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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.

Many hominin sites have been found since 1920 in the Chinese Loess Plateau and its adjacent areas, such as Nihewan, Shuidonggou, Dingcun, Dali, Kehe, Xihoudu, east Qinling Mts. and Lantian. Recently two very important investigations of hominin occupation in the Chinese Loess Plateau have caused a huge impact in the world. The Homo erectus cranium from Gongwangling, Lantian County, Shaanxi Province of China is the oldest fossil hominin specimen in North China. It was found in 1964 in a layer below the Jaramillo subchron and was initially attributed to loess L15 in the Chinese loess-paleosol sequence, with an estimated age of ca. 1.15 Ma (millions of years ago). Here, we demonstrate that there is a stratigraphical hiatus in the Gongwangling section immediately below loess L15, and the cranium in fact lies in paleosol (S) S22 or S23, the age of which is ca. 1.54~1.65 Ma. High-resolution paleomagnetic investigations at two sections at Gongwangling and one at Jiacun, 10 km to the north, indicate that the fossil layer at Gongwangling and a similar fossil horizon at Jiacun were deposited immediately before a short normal magnetozone above the Olduvai subchron, which is attributed to the Gilsa excursion and dated elsewhere to ca. 1.62 Ma. Our investigations thus demonstrate that the Gongwangling cranium is slightly older than ca. 1.62 Ma, probably ca. 1.63 Ma, and significantly older than previously supposed. This re-dating now makes Gongwangling the second oldest site outside Africa (after Dmanisi in Georgia) with cranial remains, and causes substantial re-adjustment in the early fossil hominin record in Eurasia. At the same time, the earliest hominin evidence outside Africa came from our newly found 2.12-million-year old stone tools, which were found at Shangchen, a paleolithic locality, in Lantian County in the southern margin of the Chinese Loess Plateau. The loess-paleosol sequence and magnetostratigraphy were established by using different methods, including marker layers, sedimentology, mineralogy, geochemistry, paleomagnetism and rock magnetism. The stone artefacts (including cores, flakes, scrapers, points, borers, hammerstones and picks) from the Shangchen locality were found in a successive loess-paleosol section, and 17 stone artefact horizons of early Pleistocene strata (1.26–2.12 Ma) were used to establish the chronological framework of the loess-paleosol-paleolithic culture sequence during the early Pleistocene. The artefact-bearing layers were dated by linking the geomagnetic polarity variations changes in the earth’s magnetic field. The oldest artefacts (2.12 Ma) found within L28 layer between the Olduvai subchron and the Reunion excursion are ca. 270 thousand years older than the 1.85-million-year old skeletal remains and stone tools from Dmanisi, Georgia, which were previously the earliest evidence of hominin outside Africa. Because no skeletal remains were found with the stone tools from Shangchen, we do not know who made them, but it is likely to be an early form of our own genus Homo . Moreover, the length of our artefact sequence with17 stone cultural horizons (probably with a high average occupation of ~ 50 ka) found in the same locality – is very rare world-wide, and indicates a repeated – but not necessarily continuous – hominin occupation of the Chinese Loess Plateau for almost a million years between 1.26 and 2.12 Ma. Most occupations occurred in the paleosol layers (11 layers of total 17 layers) which indicate a kind of warm-wet climate. This breakthrough expands the “Loess lithic industry” and the “Loessic Geoarchaeological Belt” direction of research on the internationally-leading Chinese loess-paleosol sequence, and prompts reconsideration on the pattern of early human’s origin, migration and dispersal.

