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We reconstruct the rise of a segment of the southern flank of the Himalaya-Tibet orogen, to the south of the Lhasa terrane, using a paleoaltimeter based on paleoenthalpy encoded in fossil leaves from two new assemblages in southern Tibet (Liuqu and Qiabulin) and four previously known floras from the Himalaya foreland basin. U-Pb dating of zircons constrains the Liuqu flora to the latest Paleocene (ca. 56 Ma) and the Qiabulin flora to the earliest Miocene (21-19 Ma). The proto-Himalaya grew slowly against a high (~4 km) proto-Tibetan Plateau from ~1 km in the late Paleocene to ~2.3 km at the beginning of the Miocene, and achieved at least ~5.5 km by ca. 15 Ma. Contrasting precipitation patterns between the Himalaya-Tibet edifice and the Himalaya foreland basin for the past ~56 m.y. show progressive drying across southern Tibet, seemingly linked to the uplift of the Himalaya orogen.

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S U M M A R YSeventeen sites were drilled from ca. 53 Ma old mafic dykes intruded in the Linzizong Formation of the Linzhou Basin for palaeomagnetic studies. From 10 sites a higher coercivity component demagnetized between 20 and 100 mT could be isolated. Detailed rockmagnetic analyses reveal Ti-rich titanomagnetite as the remanence carrier, which indicates that the rock is not much altered and the remanent magnetization is likely of primary origin. This is supported by a positive fold test. Tilt correction could be performed by the bedding of overlying fluvial lacustrine sediments and tilt angles of ignimbrite columns post-dating the dyke emplacement. Bedding corrected directions give an overall mean direction of D/I = 12.3 • /27.2 • (α 95 = 10.6 • , k = 21.7, N = 10) corresponding to a palaeolatitude of 14.4 • ± 5.8 • N. Comparison with previous Cretaceous data mainly from the Takena Formation yields a stable position of the Lhasa terrane during Cretaceous and Early Eocene. The difference between expected palaeolatitudes determined from the APWP of Eurasia and observed ones reveals relative northward movement of the Lhasa terrane of ca. 1847 ± 763 km since early Eocene. This is attributed to indentation of India into Asia and implies a considerable amount of north-south crustal shortening. Together with the extent of 'Greater India', we can derive an age for the India-Asia collision between ca. 53-49 Ma with a 95 per cent confidence limit of ± 6 Ma.

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Zhoukoudian is widely regarded as having the oldest reliable evidence for the controlled use of fire by humans. A reexamination of the evidence in Layer 10, the earliest archaeological horizon in the site, shows that burned and unburned bones are present in the same layer with stone tools. However, no ash or charcoal remnants could be detected. Hence, although indirect evidence for burning is present, there is no direct evidence for in situ burning.