猿人洞的溶洞演化和堆积旋回与北京猿人生活环境

猿人洞的溶洞演化过程按岩溶洞穴发生发展规律可划分为６个阶段．在洞穴发育的填充过程中,依据堆积物的成因类型,猿人洞中的中更新世洞穴堆积层可分为７个堆积旋回．每个堆积旋回可与年代相当的黄土堆积旋回和深海气候旋回—一对应．堆积旋回所显示的气候和洞穴环境变化均与北京猿人生活环境及其旧石器文化的发展有着密切的关系．     

Origins of the Iberomaurusian in NW Africa: New AMS radiocarbon dating of the Middle and Later Stone Age deposits at Taforalt Cave,Morocco

Recent genetic studies based on the distribution of mtDNA of haplogroup U6 have led to subtly different theories regarding the arrival of modern human populations in North Africa. One proposes that groups of the proto-U6 lineage spread from the Near East to North Africa around 40–45 ka (thousands of years ago), followed by some degree of regional continuity. Another envisages a westward human migration from the Near East, followed by further demographic expansion at ∼22 ka centred on the Maghreb and associated with a microlithic bladelet culture known as the Iberomaurusian. In evaluating these theories, we report on the results of new work on the Middle (MSA) and Later Stone (LSA) Age deposits at Taforalt Cave in Morocco. We present 54 AMS radiocarbon dates on bone and charcoals from a sequence of late MSA and LSA occupation levels of the cave. Using Bayesian modelling we show that an MSA non-Levallois flake industry was present until ∼24.5 ka Cal BP (calibrated years before present), followed by a gap in occupation and the subsequent appearance of an LSA Iberomaurusian industry from at least 21,160 Cal BP. The new dating offers fresh light on theories of continuity versus replacement of populations as presented by the genetic evidence. We examine the implications of these data for interpreting the first appearance of the LSA in the Maghreb and providing comparisons with other dated early blade and bladelet industries in North Africa.     

Le site du Ranc-Pointu no 2 à Saint-Martin-d’Ardèche : une occupation du Paléolithique moyen ancien dans le Sud-Est de la France

New investigations conducted in 2008 at Ranc-Pointu No. 2, a small cave located along the Ardèche River, led to the complete revision of the infilling and assemblages, confirming at least one human occupation in this small cave. There may have been two periods of occupation, but only the main one located at the top of the sequence (level ‘c’) has been firmly established. Revision of the large mammal corpus and sedimentological data suggests climatic warming from the base to the top of the sequence. The OSL dating of sub-level ‘c1’ to 145 ka must be discussed in relation to the interdisciplinary results. It suggests that this cave was occupied at the end of MIS 6 and therefore that human populations were present in the Ardèche gorges at the end of the Middle Pleistocene. Ranc-Pointu No. 2 would thus represent older Middle Palaeolithic occupations than in other caves located along the Ardèche River, such as Le Figuier or Saint-Marcel. In the Ardèche French department, only the bottom of the Moula-Guercy sequence and the top of the sequence at the site of Payre, both of which are northern sites, have recorded MIS 6 deposits.     

Local vegetation dynamics and human habitation from the last interglacial to the early Holocene at Theopetra cave,central Greece: the evidence from wood charcoal analysis

This paper presents the results of wood charcoal analysis carried out on material from Theopetra cave in central Greece. The sequence dates from prior to 130–8 ka bp and is made up of layers of both anthropogenic and geogenic origins. The study of the wood charcoal samples from these layers sets out to distinguish changes in the local vegetation through time, to correlate these with broader environmental conditions and to discuss how they may relate to differences in the frequency and intensity of human occupation of the cave from shortly before the last interglacial to the Holocene. Changes in the presence and frequency of Prunus sp., Juniperus sp. as well as taxa needing temperate, thermophilous or riverine conditions in successive layers reflect a pattern of vegetation succession that can be correlated with the pollen and marine isotope stage (MIS) records. The earliest human occupation took place in an open park-woodland environment dominated by Prunus during the late MIS 6–6/5 transition. This was followed by a succession of temperate woodlands with deciduous Quercus, Carpinus and Fraxinus, reflecting the optimal conditions of the last interglacial (MIS 5e), followed by more open vegetation during subsequent cooling events. Middle Palaeolithic hunter-gatherers visited the cave repeatedly during the last interglacial, in contrast to more sporadic human presence during the following climatic deterioration. This was characterized by Juniperus dominated steppe and open vegetation and/or riparian woods, reflecting the harsh and unstable climatic conditions of the pleniglacial. Finally, the expansion of Pistacia and re-establishment of temperate woodland points to climatic amelioration during the Holocene from which there is evidence of regular use of the cave by Mesolithic and Neolithic people. The dominant role of Prunus observed in several periods provides important complementary information to the pollen evidence from the late Pleistocene.     