Considerable attention has been paid to dating the earliest appearance of hominins outside Africa. The earliest skeletal and artefactual evidence for the genus Homo in Asia currently comes from Dmanisi, Georgia, and is dated to approximately 1.77–1.85 million years ago (Ma)1. Two incisors that may belong to Homo erectus come from Yuanmou, south China, and are dated to 1.7 Ma2; the next-oldest evidence is an H. erectus cranium from Lantian (Gongwangling)—which has recently been dated to 1.63 Ma3—and the earliest hominin fossils from the Sangiran dome in Java, which are dated to about 1.5–1.6 Ma4. Artefacts from Majuangou III5 and Shangshazui6 in the Nihewan basin, north China, have also been dated to 1.6–1.7 Ma. Here we report an Early Pleistocene and largely continuous artefact sequence from Shangchen, which is a newly discovered Palaeolithic locality of the southern Chinese Loess Plateau, near Gongwangling in Lantian county. The site contains 17 artefact layers that extend from palaeosol S15—dated to approximately 1.26 Ma—to loess L28, which we date to about 2.12 Ma. This discovery implies that hominins left Africa earlier than indicated by the evidence from Dmanisi.

Resume Attestation du paleolithique moyen a methode Levallois en Chine, d’evolution locale. Difficulte de lire les techniques employees sur certains materiaux tenaces, mais le silex, d’origine externe, demontre la totale maitrise des aptitudes predictives, comme partout ailleurs dans le monde, a cette epoque. La coherence dans l’evolution de la conscience humaine quelle que soit la region ou la periode, s’y trouve a nouveau demontree, y compris pour des temps tres anciens.

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.

In this paper, we attempt to determine the source of the hornfels used to make the famous Late Middle Pleistocene lithic industry from Dingcun in North China. By combining geological mapping and geochemical fingerprinting (μ-XRF), we demonstrate that the source of the hornfels was around the Dagudui Mountain, 7 km east of Dingcun. Taking into consideration the Gujiao site, which is also located along the Fenhe River, the Palaeolithic inhabitants of the Fenhe River drainage basin had a good knowledge of the local rock sources, and used them over a very long period from the Middle Pleistocene to the Neolithic. Our geochemical data not only helps us to establish the source of the Dingcun industry, but also provides a reliable basis for the sub-classification of the hornfels that is more accurate than that resulting from visual inspection. In addition, our research initiates a new method for studying raw material sources of Chinese Paleolithic sites.

Usewear analysis has become an essential method for studying function of lithic artifacts. This article discusses experiments and analyses of usewear on quartzite artifacts caused from bone-working. The raw materials were collected from the Wulanmulun Site, Inner Mongolia, north China. Four working motions were involved, including cutting, scraping, drilling, and chopping. Five specimens were selected for a multi-stage experiment. This experiment demonstrates that apparent usewear would occur on the employable location on specimens as follows: 1) mainly large and medium scarring sizes; 2) mainly stepped and feathered terminations, and hinged ones occasionally; 3) continuous and overlapped distributions; 4) heavy rounding on the used edges of specimens. The multi-stage experiment shows that the number of newly produced scars declined with time duration and intensity of usage. The development of rounding shows a non-linear increase from light to heavy. This article intends to establish a reference collection of lithic usewear on Chinese quartzite for archaeological analyses.

Usewear analysis is one of the most important and significant methods in studying the hafting wear. The raw material used in this article is quartzite gathered from identified raw material resource of Wulanmulun Site, and the wooden handle and hemp rope are used as the binding material of accomplishing the experimental study on the hafting wear on quartzite tools. The low-power technique was applied in observing stone specimens. The research shows that the hafting wear on quartzite tools has its own regular pattern that can be well recognized by the low-power technique. Generally, the difference of major features and patterns of hafting wear occurred and distributed at areas of the lateral edges, surface ridges and basal edges of the lower part on the specimens can be well distinguished. The binding material, binding method, processing way of binding and the morphology of stone specimen themselves can be also affected factors to the hafting wear patterns. The present study may contribute a partial set of reference standards in constructing hafting wear patterns on the quartzite tools and aid interpretation of features observed on archaeological assemblages on the basis of the low-power technique.

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.

