The Earliest Hominin Occupations in the Nihewan Basin of Northern China: Recent Progress in Field Investigations

Abstract

The Nihewan Basin of northern China has been a focus of Pleistocene geological, paleontological, and archaeological studies since the early part of the last century. In the past 10 years, the ROM-IVPP research team has investigated Early Pleistocene sites in the region with an aim of investigating the earliest occupations of East Asian hominins. Several Early Pleistocene sites have been identified with abundant lithic artifacts and associated faunal remains. This new archaeological evidence reveals that the Nihewan Basin hosts the earliest settlements of hominin migrations as early as 1.7 million year ago. In this study, we report the recent progress of the field investigations at four sites: Goudi, Dachangliang, Xiaochangliang, and Donggutuo, with reviews of previous studies at these sites. Our study concentrates on the lithic technology of the Early Pleistocene in northern China, which illustrates the use of expedient flake tools through multi-platform core reduction by early hominins. This study sheds new light on our understanding of early hominin behavior in East Asia.