Discovery of a second human molar and cranium fragment in the late Middle to Late Pleistocene cave of Ma U'Oi (Northern Vietnam)

In November 2002, during the second season of work by a Vietnamese-French-Japanese team, we discovered a human molar and a fragment of an occipital bone in the late Middle to Late Pleistocene cave of Ma U'Oi (Bacon et al., Geobios. 37 (2004) 305). The layer from which this material comes is the same as that in which a human lower molar was found in 2001. Both molars can be attributed to archaic Homo, and both exhibit archaic and modern traits.     

Single-grain OSL chronologies for Middle Palaeolithic deposits at El Mnasra and El Harhoura 2, Morocco: implications for Late Pleistocene human-environment interactions along the Atlantic coast of northwest Africa

Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) measurements were made on individual, sand-sized grains of quartz from Middle Palaeolithic deposits at two cave sites (El Harhoura 2 and El Mnasra) on the Atlantic coast of Morocco. We were able to calculate OSL ages for 32 of the 33 samples collected from the Middle Palaeolithic deposits, including the earliest and latest Aterian levels at both sites. These ages reveal periods of occupation between about 110 and 95 ka (thousands of years ago), and at ∼75 ka. A late Middle Palaeolithic occupation of El Harhoura 2 is also recorded at ∼55 ka. Our single-grain OSL chronologies largely support previous age estimates from El Mnasra and other sites along the Atlantic coast of Morocco, but are generally more precise, reproducible and stratigraphically more coherent (i.e., fewer age reversals). We compare the single-grain ages for El Harhoura 2 and El Mnasra with those obtained from single- and multi-grain OSL dating of Middle Palaeolithic deposits in the nearby sites of Contrebandiers and Dar es-Soltan 1 and 2, and with records of past regional environments preserved in sediment cores collected from off the coast of northwest Africa. A conspicuous feature of the new chronologies is the close correspondence between the three identified episodes of human occupation and periods of wetter climate and expanded grassland habitat. Owing to the precision of the single-grain OSL ages, we are able to discern gaps in occupation during Marine Isotope Stages 5 and 4, which may represent drier periods with reduced vegetation cover. We propose that these climatic conditions can be correlated with events in the North Atlantic Ocean that exert a major control on abrupt, millennial-scale fluctuations between wet and dry periods in northwest and central North Africa.     

New palaeontological assemblage, sedimentological and chronological data from the Pleistocene Ma U'Oi cave (northern Vietnam)

This paper describes recent material gathered during the second fieldwork at Ma U'Oi in November 2002 by a Vietnamese–French–Japanese team. The Ma U'Oi cave, located in the province of Hoà Binh (60 km SW from Hanoi), northern Vietnam, belongs to a karstic network developed in Triassic dark-grey limestones.

The cave is filled with coarse-grained breccias containing numerous fossil remains, partially preserved at several loci inside the cave (wall, vault and ground). We describe new teeth which confirm the occurrence of mammal taxa already mentioned at Ma U'Oi (Bacon et al., 2004)[Bacon, A-M., Demeter, F., Schuster, M., Long, V.T., Thuy, N.K., Antoine, P-O., Sen, S., Nga, H.H., Huong, N.T.M., 2004. The Pleistocene Ma U'Oi cave, northern Vietnam: palaeontology, sedimentology and palaeoenvironments. Geobios 37, 305–314], while others, mainly microvertebrates, emphasize the occurrence of new species for the Pleistocene of Vietnam. We report here, for the first time, the occurrence of these microvertebrates of different groups (primates, rodents, insectivores, small reptiles and amphibians) in the faunal assemblage. Among mammal taxa, the presence of one more hominid affiliated to archaic Homo is also attested by our findings. U/Th dating carried out on 2 samples extracted from breccia speleothems confirms the biochronological estimate, with fossiliferous fillings ranging from late Middle Pleistocene to Late Pleistocene.     