The Chinese Loess Plateau is the largest loess area in the world, and covers ∼400,000 km2, with a loess–palaeosol sequence that is comparable with Marine Isotope Stages (MIS) as a Quaternary terrestrial timescale of climatostratigraphy and chronology. The Dingcun lithic industry was recovered in 1954 in the Loess Plateau, and has been known for its Large Flake Acheulean tools. Technological analysis based on the concept of chaine operatoire was applied in this paper to update our knowledge of the techno-economic behaviours at this site and in the Loess Plateau area. The results show that there are two chaine operatoires: 1) one focused on the production of large flake blanks (faconnage) for making Large Cutting Tools (LCTs); and 2) a small to medium debitage to obtain flakes for light duty tools. Experiments were applied to check the knapping technique. The results confirmed the probability that hard hammers were used to produce large flakes on hornfels blanks, and soft-hammer techniques were not used. When compared with the Acheulian LCTs of other sites in China, Dingcun is different from the Acheulian culture of south China (Danjiangkou Reservoir Region [DRR] and the Bose Basin), and more similar to the Luonan Acheulian industry. Therefore, it seems that a Large Flake Acheulean was developed the Loess Plateau area in the Late 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.

The Wulanmulun site found in 2010 is an important Paleolithic site in Ordos (China), from which lots of stone and bone artifacts and mammalian fossils have been recovered. It was previously dated by radiocarbon and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) techniques on quartz. To further confirm the reliability of the chronology constructed based on OSL ages and test the applicability of the recently developed pIRIR procedure on sediments from northern China, twenty-four sediment samples (including eolian, lacustrine and fluvio-eolian sands) from the site were determined using the multi-elevated-temperature post-IR IRSL (MET-pIRIR or pIRIR) procedure on potassium feldspar. The results show that the studied samples have two MET-pIRIR De preheat plateaus (280–320 and 340–360 °C), and the bleaching rates of the luminescence signals are associated with sample ages and stimulation temperatures. All the pIRIR ages (7–155 ka) corrected for anomalous fading and residual dose obtained after solar bleaching for 15 h are larger than the corresponding quartz OSL ages (4–66 ka) previously determined, even for the young eolian samples (

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.

International audience; Longgupo cave, located in Chongqing Municipality, China, was discovered in 1984. Sixteen Gigantopithecus teeth and two hominid fossils accompanied with abundant mammalian fossils and stone artifacts were unearthed from the site. Previous dating result is questioned because of the complexity of deposition history. In this study, seventeen mammalian fossil teeth collected from different layers of unit C II and C III (C III') during the 2003-2006 Sino-Franco joint excavation were analyzed by combined ESR and U-series methods, and calculated with a US-ESR model. In situ dose rates were remeasured in detail in 2012, in order to refine the external dose rate determination. Uranium-series analyses indicate that no obvious uranium leaching has occurred, and all the teeth underwent a very recent uranium uptake history, except one from layer C III 3 of the south wall. The US-ESR results show that the ages of ten teeth from unit C III' of the north wall are consistent in general, about 2.35 Ma. The ages of seven samples from south wall are not in accordance with the stratigraphic order: three teeth are much younger than the other four, probably attributed to the relative higher uranium concentration and U/Th ratio in the dental tissues and significant higher in situ gamma dose rate. Nevertheless, the three teeth from C III of the south wall give an average age of - 2.48 Ma. The fossil ages obtained in this work combined with paleontological evidence and new paleomagnetic results place Longgupo at the very beginning of the Early Pleistocene. Compared with other early hominid settlements, Longgupo is one of the earliest evidences of hominid settlement in China and East Asia to date.

