早、中更新世中国古人类年代序列与区域演化特征

Chronology of lithic artifact sites and hominin distribution from Early to Middle Pleistocene in China

我国早、中更新世古人类和旧石器遗址蕴含着丰富的早期人类活动和生存环境的背景信息,建立精确的遗址年代序列是分析古人类活动的基础。近二十年来,旧石器时代考古和测年研究为建立我国早期人类活动的年代框架提供了丰富的材料。本文分析了目前我国已发表的95个有独立测年数据的早、中更新世遗址,将其纳入黄土-古土壤年代框架,初步建立自200多万年至末次间冰期的古人类活动年代序列,根据它们的时空分布,进一步阐释了古人类在不同区域活动强度演变的时空特征。总体来看,这些遗址在泥河湾-周口店、秦岭山地、长江下游及长江流域以南(南方)四大区域呈现出聚集分布的特征;区域古人类活动强度主要表现在从早更新世的泥河湾-周口店、中更新世的秦岭山地、到中更新世晚期的长江中下游和南方区域的时空序列上。此外,仍有较多已发掘遗址缺少年代研究或存在测年问题,今后需要加强遗址的精确测年研究。

Hominin fossils and Paleolithic sites of Early and Middle Pleistocene in China can provide information to understand hominin behavioral and living environments,while a chronological framework is the basis for analyzing hominin evolution,migration,and relationship with climate change during the Pleistocene era.In the past 20 years,hominin records in China steadily increased because of the Paleolithic excavation and the advancement of dating techniques,providing amplified materials for establishing age frameworks.This study analyzed 95 Early to Middle Pleistocene sites with numerical age estimates.The distribution patterns are shown under the loess-paleosol chronology constraints and a relatively continuous chronology of hominin activities is established from approximately 2 MaBP to the last interglacial period.These sites are mainly distributed in four regions of the Nihewan Basin and the adjacent Zhoukoudian,Qingling Mountains Range,and lower reaches of the Yangtze River and South China,where the maximum intensity of hominin activities occurred in order during the Early Pleistocene,Middle Pleistocene,and in the late part of Middle Pleistocene,respectively.Various excavated sites still lack chronological study or encounter issues in dating.Therefore,improvement of chronological study is necessary.