RESEARCH PAPER
ESR dating of the Donggutuo Palaeolithic site in the Nihewan Basin, northern China
 
More details
Hide details
1
State Key Laboratory of Earthquake Dynamics, Institute of Geology, China Earthquake Administration, Beijing, 100029, China
 
2
Key laboratory of Geography Information Science Ministry of Education, East China Normal University, Shanghai, 200062, China
 
3
Département de Préhistoire, Muséum National d’Histoire Naturelle, UMR7194 du CNRS, 1 rue René Panhard, 75013, Paris, France
 
4
State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution, Institute of Geology and Geophysics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100029, China
 
 
Online publication date: 2013-09-27
 
 
Publication date: 2013-12-01
 
 
Geochronometria 2013;40(4):348-354
 
KEYWORDS
ABSTRACT
The fluvio-lacustrine sequences in the Nihewan Basin, northern China, provide important terrestrial archives about Palaeolithic settlements and, therefore, about early human occupation in high northern latitude in East Asia. Here we present detailed ESR dating of the Donggutuo Palaeolithic site, located in this basin. Four levels A, B, C and E of the Donggutuo archaeological layer yield ESR ages ranging from 1060±129 ka to 1171±132 ka with a mean of 1119±132 ka. The ages are consistent with the paleomagnetic data, which show that the Donggutuo Palaeolithic site lies just below the onset of the Jaramillo normal subchron (0.99–1.07 Ma). Furthermore, our results indicate that the reliable ESR dating range of bleached quartz using Ti-Li centre can be effectively extended to 1100 ka and the Ti-Li centre was zeroed before the last deposition, which requires improvement of the understanding of the bleaching mechanism conditions.
 
REFERENCES (36)
1.
Aitken MJ, 1998. An Introduction to Optical Dating. Oxford University Press, Oxford.
 
2.
Barbour GB, 1924. Preliminary observation in the Kalgan area. Bulletin of Geological Society of China 3: 167–168.
 
3.
Deng CL, Wei Q, Zhu RX, Wang HQ, Zhang R, Ao H, Chang L and Pan YX, 2006. Magnetostratigraphic age of the Xiantai Palaeolithic site in the Nihewan Basin and implications for early human colonization of Northeast Asia. Earth and Planetary Science Letters 244(1–2): 336–348, DOI 10.1016/j.epsl.2006.02.001. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ep....
 
4.
Deng CL, Xie F, Liu CC, Ao H, Pan YX and Zhu RX, 2007. Magneto-chronology of the Feiliang Palaeolithic site in the Nihewan Basin and implications for early human adaptability to high northern latitudes in East Asia. Geophysical Research Letters 34(14): L14301, DOI 10.1029/2007GL030335. http://dx.doi.org/10.1029/2007....
 
5.
Deng CL, Zhu RX, Zhang R, Ao H and Pan YX, 2008. Timing of the Nihewan formation and faunas. Quaternary Research 69(1): 77–90, DOI 10.1016/j.yqres.2007.10.006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yq....
 
6.
Duval M, Grün R, Falguères C, Bahain J-J and Dolo J-M, 2009. ESR dating of Lower Pleistocene fossil teeth: limits of the single saturating exponential (SSE) function for the equivalent dose determination. Radiation Measurements 44(5–6): 477–482, DOI 10.1016/j.radmeas.2009.03.017. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ra....
 
7.
Gao L, Yin GM, Liu CR, Lin M and Li JP, 2009. Nature sunlight bleaching of the ESR titanium centre quartz. Radiation Measurements 44(5–6): 501–504, DOI 10.1016/j.radmeas.2009.03.033. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ra....
 
8.
Han F, 2011. The chronology of earliest human settlement in China-contribution of ESR dating method (Ph. D dissertation) Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris, France, 109–126.
 
9.
Li HM and Wang JD, 1985. Magnetostratigraphical study of several typical geologic sections in North China. Quaternaria Sinica 6(2): 29–33. (In Chinese).
 