The Three Gorges of Yangtze River, southwest China, abundant in human and faunal fossils, and lithic artifacts, represents an important site complex for understanding hominin dispersion and adaptations during the Pleistocene. The Yumidong Cave is a newly-discovered Paleolithic site in this region which yielded a large number of animal fossils and lithic artifacts. U–Th dating in conjunction with biostratigraphic analysis indicated that the archaeological remains were deposited during a long sequence from ca. 400 to 8 ka (Middle Pleistocene to Holocene). Lithic technological analysis indicated an original material shaped on massive limestone blocks with chaine operatoire consisted of selection, shaping and retouching. The volumetric structures of selected blanks are regrouped into three categories: structures with bevel(s), trihedral structure and convergent ones. The outline of cutting-edge is predonimated by denticulate ones, followed by saw-like ones, rostrum, convergent with a denticulate edge and beaked ones. Despite showing nothing in common with Europe, Africa, the Near East and even the Indian Subcontinent and northern China, the lithic assemblage of the Yumidong Cave exhibits a strong coherence and presents more similarity to mainland Southeast Asia with heavy, angular and massive stone tools made on pebble, cobble and without the Levallois, Discoid, and blade/bladelet phenomenon. The lithic assemblage of Yumidong Cave may represent material clues of a potential local technological center of origin in unique technical world of Central-South China and its uniqueness would be understandable as the result of a successful adaptation of hominids to a specific environment. Yumidong lithic material deconstructs the existing paradigm for a long period of time and presents new ideas and new facts for the technic evolution in South China.

Discovered in 2010 with the construction of Landscape Park on the left bank of Wulanmulun River in Kangbashi District of Nei Mongol, Wulanmulun Paleolithic Site yielded large quantities of mammalian specimens during 2010–2012 rescue excavations. Identified fossil materials include Myospalax sp., Cricetulus sp., Microtus sp., Apodemus sp., Arvicola sp.?, Dipodidae gen. et sp. indet., Lepus sp., Mustelidae gen. et sp. indet., Coelodonta antiquitatis , Equus przewalskii , Camelus cf. C. knoblochi Megaloceros ordosianus and Gazella sp. The fauna analyses show that the paleoenvironment in Wulanmulun Site area might have been a mixture or mosaic of grassland and forest with some small streams and swamps. The fluctuation of annual temperature might have been high, with the winter very cold and the summer relatively warm. The Wulanmulun fauna is in the same paleozoogeographic sub-province as Baotou, Shiyu, Salawusu and Loufangzi faunas, different from that of the Xiaogushan and Yanjiagang faunas of Northeast China, and more different from that of the Dantu fauna of East China. The Wulanmulun area was suitable for the habitation of the late Paleolithic humans, and Wulanmulun fauna were their main hunting prey.

The Wulanmulun site, located in southwestern Inner Mongolia (China), is an important Paleolithic discovery in the Ordos Plateau in addition to the sites of Salawusu and Shuidonggou. About 4200 stone artifacts, 3400 fossils, and abundant hunting evidence of hominid were uncovered in 2010. In order to explore stone tool function and human behavior at Wulanmulun during the Middle to Late Pleistocene, we have selected 140 specimens excavated from Locality 1 of Wulanmulun in 2010 for use-wear analysis. The results suggest that 58 specimens retain evidence of use-wear, accounting for 41.4% of the observed samples. Many stone artifacts display use wear, and several show wear from hafting. The working motion was dominated by defleshing and slicing, and the main contact materials were animal substances. Animal processing might have been one of the main working tasks at Locality 1 of Wulanmulun, as numerous animal bone fragments with obvious cut marks and burnt bones were also found in situ.

The famous Palaeolithic site of Dingcun (Ting-ts'un) in North China is located on the third terrace of the Fenhe River, which is one of the main tributaries of the Yellow River. After it was discovered, a series of localities with similar stratigraphic profiles was excavated in 1954. Since then, the artifacts from Dingcun have been classified as a chopper-chopping tool industry assigned to the Late Pleistocene. The authors re-examined the lithic assemblage and carried out an additional field survey at these localities. The local geomorphologic background and especially the Chinese loess-paleosol sequence re-define the chronology of the site. Uranium-series dates on mammal teeth are 160 ka–210 ka. Hence, the site is re-assigned to the late Middle Pleistocene. The Dingcun lithic assemblage is also re-classified as Late Acheulian, characterized by classic Acheulian tools such as handaxes, cleavers, and picks, with the addition of some light-duty tools, including scrapers, notches, borers and denticulates. This paper aims to present a new interpretation of the chronology and the cultural characteristics of the Dingcun site.

