Hominin paleoenvironment in East Asia: The Middle Paleolithic Xuchang-Lingjing (China) mammalian evidence

• Published in: Quaternary international Vol. 633; pp. 118 - 133
• Main Authors: Wang, Hua, Li, Zhanyang, Tong, Haowen, van Kolfschoten, Thijs
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 30-09-2022
• Subjects: Hominin; Middle Palaeolithic; Palearctic mammalian fauna; Xuchang-Lingjing; Middle Palaeolithic; Hominin; Xuchang-Lingjing; Palearctic mammalian fauna
• ISSN: 1040-6182; 1873-4553
• DOI: 10.1016/j.quaint.2021.11.024

The Chinese open-air site Xuchang-Lingjing (Henan) is located near the border between the Palearctic and the Oriental biozone in a lowland depression at the southern edge of the North China Plain. The site yielded a Middle Palaeolithic assemblage that includes the two fragmented, incomplete human (possibly Denisovan) skulls (Xuchang 1 and Xuchang 2), more than 15,000 artefacts and more than 40,000 mammalian remains representing at least 20 taxa. The composition of the faunal assemblage is biased by hominin hunting activities; it is, however, diverse and “natural” enough to be used as a proxy to reconstruct the paleoenvironmental condition during the human occupation of the site. The Palearctic faunal assemblage indicates a grassland-dominated palaeoecological environment, with a mosaic of scattered forest and mixed forest vegetation as well as along rivers and/or lakes the occurrence of swampy areas and with bushes. The OSL-dates and the assumed correlation with the last interglacial (MIS 5) palaeosol strongly suggest that we are dealing with an interglacial fauna. However, the fact that the Lingjing assemblage represents the southernmost Palearctic fauna questions the assumption that the Lingjing Middle Palaeolithic finds date from an interglacial period. A late Middle Pleistocene (MIS 6) or Late Pleistocene glacial or stadial phase (MIS 4) seems more likely.