10.
Li HM, Yang XQ, Friedrich H and Li HT, 2008. High resolution magnetostratigraphy and deposition cycles in the Nihewan Basin (North China) and their significance for stone artifact dating. Quaternary Research 69(2): 250–262, DOI 10.1016/j.yqres.2007.11.002. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yq....
 
11.
Liu CR, Yin GM, Gao L, Bahain J-J, Li JP, Lin M and Chen SM, 2010. ESR dating of Pleistocene archaeological localities of the Nihewan Basin, North China-Preliminary results. Quaternary Geochronology 5(2–3): 385–390, DOI 10.1016/j.quageo.2009.05.006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.qu....
 
12.
Liu CR and Grün R, 2011. Fluvio-mechanical resetting of the Al and Ti centres in quartz. Radiation Measurements 46(10): 1038–1042, DOI 10.1016/j.radmeas.2011.06.076. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ra....
 
13.
Moreno D, Falguères C, Pérez-González A, Duval M, Voinchet P, Benito-Calvo A, Ortega AI, Bahain J-J, Sala R, Carbonell E, Bermúdez De Castro JM and Arsuaga JL, 2012. ESR chronology of alluvial deposits in the Arlanzón valley (Atapuerca, Spain): contemporaneity with Atapuerca Gran Dolina site. Quaternary Geo-chronology 10: 418–423, DOI 10.1016/j.quageo.2012.04.018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.qu....
 
14.
Olley JM, Pietsch T and Roberts RG, 2004. Optical dating of Holocene sediments from a variety of geomorphic settings using single grains of quartz. Geomorphology 60(3–4): 337–358, DOI 10.1016/j.geomorph.2003.09.020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ge....
 
15.
Prescott JR and Hutton JT, 1994. Cosmic ray contributions to dose rates for luminescence and ESR dating: Large depths and long-term time variations. Radiation Measurements 23(2–3): 497–500, DOI 10.1016/1350-4487(94)90086-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/1350....
 
16.
Qiu ZX, 2000. Nihewan fauna and Q/N boundary in China. Quaternary Sciences 20: 142–154. (In Chinese).
 
17.
Rink WJ, Bartoll J, Schwarcz HP, Shane P and Ber-Yosef O, 2007. Testing the reliability of ESR dating of optically exposed buried quartz sediments. Radiation Measurements 42(10): 1618–1626, DOI 10.1016/j.radmeas.2007.09.005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ra....
 
18.
Schick KD and Dong Z, 1993. Early palaeolithic of China and eastern Asia. Evolutionary Anthropology 2(1): 22–35, DOI 10.1002/evan.1360020105. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/evan....
 
19.
Schick K, Toth N, Wei Q, Clark JD and Etler D, 1991. Archaeological perspectives in the Nihewan Basin, China. Journal of Human Evolution 21(1): 13–26, DOI 10.1016/0047-2484(91)90033-R. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0047....
 
20.
Shen GJ, Gao X, Gao B and Granger DE, 2009. Age of Zhoukoudian Homo erectus determined with 26Al/10Be burial dating. Nature 458(7235): 198–200, DOI 10.1038/nature07741. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/natu....
 
21.
Tissoux H, Falguères C, Voinchet P, Toyoda S, Bahain J-J and Despriée J, 2007. Potential use of Ti-centre in ESR dating of fluvial sediment. Quaternary Geochronology 2(1–4): 367–372, DOI 10.1016/j.quageo.2006.04.006. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.qu....
 
22.
Tissoux H, Toyoda S, Falguères C, Voinchet P, Takada M, Bahain J-J and Despriée J, 2008. ESR dating of sedimentary quartz from two Pleistocene deposits using Al and Ticentres. Geochronometria 30: 23–31, DOI 10.2478/v10003-008-0004-y. http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/v100....
 
23.
Toyoda S, Voinchet P, Falguères C, Dolo JM and Laurent M, 2000. Bleaching of ESR signals by the sunlight: a laboratory experiment for establishing the ESR dating of sediments. Applied Radiation and Isotopes 52(5): 1357–1362, DOI 10.1016/S0969-8043(00)00095-6. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S096....
 