International audience; Nearly three thousand specimens of mammalian remains were unearthed from Wulanmulun Paleolithic site in Ordos, Nei Mongol, during 2010–2012 rescue excavations. The majority of the remains belong to medium and large sized hoofed mammals, particularly woolly rhinoceros. The materials are mostly fragmental and associated with thousands of stone artifacts. Taphonomic analyses show that the remains were subjected to little alluvial transportation but some weathering before burial. Only two kinds of bone tools, antler hammers and shaft points, were identified. The cut marks on the bones showed that the animals were mostly hunted and butchered on the spot rather than scavenged. The prey were likely lured or driven into the site and trapped in the muddy alluvial deposits and butchered near or after their death. The site is more probably a trap for hunting large animals and a follow-up butchery shop

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.

Longgupo Cave site, located in Wushan County, Chongqing, China has attracted continuous attention since its discovery of hominid remains in association with late Pliocene-early Pleistocene fauna and numerous lithic artefacts. In 2003-2006, new excavation was carried out on this site, allowing the description of a detailed stratigraphy of the highly complex cave infillings and the sampling of teeth for combined ESR/U-series analyses. Here we report preliminary dating results of seven herbivorous fossil teeth from different archaeological layers of the lowest geological unit (C III). Uranium-series analyses indicate that no obvious uranium leaching has occurred and all the teeth (except one) underwent a very recent uranium uptake history. The obtained US-ESR results show that the age of six teeth are basically consistent, between similar to 1.4 and 1.8 Ma. At the same time, we observed an inverse correlation of two samples with the stratigraphical sequence. This could be caused by the distinct uranium uptake history of one sample, high uranium content in the enamel for another or bad estimation of external dose rate. Due to the complexity of the stratigraphic sequence, supplementary in situ gamma dose rate measurement should be performed for all the samples during the following excavations in order to confirm this preliminary ESR/U-series chronology. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Resume Si comme le prouve l’ensemble des documents, les hominides restent d’origine africaine, nous pouvons postuler que la date des premieres diffusions de populations est a reculer dans le temps, vers 2,5–2,6 Ma, et que les premieres populations du centre de la Chine se sont orientees vers des options techniques originales, lesquelles seront retrouvees en Afrique bien plus tard. Dans l’etat actuel des donnees, il nous semble que nous devons abandonner nos anciens paradigmes, devenus au fil du temps verites, car au lieu d’une perception unitaire – monolithique – de ces periodes, nous preconisons une reconnaissance de l’existence d’une alterite culturelle spatiale et temporelle.

Etude du materiel archeologique recolte lors des nouvelles fouilles de Longgupo, dans les secteurs sud et nord, probablement contemporains. En tout, ce sont 854 artefacts lithiques, repartis sur 30 niveaux archeologiques (secteur sud) et 11 niveaux archeologiques (secteur nord), qui ont ete decouverts. Avant de passer a l’etude proprement dite des artefacts, l’auteur expose les resultats d’une analyse plurifactorielle, basee sur les donnees stratigraphiques, taphonomiques (perturbations post-depositionnelles), sur l'analyse de processus naturels susceptibles de produire des eolithes, sur des donnees issues d’experimentations et sur l'analyse techno-fonctionnelle du materiel.Suit l’etude technologique des artefacts : il s’avere que ces ensembles se caracterisent par la recherche d'outils varies se differenciant les uns des autres par des volumes et des tranchants differents ; par des outils fabriques a plus de 90 % aux depens de deux types de supports, a savoir une matrice a simple biseau et une matrice a biseau double ; par des matrices obtenues selon differentes chaines operatoires associant successivement si necessaire a un scheme de faconnage un scheme de debitage. Ces schemes operatoires apparaissent comme une reponse « culturelle » diversifiee a cette contrainte que represente le calcaire triasique, dur a la taille. Ainsi, malgre certaines disparites, l’industrie de Longgupo peut etre consideree comme homogene.

