The Nihewan Basin of North China in the Early Pleistocene: Continuous and flourishing, or discontinuous, infrequent and ephemeral occupation?
The Nihewan Basin of North China in the Early Pleistocene: Continuous and flourishing, or discontinuous, infrequent and ephemeral occupation?
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DOI：
10.1016/j.quaint.2012.02.012
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发表时间：
2013-05-08
影响因子：
2.2
通讯作者：
Dennell, Robin W.
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
Dennell, Robin W.
对于早更新世人类居住在中国北方泥河湾盆地的证据，普遍的解释是，它表明人类能够适应各种各样的环境条件，从完整的间冰期到完整的冰期。还有人进一步提出，他们能够这样做是因为他们经常猎杀大型哺乳动物。本文认为，没有证据表明，人类居住在泥河湾盆地全年或在寒冷的条件下，没有证据表明，他们狩猎。相反，这表明古人类很可能在夏季访问过泥河湾，并且可能在条件比今天冷得多的时候避免了它。这种情况与已知的欧亚大陆其他地区最早的人类居住的气候敏感性是一致的，这些地区在纬度相当的地区（如中国的黄土高原、塔吉克斯坦、高加索和西班牙），以及在类似的季节性强的环境中，冬季低于冰点，如英国。总体而言，泥河湾盆地的人类定居可能是不连续的，不频繁的和短暂的。(C)2012 Elsevier Ltd和INQUA。All rights reserved.
The prevailing interpretation of the evidence for Early Pleistocene hominin occupation of the Nihewan Basin, North China is that it indicates continuous settlement by hominins that were able to adapt to a wide variety of environmental conditions, ranging from full interglacial to full glacial. It has further been suggested that they were able to do so by the routine hunting of large mammals. This paper argues that there is no evidence that hominins inhabited the Nihewan Basin year-round or under cold conditions, and no evidence that they hunted. Instead, it is suggested that hominins are likely to have visited Nihewan during the summer months, and probably avoided it when conditions were significantly colder than today. This scenario is consistent with what is known of the climatic sensitivity of the earliest hominin occupation of other regions in Eurasia at comparable latitudes (such as the Chinese Loess Plateau, Tajikistan, the Caucasus and Spain), and in similar strongly-seasonal environments with sub-freezing winters, such as Britain. Overall, hominin settlement in the Nihewan Basin was likely discontinuous, infrequent and ephemeral. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd and INQUA. All rights reserved.