24.
Voinchet P, Falguères C, Laurent M, Toyoda S, Bahain J-J and Dolo JM, 2003. Artificial optical bleaching of the aluminium centre in quartz implications to ESR dating of sediments. Quaternary Science Reviews 22(10–13): 1335–1338, DOI 10.1016/S0277-3791(03)00062-3. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S027....
 
25.
Voinchet P, Bahain J-J, Falguères C, Laurent M, Dolo JM, Despriée J, Gageonnet R and Chaussé C, 2004. ESR dating quartz extracted from quaternary sediments application to fluvial terraces system of northern France. Quaternaire 15(1–2): 135–141. http://dx.doi.org/10.3406/quat....
 
26.
Voinchet P, Falguères C, Tissoux H, Bahain J-J, Despriée J and Pirouelle F, 2007. ESR dating of fluvial quartz: estimate of the minimal distance transport required for getting a maximum optical bleaching. Quaternary Geochronology 2(1–4): 363–366, DOI 10.1016/j.quageo.2006.04.010. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.qu....
 
27.
Voinchet P, Despriée J, Tissoux H, Falguères C, Bahain J-J, Gageonnet R, Dépont J and Dolo JM, 2010. ESR chronology of alluvial de-posits and first human settlements of the Middle Loire Basin (Region Centre, France). Quaternary Geochronology 2(1–4): 381–384, DOI 10.1016/j.quageo.2006.03.011. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.qu....
 
28.
Xie F, 2006. Nihewan Palaeolithic culture. Huashan literature and art publishing House, Beijing, 58–61. (In Chinese).
 
29.
Wang HQ, Deng CL, Zhu RX, Wei Q, Hou YM and Boeda E, 2005. Magnetostratigraphic dating of the Donggutuo and Maliang Palaeolithic sites in the Nihewan Basin, North China. Quaternary Research 64(1): 1–11, DOI 10.1016/j.yqres.2005.04.001. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.yq....
 
30.
Wang XS, Yang ZY, Løvlie R and Min LR, 2004. High-resolution magnetic stratigraphy of fluvio-lacustrine succession in the Nihewan Basin, China. Quaternary Science Reviews 23(9–10): 1187–1198, DOI 10.1016/j.quascirev.2003.11.007. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.qu....
 
31.
Wei Q, 1985. New Palaeolithic site from the Nihewan beds. Acta Anthropologica Sinica 4: 223–231. (In Chinese).
 
32.
Zhu RX, Hoffman KA, Potts R, Deng CL, Pan YX, Guo B, Shi CD, Guo ZT, Yuan BY, Hou YM and Huang WW, 2001. Earliest presence of humans in northeast Asia. Nature 413(6854): 413–417, DOI 10.1038/35096551. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/3509....
 
33.
Zhu RX, An Z, Potts R and Hoffman KA, 2003. Magnetostratigraphic dating of early humans in China. Earth-Science Reviews 61(3–4): 341–359, DOI 10.1016/S0012-8252(02)00132-0. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S001....
 
34.
Zhu RX, Potts R, Xie F, Hoffman KA, Deng CL, Shi CD, Pan YX, Wang HQ, Shi RP, Wang YC, Shi GH and Wu NQ, 2004. New evidence on the earliest human presence at high northern latitudes in Northeast Asia. Nature 431(7008): 559–562, DOI 10.1038/nature02829. http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/natu....
 
35.
Zhu RX, Deng CL and Pan YX, 2007. Magnetochronology of the fluvio-lacustrine sequences in the Nihewan basin and its implications for early human colonization of northeast Asia. Quaternary Sciences 27: 5–27. (In Chinese).
 
36.
Zhu RX, Potts R, Pan YX, Yao HT, Lü LQ, Zhao X, Gao X, Chen LW, Gao F, Deng CL, 2008. Early evidence of the genus Homo in East Asia. Journal of Human Evolution 55(6): 1075–1085, DOI 10.1016/j.jhevol.2008.08.005. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jh....
 
eISSN:1897-1695
ISSN:1733-8387
Journals System - logo
Scroll to top