Thirty-four elements of an early modern human (EMH) were found in Tianyuan Cave, Zhoukoudian, China in 2003. Dated to 42,000 -39,000 calendrical years before present by using direct accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon, the Tianyuan 1 skeleton is among the oldest directly dated EMHs in eastern Eurasia. Morphological comparison shows Tianyuan 1 to have a series of derived modern human characteristics, including a projecting tuber symphyseos, a high anterior symphyseal angle, a broad scapular glenoid fossa, a reduced hamulus, a gluteal buttress, and a pilaster on the femora. Other features of Tianyuan 1 that are more common among EMHs are its modest humeral pectoralis major tuberosities, anteriorly rotated radial tuberosity, reduced radial curvature, and modest talar trochlea. It also lacks several mandibular features common among western Eurasian late archaic humans, including mandibular foramen bridging, mandibular notch asymmetry, and a large superior medial pterygoid tubercle. However, Tianyuan 1 exhibits several late archaic human features, such as its anterior to posterior dental proportions, a large hamulus length, and a broad and rounded distal phalangeal tuberosity. This morphological pattern implies that a simple spread of modern humans from Africa is unlikely.Late Pleistocene ͉ Neandertals ͉ mandible ͉ postcrania ͉ paleopathology

In the past years we carried out further stratigraphy division in field and it is found that rich stone artifacts can be found in fluvial-shallow lake-alluvial sediments on the terrace II of Biangou River, in Shuidonggou site, Ningxia and they are SDG1, 2 and 7. More luminescence and AMS 14 C dating in laboratory show that Paleolithic culture develops during the Upper Paleolithic period with ages of 35-20 ka. The Paleolithic culture of SDG 1 is a little earlier than that of SDG 2 similar to SDG 7. The sandy sediments on terrace II of Biangou River deposits in the past 72-18 ka, corresponding to Last Glacial. SDG2 has a stable sedimentary environment, resulting in the continuous stratigraphy, thickest deposits and rich environment and culture information, which can be regarded as the important and classic paleoanthropological section of Late Pleistocene in this region.Shuidonggou site, luminescence dating, stratum correlation, depositional environment, Upper Paleolithic Several excavations have been carried out in SDG site since it was first discovered in 1923, and unearthed rich cultural remains of the Paleolithic [1−3] . Domestic and internatinal scholars have paid extensive attention to the cultural properties and also its geochronology. The western scholars have ascribed it to the western cultural system of Paleolithic, a status between the developed Mousterian and developing Aurignacian culture [4] . In the early stage of researches Chinese scholars regarded the SDG site as the Middle Paleolithic, and then regarded it as the Upper Paleolithic site according to updated material [5] . Along with the wide application of radiocarbon and Uranium series dating technique, 6 ages were obtained from SDG1 which shoesit belongs to the late Pleistocene [6,7] . In the summer of 1999-2000, SinoAmerican archaeologists and geologists had made a further survey in SDG site, and obtained 8 samples of charcoal and ostrich eggshell from the second cultural layer of SDG Site 2, and the AMS 14 C dating is 29-24 ka BP, SDG site was further ascribed to the early stage of the Upper Paleolithic [8,9] . However, previous studies of both strata and dating focused on the SDG1, no intensive linkage among different sites has been carried out, and also the duration of cultural development is still inexplicit. To understand the stratigraphic characteristics and geomorphic evolution process, we conducted extensive investigation of the landform and Quaternary environment in the SDG region, took 22 OSL and 2 14 C samples in SDG1, 2 and 7 to construct the timescale for this region, compare and intensively divide the stratigraphy in SDG site.

No abstract