Paleoenvironmental conditions at Madigou (MDG), a newly discovered Early Paleolithic site in the Nihewan Basin, North China

Abstract

Paleoenvironmental reconstructions provide the context for human evolution and behavior. However, it is difficult to resolve relative proportions of specific habitats at a given place and time, how these may have changed over time, and the explicit nature of particular habitats for human adaptation. This paper examines the paleoenvironmental context of Early Pleistocene archaeological occurrences at Madigou (Hebei Province, North China), but with particular emphasis on the setting for early stone tool makers.Madigou (MDG) is one of several Early Pleistocene Paleolithic sites in the east part of the Nihewan Basin, North China. Sedimentological features of the excavated section indicate that the site was formed near the margin of a lake. Paleomagnetic results suggest that hominins occupied the site ca. 1.2 Ma. Based on well-constructed pollen, sediment grain size, magnetic susceptibility, isotopic (13C and 18O), and iron oxide analysis of the section excavated in 2011 and 2012, five stages of environmental change in the Nihewan Beds are identified. In the earliest phase, the environment and climate changed from 1) cool and semi-humid with open grassland to 2) cold and dry with open sparse steppe (usually temperate herbaceous, not just grass) and then 3) warm and humid climate with lightly wooded grassland, followed by 4) cold and dry climate with sparse steppe and finally 5) temperate and semi-humid with open grassland. This evidence suggests that hominins occupied the site from stages 2–4 in an open habitat varying from lightly-wooded grassland to an ecosystem dominated by sparse steppe.