applications involving the use of laser scanning in bridge are presented.

This paper proposes a underwater acoustic coherent chaotic communication scheme which is suitable for shallow water channel mainly at 80bps rate. The encoding uses a decoupling mode, and the modulated signal doesn't contain common binary information. Orthogonal basis signals are engendered directly by Gaussian white noise carriers. The tolerance of time synchronization and the ability of resistance to inter-symbol interference (ISI) are achieved. The binary mapping decoding is engendered in correlation demodulating mode, and the copy correlator is used to match processing. Some problems have been considered, such as the system detection threshold, Doppler matching, the frequency compensation of copy sample, etc. The theoretical calculation and test method are provided. We use 1 kHz narrowband signal to enhance the ability of anti-dispersive fading in shallow static and dynamic experiments. Robust communication is achieved while the receiving threshold is above 0dB, and meanwhile the transmission loss rule is verified in shallow water channel.

The Xixiayuan project is a regulating reservoir in china. The concrete dam section is constructed on soft rock foundation. In this paper, we present the case study on the treatment for the soft rock foundation. The treatment includes the construction of concrete cut-off wall, reinforcement by dynamic compaction method, and installation of the stone columns. The treatment was justified by the field instruments installed in the foundation. The measured data show that the treatment can reduce significantly the settlement at the foundation. Moreover, layered settlement was employed in the analysis. The results demonstrate that very small total and differential settlement occurred in the foundation. The analysis illustrate the success of the treatment for the soft rock dam foundation, and useful for gaining experience for future designs and analysis.

LIDAR (Light Detection And Ranging) has become a reliable technique for the data collection of the earth surface. Building extraction based on LIDAR data is one of the important applications. The image edge is one important feature of a building, which can reflect the most valuable information of the image. And it can roughly describe the characteristics of the building. So building edge extraction from LIDAR data is of great significance. This paper presents an automatic extraction method of building edges from LIDAR data, using image segmentation technology. In the first stage, the LIDAR point cloud data are converted into DSM images. In the second stage, a threshold selection method based on the transition region determination is used to segment the DSM images. Finally, the building edges are extracted on the segmented image. The results obtained on the data sets with different ground point density, gathered over the town of Xuzhou (China) with TopScan airborne laser scanning system, are shown to illustrate the effectiveness of the proposed approach.