The cultural deposits at pits T1 and T2 in Zhangkou Cave are intercalated with several flowstone lay- ers. U-series dates show that the capping and 2nd flowstone layers are Holocene of age. The 4th and 5th flowstone l...The cultural deposits at pits T1 and T2 in Zhangkou Cave are intercalated with several flowstone lay- ers. U-series dates show that the capping and 2nd flowstone layers are Holocene of age. The 4th and 5th flowstone layers are ca. 55 and 110 ka old respectively. The lithic artifacts bracketed by them provide unequivocal evidence for hominid presence during this time interval. The “temporal gap” of hominid fossil, widely quoted as in support of the out-of-Africa hypothesis, is most probably an artifact due to systematic errors of dating techniques. The infillings under 6th flowstone layer date to >300 ka, much older than the previous estimate at 15 ka based on classical 14C dating of fossil bones, providing one more example of the limited reli- ability of this chronometer. With rich relics and favorable conditions for precise dating, this site is promising for fur- ther multidisciplinary studies to address issues concerning recent human evolution in China.展开更多
基金This work was jointly supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China(Grant No.40073020)the Wen-ner-Gren Foundation(Gr.6975).
文摘The cultural deposits at pits T1 and T2 in Zhangkou Cave are intercalated with several flowstone lay- ers. U-series dates show that the capping and 2nd flowstone layers are Holocene of age. The 4th and 5th flowstone layers are ca. 55 and 110 ka old respectively. The lithic artifacts bracketed by them provide unequivocal evidence for hominid presence during this time interval. The “temporal gap” of hominid fossil, widely quoted as in support of the out-of-Africa hypothesis, is most probably an artifact due to systematic errors of dating techniques. The infillings under 6th flowstone layer date to >300 ka, much older than the previous estimate at 15 ka based on classical 14C dating of fossil bones, providing one more example of the limited reli- ability of this chronometer. With rich relics and favorable conditions for precise dating, this site is promising for fur- ther multidisciplinary studies to address issues concerning recent human evolution in China.
