Paleolithic site of Xuetang Liangzi in Shiyan, Hubei

New Light on the Earliest Hominid Occupation in East Asia

Diversification of faunal exploitation strategy and human-climate interaction in Southern China and Southeast Asia during the last deglaciation

A Newfound from Mansourabad Behbehan Based on Archaeological Surveys

A paleodietary and subsistence strategy investigation of the Iron Age Tuoba Xianbei site by stable isotopic analysis: A preliminary study of the role of agriculture played in pastoral nomad societies in northern China

BNLF2a is an Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) immune evasion gene. Its protein is located in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) membrane, and can inhibit the antigen transporting function of TAP, thereby perturbing the immune response to EBV in lytic and prelatent phase. In order to explore whether the polymorphism of BNLF2a gene has a role in different types of EBV associated tumors, we conducted complete sequencing of the gene BNLF2a in 408 cases of EBV positive tumors (76 lymphomas, 45 gastric carcinomas, and 85 nasopharyngeal carcinomas in northern China and 27 lymphomas, 30 gastric carcinomas, and 57 nasopharyngeal carcinomas in southern China) and throat washings from healthy individuals (39 in northern China and 49 in southern China). Two main variant types of BNLF2a were identified. Type BNLF2a-A, which was similar to B95-8, was dominant in all sub-populations (66.7-100%) in this study. Type BNLF2a-B was characterized by the mutations at position 8 and 40. The variation patterns of BNLF2a were significantly different between samples from northern and southern China (P < 0.05), and between the tumors and healthy donor samples from the northern China (P < 0.0167). Type BNLF2a-B was more frequent in healthy donors of northern China (33.3%), and the proportion of this type was higher in the northern than in the southern NPCs. These data demonstrate that the BNLF2a gene is highly conserved, and its polymorphism is geographically restricted. Type BNLF2a-B is more prevalent in northern China and may be less tumor transformative.

Ancient Mining and Metallurgy Activities in Mazayjan District, Fars Province

Prehispanic and colonial landscape change and fluvial dynamics in the Chalco Region, Mexico

Lockdown due to the novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic offers a unique opportunity to study the factors governing the variation in air pollution. A number of studies have investigated the cause underlying the occurrence of heavy haze pollution around the world during the lockdown period. However, information about spatiotemporal variations in gaseous pollutants and detailed quantifications of potential meteorological (METRO) impacts are limited. Ground measurements show that carbon monoxide (CO) pollution deteriorated in northern China despite strict control of human and industrial activities during the lockdown period in early 2020. In this study, a four-dimensional decomposition model was used to quantitatively extract the METRO impacts on the CO pollution over China. The results show that weakened winds elevated CO concentrations near Beijing and in northeastern China. Increased temperatures slightly elevated CO concentrations in northern and eastern China but reduced CO concentrations in northwestern China. Remarkable amounts of CO increases in northern China (e.g., by 0.21 mg/m3 within Beijing) were explained by anomalously high humidity, which could be associated with an enhanced interaction between aerosol and the boundary layer. After excluding the METRO impacts, the CO concentrations drastically declined across China (e.g., by 0.22 mg/m3 within Beijing), indicating that the lockdown indeed greatly lessened CO concentrations. However, the adverse METRO conditions counteracted the beneficial outcomes of emission reductions, leading to a deterioration of the CO pollution in northern China. These results indicate that the METRO factors can play a critical role in worsening air pollution despite a strict control of anthropogenic emissions.

The nature of an Anthropocene has been increasingly discussed and debated in the last two decades, with a focus on the arguments for or against the "Anthropocene" as a geological epoch. Some argue for an onset of Anthropocene between 1945-1964 AD, when intensive atmospheric nuclear testing resulted in peak values of &lt;sup&gt;14&lt;/sup&gt;C that is widely recorded in tree rings and sediments, while other scholars argued its beginning may be traced back to the early Holocene. This latter argument is related to the beginnings of significant landscape modification through the development and spread of agricultural practices in old world since 10000 a BP. The Yellow River valley of northern China is the center for the domestication of millet crops (broomcorn millet and foxtail millet), however, the intensification and expansion of millet-based agriculture during the Neolithic period and its impact on the environment has not been well understood. Recent development of archaeometry methods and their application to archaeological research, such as archaeobotanical studies, and carbon and nitrogen isotope analysis of human and animal bones unearthed from Neolithic and Bronze sites in north China, has greatly deepened our understanding of the timing of millet-based agriculture and its development. In parallel, the analysis of paleoenvironment proxies including black carbon and pollen assemblages from natural sediments, has shed light on the impact of human slash-and-burn cultivation on their surrounding environments during both prehistoric and historical times. This paper reviews carbon isotope analysis of human, pig and dog bones, and radiocarbon dates from Neolithic sites, and compares them with black carbon content from palaeoenvironment records in northern China, in order to explore the temporal-spatial intensification and expansion of millet-based agriculture in the area and its possible impact on environment. It can be concluded that millet cultivation was an auxiliary subsistence strategy in northern China from 10000 to 7000 a BP with hunting-gathering the primary subsistence strategy, the earliest millet-cultivation might have emerged in eastern Inner Mongolia post 7700 a BP. Millet cultivation transited from a secondary strategy to become dominant in the Guanzhong area of north-central China during 7000-6000 a BP, and probably facilitated the development of early Yangshao culture in the middle reaches of the Yellow River valley. Intensive millet-based agriculture emerged and widely expanded across the Yellow River valley in northern China during 6000-4000 a BP. This promoted rapid population growth and cultural evolution in the late Neolithic period, and was key in the subsequent emergence of the ancient Chinese civilization. The temporal-spatial variation of black carbon (EC-soot) corresponds well with the intensification and expansion of millet-based agriculture during Neolithic period. The content of EC-soot increased in sediments of Daihai lake and the Horqin sandy lands in Inner Mongolia from about 7500 a BP soon after farming of millet appeared in Xinglongwa and Xinglonggou sites nearby, which evidently increased in Shaanxi Province of north central China post 6000 a BP, when intensive millet-based agriculture firstly emerged in the area. This suggests millet agriculture production activities exerted significant impact on fire frequency in northern China during the Neolithic, and thus the scale and intensity of the impact of farming increased from that period. This work provides a valuable case study for understanding the temporal and spatial development of millet agriculture, and human-environment interactions in northern China during Neolithic period from an Anthropocene perspective.&lt;br/&gt; &amp;copy; 2016, Science Press. All right reserved.