船帆洞旧石器遗址洞穴形成过程与地层划分

本文根据最近发掘所获资料,对万寿岩山船帆洞旧石器时代晚期遗址洞穴的形成过程、洞内地层划分以及与洞外沉积物关系等问题进行初步探讨。提出:船帆洞洞穴的发育明显与区域性断裂及岩体的剪切节理有关;洞内经历数次堆积和冲刷;依岩性、地层关系和哺乳动物化石组合,洞内堆积物可分为Ⅰ(中更新世晚期)、Ⅱ(晚更新世早期)、Ⅲ(晚更新世晚期)和Ⅳ(全新世)4个地层单元。     

Pleistocene Hominins as a Resource for Carnivores: A c. 500,000-Year-Old Human Femur Bearing Tooth-Marks in North Africa (Thomas Quarry I,Morocco)

In many Middle Pleistocene sites, the co-occurrence of hominins with carnivores, who both contributed to faunal accumulations, suggests competition for resources as well as for living spaces. Despite this, there is very little evidence of direct interaction between them to-date. Recently, a human femoral diaphysis has been recognized in South-West of Casablanca (Morocco), in the locality called Thomas Quarry I. This site is famous for its Middle Pleistocene fossil hominins considered representatives of Homo rhodesiensis. The bone was discovered in Unit 4 of the Grotte à Hominidés (GH), dated to c. 500 ky and was associated with Acheulean artefacts and a rich mammalian fauna. Anatomically, it fits well within the group of known early Middle Pleistocene Homo, but its chief point of interest is that the diaphyseal ends display numerous tooth marks showing that it had been consumed shortly after death by a large carnivore, probably a hyena. This bone represents the first evidence of consumption of human remains by carnivores in the cave. Whether predated or scavenged, this chewed femur indicates that humans were a resource for carnivores, underlining their close relationships during the Middle Pleistocene in Atlantic Morocco.     

蔚县盆地2017-2018年旧石器考古调查简报

蔚县盆地地处泥河湾盆地(广义)的东南端,是更新世人类活动的重要区域。2017-2018年,中国科学院古脊椎动物与古人类研究所等在盆地内开展系统的旧石器考古调查,新发现并确认了27处旧石器地点。相关地貌、地层对比显示,新地点年代可大致分为中更新世和晚更新世晚期两个阶段,文化遗物分别埋藏于泥河湾河湖相堆积和黄土堆积中。中更新世石制品类型包括石核、石片、石器和断块等,原料以火山岩为主,均采用锤击法进行剥片和修理石器;晚更新世晚期遗址包括石核、石片和细石叶等,原料以白云岩和燧石居多,火山岩次之,以硬锤锤击法为主要剥片技术,软锤技术少量发现。对石制品初步分析表明,蔚县盆地中更新世地点表现出了一套与阳原盆地早-中更新世不同的原料及石制品组合,且在蔚县盆地晚更新世晚期存在小型石片石器和细石器两种工业。本次调查扩大了泥河湾盆地古人类活动的地理范围与文化内涵,为揭示泥河湾盆地(广义)早期人类的迁徙与适应行为提供了有价值的线索。     

Evolutional process and depositional cycles of Peking Man Cave in relation to the living environments and cultural development of Peking Man

Evolutional process of the Peking Man Cave, from funnel and vertical channel development in the Early Pliocene to the cave close in the late Middle Pleistocene, may be divided into six stages. Cave deposits in filling process of the cave from Layer 13 to Layer 1 can be divided into seven depositional cycles. These cycles allow a correspond with the loess sequences S7-L2 in China and oxygen isotope stages 19-6 of climatic cycles I-C of deep sea records. The living environments and cultural development of Peking Man in closely related to the cave environments of each stage in evolutional process and each cycle in depositional process of the cave are researched in this paper. The cave evolutional process has gone through about 4 Ma. The Peking Man start entered into the cave and made stone implements before 580 ka B.P. The cultural development of Peking Man may be divided into the early, middle and late three stages about in 580–420 ka, 420–340 ka and 340–250 ka, respectively. Peking Man's first used fire is about 530 ka B.P. Habitation of Peking Man concetrated in the western part of the cave after 340 ka B.P. when eastern cave roof was collapsed. Peking Man left the cave after 250 ka B.P. during the cave was continuous collapsed and almost filled up.     

