The Nihewan Basin of North China in the Early Pleistocene: Continuous and flourishing, or discontinuous, infrequent and ephemeral occupation?

Abstract

The prevailing interpretation of the evidence for Early Pleistocene hominin occupation of the Nihewan Basin, North China is that it indicates continuous settlement by hominins that were able to adapt to a wide variety of environmental conditions, ranging from full interglacial to full glacial. It has further been suggested that they were able to do so by the routine hunting of large mammals. This paper argues that there is no evidence that hominins inhabited the Nihewan Basin year-round or under cold conditions, and no evidence that they hunted. Instead, it is suggested that hominins are likely to have visited Nihewan during the summer months, and probably avoided it when conditions were significantly colder than today. This scenario is consistent with what is known of the climatic sensitivity of the earliest hominin occupation of other regions in Eurasia at comparable latitudes (such as the Chinese Loess Plateau, Tajikistan, the Caucasus and Spain), and in similar strongly-seasonal environments with sub-freezing winters, such as Britain. Overall, hominin settlement in the Nihewan Basin was likely discontinuous, infrequent and ephemeral.