Late Neolithic Plant Remains from Northern China: Preliminary Results from Liangchengzhen, Shandong

Contrasting north-south pattern in Holocene lacustrine carbon accumulation in China: Summer monsoon dynamics and human disturbance

In a recent article, a team of Chinese, French, Canadian, and Czech researchers led by d'Errico suggested the earliest bone needles were manufactured in Siberia and northern China, and were invented independently in both regions. Here, the Chinese archaeological record is reviewed to provide more details on this claim. The occurrence of this tool type is correlated with the associated lithic technologies and the environmental conditions in order to investigate the dispersal events that took place during the second half of the Late Pleistocene. The review suggests the manufacture of needles represents an indigenous innovation that appears in northern China circa 31 kaBP on the onset of the Chinese Late Palaeolithic alongside stone tools attributed to the core-and-flake technology. As of 25 kaBP, a new form of needle is introduced in the archaeological record. These needles are flat and they appear with stone tools attributed to the microblade technology. This evidence likely signals the migration of a populations bringing with them blade technologies from western Eurasia. At the end of the Pleistocene, bone needles are more diversified, which suggests they were used in a variety of tasks. During the late-Tardiglacial, bone needles are found in northern China both in contexts that yielded microblade technology as well as core-and-flake technology with ceramic. In southern China, the first bone needles appear alongside core-and-flake technology around 12 kaBP. The first appearance of this tool type in southern China could either be the result of a convergent innovation or the southward migration of prehistoric populations that lived in northern China prior to the Last Glacial Maximum. South of the Yangzi river, bone needles are manufactured at the end of the Pleistocene in contexts attributed to the core-and-flake technology with ceramic. The presence of the same toolkit in both northern and southern China at the end of the Pleistocene, i.e., core-and-flake technology with ceramic and bone needles, raises the question of potential long-distance population movements and cultural influences across North and South China at the end of the Pleistocene and the beginning of the Holocene.

Although much research has been conducted on the Late Postclassic period Maya, there has been relatively less study of the role of economic activities in political management during this period. Many such studies focused on obsidian analysis and technology as proxies for trade and exchange. This article builds on that research, using a legacy collection of obsidian implements collected during archaeological surveys in the 1970s to examine Late Postclassic period (AD 1200–1524) economic networks in the K'iche’ region. Obsidian collections from the site of Q'umarkaj and the surrounding region were examined through technological and geochemical analyses. I find that during the Late Postclassic period, K'iche’ elites had more access to nonlocal obsidian sources than did non-elites, but that access to locally available sources was managed through independent and diverse acquisition networks. Thus, the K'iche’ elite were not dependent on local economies as a main source of political power.

Middle Eocene East Asian monsoon prevalence over southern China: Evidence from palynological records

Observational studies have created a dilemma on how El Niño–Southern Oscillation (ENSO) may have affected interannual variations of summer rainfall in northern China; some suggested a consistent effect while others showed a complete lack of effect. This dilemma is resolved in this study, which shows that ENSO has affected the summer rainfall in northern China and the effect has varied at multidecadal scales. The question of how the ENSO teleconnection with northern China rainfall variation was established is addressed, and an answer pointing to the Indian summer monsoon as a “facilitator” connecting ENSO and northern China rainfall variation is examined. The Indian monsoon circulation interacted with the regional circulations in northern China in some epochs and such interaction was interrupted in other epochs. When the interaction was active, the Indian monsoon variations originating from ENSO, during El Niño or La Niña, was extended to affect the rainfall variation in northern China, creating a teleconnection of ENSO with northern China rainfall. When the interaction weakened or was inactive, the ENSO effect languished. Additional analyses were done to address the related question of why the interactions have alternated. The alternation was suggested to result from variations of the large-scale circulation in the Eurasian continent. The circulation anomalies showed lowering (rising) 500-hPa geopotential height centered at Mongolia and western China in some epochs, enhancing cyclonic (anticyclonic) rotation in mid- and low-level winds and creating (disrupting) a moisture convoy from the Indian monsoon region to northern China and synergetic convergence/divergence anomalies in the monsoon region and in northern China. Results of this study contribute to the understanding of interannual and multidecadal variations of the summer rainfall in the semiarid region of northern China.