Stratigraphy and chronology of two newly discovered Early Pleistocene Palaeolithic sites in the Hanjiang River Valley, Central China

Abstract

Numerous open air Palaeolithic and hominin fossil sites have been discovered in the Qinling Mountain Range (QMR) in central China. However, a small number have been confirmed as dating to the Early Pleistocene. The present study introduces stratigraphic and chronological studies of the newly discovered Guanmenyan Palaeolithic site, Danjiangkou Basin, and Yuelianghu Palaeolithic site, Yunxian Basin along the Hanjiang River Valley, in the southern QMR. The artefacts recovered from Guanmenyan and Yuelianghu are consistent with Early Palaeolithic assemblages found at other localities in the region. Based on magnetostratigraphy and correlation with the loess-palaeosol sequence from the central Chinese Loess Plateau, our dating results show both open-air sites can be dated to the Early Pleistocene. Guanmenyan is dated ∼0.787–0.819 Ma (L8), while the upper and lower Palaeolithic cultural layers of Yuelianghu are dated ∼0.819–0.865 Ma (S8) and ∼ 0.943–989 Ma (S9), respectively. Thus Guanmenyan and Yuelianghu help to fill a chronological gap in the Palaeolithic record of Hanjiang River Valley and establish the QMR as a major region documenting this important period of hominin evolution in China.