Age of newly discovered Paleolithic assemblages at Liuwan site Luonan Basin, central China

Middle Paleolithic sites of Katta Sai in western Tian Shan piedmont, Central Asiatic loess zone: Geoarchaeological investigation of the site formation and the integrity of the lithic assemblages

“…The sites of this type have several specific features, such as the absence of pronounced cultural layers, and lithic material corresponding to the most pedogenetically developed part of the profile, dispersed by 1e1.5 m vertically (Ranov and Sch€ afer, 2000). In Central Asia, these features are confirmed in the "loess Paleolithic" sites of Tajikistan (Ranov and Sch€ afer, 2000) and China (Sun et al, 2012(Sun et al, , 2014, where loess deposits are distributed quite widely (Dodonov and Zhou, 2008). Despite the fact that the question about syngenetic and epigenetic mechanisms of paleosol development is still open (Lomov and Ranov, 1984), the Paleolithic artifacts are very characteristic for paleosols, and can act not only as an indicator of their relative age, but also, including their sediments, as a paleoecological frame reflecting the natural environment of the ancient people.…”

Cosmogenic nuclide burial dating of Liuwan Paleolithic site in the Luonan Basin, Central China

“…Thereafter, several sites with in situ artifacts, including Liuwan (locality 1), which is the most representative and contains distinct alternations of loess and paleosol, have been excavated and studied (Lu et al, 2007(Lu et al, , 2011a(Lu et al, , 2011b. , Sun et al (2014 revisited the site and found two additional localities (localities 2 and 3) ( Figure 3). Two in situ stone artifact layers were identified and more than 200 artifacts, including stone hammers, scrapers, points, cores, flakes, debris, and chunks, were unearthed during the trial excavation.…”

“…Positions and Paleolithic artifacts of localities 1, 2, and 3 in the Liuwan site. Collected hand axes in locality 1, excavated Paleolithic artifacts in artifact layer 1 in locality 2, and excavated Paleolithic artifacts in artifact layer 2 in locality 3 (Lu et al, 2007;Sun et al, 2014).…”

“…A few Paleolithic sites in the QMR, such as Liuwan (Lu et al, 2007(Lu et al, , 2011bSun et al, 2014), Qijaojiayao (Lu et al, 2007(Lu et al, , 2011a, Yaochangwan (Sun et al, 2012;, and Luojiacun (Sun et al, 2017), have been dated approximately 0.60 Ma. The period of dense hominin settlement in the QMR was approximately 0.60 Ma.…”

“…All these Paleolithic sites are covered with thin loess deposits along medium-sized rivers. We dated many Paleolithic sites (Lu et al, 2007(Lu et al, , 2011a(Lu et al, , 2011bSun et al, 2012Sun et al, , 2014Sun et al, , 2016Sun et al, , 2017 in the QMR using pedostratigraphic correlation with the well-dated loess-paleosol sequence of the Luochuan loess section of the central Chinese Loess Plateau (CLP). We identified a certain range of age error in these Paleolithic sites due to restrictions imposed by the paleomagnetic dating method and the problematic magnetic susceptibility used in thin and atypical loess deposition areas.…”