Abstract
The Yiyuan hominin fossil site is one of the few localities in China where a partial skullcap and several loose teeth of Homo erectus have been discovered. Yiyuan was previously assigned broadly to the Middle Pleistocene by biostratigraphical correlation and ESR/U-series dating. Here, we report the first application of a radio-isotopic dating method to the site. 26Al/10Be burial dating results derived from two sand samples from the fossiliferous deposits show that the hominin fossils can be confidently dated to 0.64 ± 0.08 Ma (million years ago). The reliability of this age is supported by the zero age of modern fluvial sediment near the cave. Our result is consistent with the age estimation based on biostratigraphic correlation and supports the argument that the Yiyuan and Zhoukoudian Locality 1 H. erectus fossils are contemporaneous. The results presented here, along with other recent chronological studies on Chinese Middle Pleistocene hominin sites, indicate that the time span from 600–400 ka (thousand years ago) is a critical period for human evolution in East Asia. Importantly, this time bracket includes several major climatic changes that would have influenced hominins, both morphologically and behaviorally.
Highlights
Suitable to U-series dating could be found24), most of these sites are either too old for this dating method (i.e., >600 ka), or devoid of suitable speleothem formations for dating
We report the results of 26Al/10Be burial dating on the Yiyuan hominin site, an important Middle Pleistocene H. erectus site in China
Simple burial dating of two samples from Yiyuan Locality 1 suggests that the mammalian fossil bearing layer 4 should be older than 0.57 ± 0.07 Ma and the hominin fossil-bearing layer 3 is older than 0.53 ± 0.11 Ma
Summary
Suitable to U-series dating could be found24), most of these sites are either too old for this dating method (i.e., >600 ka), or devoid of suitable speleothem formations for dating. This method has been used to date several Chinese Middle Pleistocene sites including Zhoukoudian locality 1 (Lower layers)[28] and Bailong Cave[29], and is expected to play an increasingly important role in refining the chronological framework of H. erectus in eastern Asia. The site was first discovered during road construction, with three excavation seasons subsequently conducted in 1981–1982 All of these localities contained vertebrate fossils, with a total of 13 taxa identified (Table 1). The Yiyuan site was first assigned to the Middle Pleistocene based on faunal correlations between Yiyuan and Zhoukoudian Loc.[1] (refs[30,33]). The first numeric ages for Yiyuan were from coupled ESR/U-series dating on nine mammalian fossil teeth from Locality 1 and 3, which resulted in ages ranging from 338 ± 25 ka to 471 ± 72 ka (ref.[36])
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