Early Pleistocene archaeological occurrences at the Feiliang site, and the archaeology of human origins in the Nihewan Basin, North China

PLoS One. 2017 Nov 22;12(11):e0187251. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0187251. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

The Early Pleistocene archaeological evidence from the fluvio-lacustrine sequence of the Nihewan Basin (North China) offers an excellent opportunity to explore early human evolution and behavior in a temperate setting in East Asia, following the earliest 'Out of Africa'. Here we present the first comprehensive study of the Feiliang (FL) site, with emphasis on the archaeological sequence, site integrity, and stone artifact assemblages. Magnetostratigraphic dating results show that early humans occupied the site ca. 1.2 Ma. Archaeological deposits were buried rapidly in primary context within shallow lake margin deposits, with only minor post-depositional disturbance from relatively low energy hydraulic forces. The FL lithic assemblage is characterized by a core and flake, Oldowan-like or Mode 1 technology, with a low degree of standardization, expedient knapping techniques, and casually retouched flakes. The bone assemblage suggests that hominin occupation of the FL site was in an open habitat of temperate grassland with areas of steppe and water. The main features of the FL assemblage are discussed in the context of the early Pleistocene archaeology of Nihewan, for which an assessment of current and future research is also presented.

MeSH terms

  • Archaeology*
  • Artifacts
  • Bone and Bones / anatomy & histology
  • China
  • Diet
  • Fossils
  • Humans
  • Magnetic Phenomena
  • Paleontology*
  • Tool Use Behavior

Grants and funding

This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Grant No. 41372032), the Key Research Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KZZD-EW-15), the Basic Scientific Special Program of MST of China (Grant No. 2014FY-110300), and the European Research Council-Starting Grants (283366). The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.