Discontinuity of Human Presence at Atapuerca during the Early Middle Pleistocene: A Matter of Ecological Competition?

Increasing evidence suggests that the European human settlement is older than 1.2 Ma. However, there is a fierce debate about the continuity or discontinuity of the early human settlement of Europe. In particular, evidence of human presence in the interval 0.7−0.5 Ma is scarce in comparison with evidence for the previous and later periods. Here, we present a case study in which the environmental conditions at Sierra de Atapuerca in the early Middle Pleistocene, a period without evidence of human presence, are compared with the conditions in the previous period, for which a relatively intense human occupation is documented. With this objective in mind, the available resources for a human population and the intensity of competition between secondary consumers during the two periods are compared using a mathematical model. The Gran Dolina site TD8 level, dated to 0.7−0.6 Ma, is taken as representative of the period during which Atapuerca was apparently not occupied by humans. Conditions at TD8 are compared with those of the previous period, represented by the TD6-2 level, which has yielded abundant evidence of intense human occupation. The results show that survival opportunities for a hypothetical human population were lower at TD8 than they were at TD6-2. Increased resource competition between secondary consumers arises as a possible explanation for the absence of human occupation at Atapuerca in the early Middle Pleistocene.     

贵州毕节发现古人类化石与哺乳动物群

2008年12月在贵州毕节团结乡首次发现麻窝口洞化石点,经2009年、2012年和2013年3次发掘,在麻窝口洞上部砂质黏土地层中共发现了四千余件哺乳动物牙齿化石。2013年7月发现的3枚古人类牙齿,分别为左上犬齿、左上第一臼齿和右上第二臼齿。人类牙齿尺寸偏小,臼齿咬合面沟纹简单,没有复杂的咬合面皱纹和附尖齿带结构,牙根短而不显粗壮,上述特点有别于我国已经发现的直立人和早期智人,可归入解剖学上的现代人。与人类相伴的哺乳动物化石,经初步鉴定共计8目20科43属53种,动物群组合反映出亚热带森林生态环境。根据动物群的时代特点,地貌地层及堆积物的光释光年代测定,指示毕节麻窝口洞古人类的时代可能为中更新世晚期,或者晚更新世早期,毕节古人类牙齿的发现为东亚地区现代人的起源及演化增添了新的证据。     

Nouvelles données sur l’évolution paléoclimatique de l’époque magdalénienne,d’après l’étude lithostratigraphique du Roc-aux-Sorciers (Angles-sur-l’Anglin,Vienne, France)

Situated a few kilometres from Angles-sur-Anglin (Vienne, France), the Roc-aux-Sorciers cave has yielded in 1927 and 1950 industry of the Middle and Upper Magdalenian periods. Our analyses of the sedimentary filling, dated from isotope stage 2, demonstrate the existence of two climatic sequences in the six ensembles defined during the excavations. A first sequence, at the base of the cave filling, corresponds to the occupation levels of the Middle Magdalenian and of the early Upper Magdalenian. At that time, the climate was globally cold and particularly humid, a conclusion that does not support Bastin's 1975 hypothesis on the oscillation of Angles-sur-Anglin, which postulates a mild and humid climate. In fact, the climate evolved progressively towards a slight warming from the base to the top of the stratigraphy. During the second sequence, corresponding to the occupation period of the Upper Magdalenian, the relatively stable climate was slightly warmer and quite humid. Stratigraphical and sedimentological data thus provide new information on the conditions under which the filling was deposited and on the palaeoclimatology of the Poitou-Charentes region during Magdalenian occupation.     

Les principales étapes de l’occupation humaine en bordure de l’Himalaya occidentale

