本项目拟用新近建立的等时线Al-26/Be-10埋藏测年法研究我国重要早更新世人类遗址的年代。将同一层位多个石英矿物样Al-26、Be-10浓度拟合成等时线，从其斜率可解得样品的埋藏年代。若一组样品符合"简单恒态侵蚀模式"，埋深足以忽略后期生成的宇生核素，所得等时线应过坐标原点，且其斜率和单个样品给出的年代应在误差范围内一致。如是，应是年代结果可信的有力证据。若难以获得精度合理的等时线，则至少部分样品不满足埋藏测年的前提条件。本课题研究重点为已有初步埋藏测年数据的山西芮城西侯度和正在进行系统发掘的重庆巫山龙骨坡，云南元谋上那蚌、重庆玉龙公园和广西田东甘莲等地点列为候补。预本课题可给出西侯度等重要早期人类遗址可信的年代界限，为确立约2 Ma前人类是否已出现在中国提供坚实的年代学证据，这将是对我国人类最早起源研究的重要贡献，有可能导致人类起源和演化理论的重要修正，对相关学科的研究亦具重要意义。

Based on the results achieved when carrying out our previous projects from National Natural Science Foundation of China, the present proposal aims at studying the chronology of key Early Pleistocene hominin sites in China with recently established isochron Al-26/Be-10 burial dating. If the Al-26 and Be-10 concentrations of a set of coeval quartz samples, preferably quartzite gravels, can be fitted into an isochron by least square regression, the samples' burial age can be derived from its slope. If the quartz samples conform to the model of "simple steady-state erosion", and they are sufficiently shielded from cosmic rays to ignore post-burial production of cosmogenic nuclides, the resultant isochron should pass the origin of the coordinate plane and the age derived from its slope should be consistent within errors with the weighted mean of the individual burial ages. The positive case can be cited as firm evidence in support of the reliability of the results of burial dating. In case of failure to obtain an isochron with reasonable precision, at least part of the samples fails to conform to the preconditions of burial dating. .The present project will give priority to the Paleolithic site of Xihoudu in Ruicheng County, Shanxi Province, where preliminary burial dates of ~2 Ma have been obtained, and to hominin/Paleolithic site of Longgupo in Wushan County, Chongqing Municipality, where systematic excavations are currently under way. The hominin site of Yuanmou in Yuanmou County, Yunnan Province, and the Paleolithic sites of Yulong Park in Chongqing Municipality and Ganlian in Tiandong County, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region are selected as its alternative targets. .It is expected that robust temporal frames for Xihoudu and several other key Early Pleistocene hominin sites in China may come out by carrying out this project. This will mark a substantial progress in studying the earliest hominin appearance in China, and provide firm chronological evidence for addressing whether or not the first human population in China was as early as ~2 Ma. Moreover, the results of this project may possibly lead to changes in the patterns of human evolution, and bear importance to relevant science disciplines as well.