Resume La reconstitution faunique s’appuie essentiellement sur les donnees des annees 1980/1990. Les donnees recentes n’ont fait que confirmer les donnees anterieures. Par ailleurs, la richesse faunique s’est averee moins importante dans les secteurs centraux du site (fouilles en 2003/2006), moins perturbes par les tanieres de hyenes, lesquelles sont en revanche nombreuses le long des parois nord et sud largement prospectees les premieres annees. De fait, les informations sont essentiellement paleontologiques, renseignant sur les changements paleoenvironnementaux sur le long terme de l’intervalle Pliocene recent – debut du Pleistocene moyen. Le site de Longgupo se situe dans le nord de la zone subtropicale et appartient au domaine des faunes orientales. Le grand nombre d’especes de mammiferes reconnus dans ce site permet de cerner les grandes evolutions paleoenvironnementales des trois ensembles de la premiere sequence stratigraphique (fouille Huang W.-B.). Pour cela, les differentes especes ont ete regroupees en quatre groupes biogeographiques : de vegetation subtropicale (a mousson moderee), de forets tropicales (climats chauds et humides), de montagne (climat froid), de prairies (climat froid et sec). La variation du taux de representation de chacun de ces groupes permet ainsi de reconstituer, certes grossierement, les paleoenvironnements pour les trois ensembles reconnus a Longgupo : un ensemble inferieur a climat chaud et humide avec des episodes froids et secs, un ensemble intermediaire avec un climat plutot froid et sec dans la partie inferieure qui devient progressivement plus chaud et humide vers le haut de la sequence (avec une influence de la mousson plus marquee que pour la periode actuelle), un ensemble superieur correspondant a un climat qui devait etre, dans l’ensemble, plutot froid et sec. Cette biochronologie et cette reconstitution paleoenvironnementale tres generale sont evidemment importantes, mais comme il a ete dit supra , toute mise en relation stratigraphique couche a couche entre l’ancienne stratigraphie et la nouvelle a ete tres difficile car la position des vestiges recueillis lors des fouilles anciennes n’a pas ete enregistree.

Resume Le site de Longgupo, decouvert en 1984, est localise au sud de la traversee des Trois Gorges du Yangtse, a l’est de la province de Chongqing. Situe sur le versant calcaire de la vallee de la Miaoyu, il a fait l’objet de trois campagnes de fouille depuis 1985. Les deux premieres campagnes se sont deroulees entre 1985/1988 et 1997/1998 sous la responsabilite de Huang W.B. et la derniere entre 2003/2006 sous l’autorite de Boeda E. et Hou Y.M. Durant les deux premieres campagnes, la decouverte, a un âge estime de 1,9 Ma, de nombreux ossements, dont notamment celle d’un fragment de mandibule attribue a un hominide 1 , et d’une vingtaine d’artefacts a suscite un tres grand interet de la part de la communaute scientifique, mais aussi des controverses du fait que ces donnees allaient a l’encontre des modeles de diffusion des premiers hominides hors d’Afrique. Les elements anthropologiques etant souvent privilegies au detriment des autres donnees, dont notamment les artefacts lithiques, le caractere anthropique du site a ete conteste. Or, les quelques artefacts provenant des premieres fouilles, en particulier les artefacts en roches exogenes, attestaient de facon irrefutable son caractere anthropique. Pour retablir definitivement l’authenticite de ce site, en y appliquant les methodes d’investigations modernes, une nouvelle campagne de fouille sino-francaise a ete organisee. L’objectif des campagnes 2003/2006 a vise d’abord la comprehension et l’analyse des enregistrements archeologiques dans leur contexte geomorphologique et stratigraphique.