Lithic industries attest that Western Himalayas, Hindu Kush and Pamir as well as the sub-Himalayan belt that is the Siwalik range, were inhabited during the prehistoric times. However, in thin transition zone between plains and high mountains, distinction is to be kept between low-middle altitude regions and high altitude regions (above 2000 m). In the former regions, the first human occupation tenuously appears around 2 Ma. In the Middle Pleistocene, the Lower Palaeolithic industries belong to two technological facies, the Acheulian and the Early Soanian. In the North-Western Siwaliks, the Soanian occurs in plenty on the river terraces, which were all built after 0.4 Ma, and the Acheulian appears between 0.5 and 0.7 Ma. The Middle Palaeolithic is still rich in cobble tools and therefore named Late Soanian. The Upper Palaeolithic is missing, perhaps due to climatic factors and the Neolithic is characterised by polished axes/adzes, but actually many of the cobble tools usually considered as Early Soanian may well belong to the cobble tool technical tradition common in South-East Asia during the Late Pleistocene and Early Holocene. In the north of the mountain range, the entire Palaeolithic sequence yielded by the loess in Southern Tajikistan is characterised, right from the late Lower Pleistocene, by lithic industries mainly compose of flakes, sometimes with cobble tools. In the high altitude zones, prehistoric sites are unknown before the Holocene and therefore they are contemporaneous with the Neolithic but some technological facies display particular features. The question is to know whether the originality of the industries, observed at different periods of time, is linked to techno-cultural adaptations to particular environments or to the isolation of the mountain populations.     

重庆巫山玉米洞遗址中–晚更新世鹿科动物化石*

重庆市巫山县庙宇盆地的玉米洞是一处旧石器时代遗址,出土了大量的哺乳动物化石,其中的鹿科动物化石计有3属3种,且均有保存状态较好的角化石,为华南中–晚更新世鹿科化石的研究提供了很好的参考。大赤麂Muntiacus muntjak margae以角的尺寸较大为显著特征,在玉米洞中仅见于中更新世晚期地层中;黑鹿Rusa unicolor的角粗壮、纹饰深,眉枝长且与主枝的夹角为锐角,二者是华南中–晚更新世大熊猫–剑齿象动物群中的常见成员。葛氏斑鹿Cervus (Sika) grayi的角相对纤细、表面纹饰弱、主枝与眉枝夹角为钝角,是在西南地区的首次确切报道。R.unicolor化石标本在玉米洞遗址多数地层可见,而C.(S.) grayi则仅见于代表冰期气候的少数层位中,显示了玉米洞遗址堆积形成时期的古环境波动。     

Development of early human culture in northern Asia

An archeological complex in the Pleistocene deposits of the Altai Mountains currently provides the most complete information about early human occupation in northern and Central Asia. It is best represented in studies of multilayered Paleolithic sites in the Anui River valley in the northwestern part of the Altai Mountains. The general stratigraphic profile, which includes Middle and Upper Pleistocene deposits, has been defined based on the data obtained from a number of sites in this region. Available information reflects the development of early human culture and environmental fluctuations from the early to the late stages of the Paleolithic.     

Middle paleolithic human deciduous incisor from Khudji, Tajikistan

In 1997 a human mandibular second deciduous incisor was discovered during excavations at the central Asian Middle Paleolithic site of Khudji, Tajikistan. The specimen was associated with a late Middle Paleolithic assemblage in a minimally disturbed cultural layer. The specimen is average in size for Late Pleistocene archaic human di(2)s and differs from many late archaic human di(2)s in having minimal marginal ridges and tapering markedly distally. In these features it resembles a minority of specimens from the later Pleistocene.     

湖北郧西黄龙洞古人类遗址2006年发掘报告

2004—2005年,在湖北省郧西县境内的黄龙洞的两次发掘中,发现了5枚人类牙齿化石、20余件石制品及大量的动物化石。初步分析显示这是一处重要的更新世晚期的人类遗址。我们在2006年对该遗址进行了第三次发掘,又发现了2枚人类牙齿化石、11件古人类打制的石制品与6件骨制工具、1500余件动物化石以及其它古人类活动证据。野外工作期间我们还对黄龙洞洞穴堆积及山体地貌的考察,在此基础上对该洞穴发育及古人类在洞穴内的生活状况进行了初步推测。本文介绍了2006年的野外工作情况。     

Végétation et climat au Pléistocène inférieur et moyen à La Pineta (Isernia,Italie)

Palynological investigation from the Lower Palaeolithic site of La Pineta (Isernia, Molise) reports the environmental and climatic conditions of an old human occupation site in Italy, between the end of the Lower Pleistocene and the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene. The pollen record shows that the end of the Lower Pleistocene was marked by an arid episode. This is related to change in the climatic cycles periodicity from 41 to 100 ka, which occurred between 900 and 800 ka. The post-archaeological layers show new favourable moisture conditions at the beginning of the Middle Pleistocene, when the 100 ka cycles prevail. To cite this article: V. Lebreton, C. R. Palevol 1 (2002) 11–17.