HOMININ PALEOENVIRONMENTS AND EAST ASIAN MONSOONAL VARIABILITY IN THE QINLING MOUNTAIN REGION OF CENTRAL CHINA: EXAMINING THE ORGANIC GEOCHEMSITRY AND GRAIN SIZE DISTRIBUTIONS OF MID-PLEISTOCENE PALEOLITHIC LOESS-PALEOSOL SEQUENCES

The presented research has aimed to examine the paleoclimatological and environmental setting of mid-Pleistocene hominin occupations in the Luonan Basin of north-central China. Occurring for more than a million years, hominin occupations of the basin and surrounding Qinling Mountains have garnered intense interest from paleoanthropologists and Paleolithic archaeologists alike. In particular, the presence of Acheulian-like technology and density of sites in the region have led to broad consensus that this area represents one of the most important Paleolithic epicenters in the whole of Eastern Eurasia. However, detailed reconstructions of both paleoclimates and ecosystems associated with these important hominin occupations remain in their infancy. In collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Science’s Institute for Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology and Nanjing University, our research aims to: (I) investigate the environmental context of mid-Pleistocene hominin occupations in the basin, and (II) test the hypothesis that variations in the East Asian Monsoon, which strongly modulates climate in China, affect hominin occupations, subsistence activities, and lithic industries. The proposed research is contributing to ongoing interdisciplinary archaeological research through both quantitative characterizations (grain size analysis, magnetic susceptibility) and organic geochemistry (e.g., n-alkanes, GDGTs) of loess-paleosol sequences that are directly related to Lower Paleolithic occupations in the Qinling Mountain Region. These techniques (in conjunction with a whole host of other methodologies) aim to examine how monsoonal and climate variability in the region may have caused changes in vegetation regimes and ecosystem structures that would have impacted hominin populations throughout the Qinling Mountains.