Magnetostratigraphic dating of the Hougou Paleolithic site in the Nihewan Basin, North China

Abstract

The fluvio-lacustrine sedimentary sequences in the Nihewan Basin, northern China, are important for studying Quaternary land mammal evolution and Paleolithic settlements in the high-latitude temperate East Asia. Here we report new magnetostratigraphic results that constrain age of the Hougou Paleolithic site in this basin. Magnetite and hematite were identified as carriers of the characteristic remanent magnetizations, with the former being dominant. Magnetic polarity stratigraphy shows that the Hougou sequence recorded the very late Matuyama reverse chron and the Brunhes normal chron. The age of the Hougou Paleolithic site was estimated to be 395 ka based on an averaged rate of sediment accumulation. The combination of our magnetostratigraphy and previously published chronological data for early Paleolithic or human sites in the high-latitude northern China may document a persistent colonization of the hostile high-latitude areas of the eastern Old World during the middle- early Pleistocene.