Based on several of the earliest sites (Yuanmou, Renzidong, Longgudong, and Longgupo) in southern China, this article is a general review of some recent discoveries of archaeological evidence. The dominating similarity in mammalian faunas indicates a strong affinity of the environment among the sites. The influence of environmental change including geology and climate has been also considered here. Around 2 Ma in China, the emergence of a group of early hominid sites yielding human fossils, stone artifacts or both indicates that Asia is not a desolate land for early human evolution. The understanding of early human evolution in this region is needed to be better known. In addition to East Africa, Asia is another potential place for exploring early hominid sites. Without further validation, the long dominant theory of “Out of Africa” may be only taken as a tentative hypothesis, especially under the new conditions involving more evidence from other regions. Some wider possibilities are existent beyond East Africa.

Exploring and interpreting the mode of cognition and behavioral patterns of prehistoric hunter-gatherers is always one of the main goals of current Paleolithic research. In the 1940s, French prehistorians proposed the technological method for studying lithic assemblages which opened a brand-new perspective on the prehistoric domain. In the 1960s, French ethnographer and anthropologist Andre Leroi-Gourhan proposed the concept “chaine operatoire” and established the theory of lithic technological study. After the 1980s, the concept “chaine operatoire” was substituted for two different but complementary concepts: techno-cognition and techno-economy, which contributed not only to revealing the technical knowledge and know-how applied during lithic production but also to interpreting the technical behavior of prehistoric hunter-gatherers from social and economic viewpoints. The lithic technological study of the Guanyindong site, presented in this paper, was carried out for the first time by applying lithic technological method developed by French prehistorians to the Chinese materials. Our analytical results demonstrated that the debitage system of Guanyindong is quite distinct from the concept Levallois largely used in Europe, Near-East and Africa. The differentiation between these two debitage modes may contribute to exploring and interpreting the relationship in Middle Paleolithic between China and Europe, Near-East and Africa.

Resume Le site de Donggutuo (DGT), qui constitue l’un des sites les plus importants du bassin de Nihewan en Chine du Nord, est bien connu pour ses petits outils finement retouches, ainsi que pour les caracteres des eclats de son industrie. Cependant, les fouilles recentes fournissent encore de nouveaux elements d’ou decoulent de nouvelles informations. Par exemple, le « nucleus Donggutuo » presente dans cet article correspond a la decouverte d’une nouvelle technotypologie indiquant, pour les populations locales d’il y a 1,1 Ma, une nouvelle strategie economique, qui etait inconnue jusqu’alors dans cette region. Cet article presente le cadre general du site et l’analyse statistique de l’industrie de DGT, en particulier la methode specifiquement appliquee au « nucleus DGT », puis il discute la possible influence des changements climatiques sur l’emergence de ce type de nucleus. Le « nucleus DGT » montre les premices d’une tradition microlithique et reflete la diversite culturelle des premiers peuples du paleolithique inferieur dans le nord de la Chine.

A 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.

Although China is literally at the end of Eurasia, there is increasing evidence that some of the earliest records of hominins outside of Africa are from China. Recent work at three archeological sites in southern China provide artifactual evidence of hominins in this region near the beginning of the Pleistocene. Renzidong in Anhui Province is a cave site dated to approximately 2.6 Ma. It contains a large mammalian fauna and 59 specimens that have been identified as stone artifacts. Longgudong, in Hubei Province, is dated to the Matuyama Epoch by paleomagnetic studies. It has yielded a large mammalian fauna, including Gigantopithecus as well as 592 stone artifacts in stratigraphic context and some bone artifacts. Longgupo, in Wushan County is a well-known site attributed to the Early Pleistocene. It has yielded 26 stone artifacts and a large mammalian fauna including Gigantopithecus and a second hominoid that has been considered by some authorities to belong to a species of Homo and by others to be a small ape related to Lufengpithecus. The identity of many Early Pleistocene hominoid fossils from China and their phylogenetic relationship with other hominoids, including Homo is a topic of considerable discussion and debate. The resolution of these issues and a better understanding of the place of China in early human evolution will come from continued field work and new discoveries.