红土地质考古带和早期人类进化

分布在旧大陆热带、亚热带的红土是一条巨型纬向地质体、它汇集了迄今已知年代 最古老的人类化石和旧石器遗址，是研究人类起源、人类最初扩散以及同时期全球环境变迁的信息载体。近年亚洲红土地质考古带的重大发现表明，亚洲、非洲最早出现的人类在年代上、体质特征上和文化面貌上都十分接近。这个事实将对人类演化理论产生重大影响。

LATOZOIC-SOILS GEOARCHAEOLOGICAL BELT AND EARLY MAN EVOLUTION

Corresponding to the loessic geoarchaeological belt which covers the global surface of the temperate zone, the latozoic-soils geoarchaeological belt is also a tremendous geological object which covers the global surface of tropics and subtropics. The evidence of the known earliest human occupations in the Old World is very concentrated on this belt Therefore, much more attention should be given to it to understand the most basic questions for the human evolution such as follows: when did humankind emerge on the earth? where is the homeland of humankind? who was the first species of the Genus Homo? and why did they leave their homeland and began the first dispersals to other regions?People thought usually these questions based themselves upon African origin, a kind of the unilineal hypothesis. However, the recent advances in the research of Paleolithic archaeologyand paleoanthropology from the Asian latozoic-soils geoarehaeological belt give a strong challenge to these traditional sences. The important advances include; （1） the new dahng of Perning skull（H. erectus） from Jav4 1.81MaB. P. based on Ar-Ar dating, and Yuanmou teeth （H. erectus） from southwestern China,1.60¹.10MaB. P. based on ESR dating;（2） the mandible and incisor from Longgupo cave site of southern China, which may be compared with H. habilis or H. ergaster from Africa, and the stone industry which is similar to the charactenstics of the eariiest African stone industries, 2.0MaB.P.based on ESR dating;（3） the stone and bone artifacts associated with a closed Pliocene or beginning of the Lower Pleistocene mammalian fauna from Renzidong cave site of Fanchang,southern China, > 2.0MaB. P. based on mammalian fauna;（4） stone artifacts from Riwat and Pabbi Hills of Pakistan, > 2.0 and 2.0^~1.0MaB.P. based on paleomagnehc sequence,（5） an Acheulian-like stone industry from the Bose basin of southem China, 0.803 MaB.P. based on Ar-Ar dating.The advances mentioned above suggest that the evidence for the known earliest human occupation from the Asian latozoic-soils geoarchaeologic belt is close to that from Africa in chronology, morphology, technology and ecology. Shall we change our viewpoint from African origin to Asian origin when we consider the new condition mentioned above? The author of the present paper do not think that the change is necessary because the unilineal hypothesis has obvious defect itself, not only African origin but Asian origin. Besides, the recent research of comparison of Plicr-Pleistocene climatic changes in different monsoonal regions suggest a common trend of monsoonal evolution over the Asia-African continents. Therefore, it would be well-advised to keep an open mind about the unilineal hypothesis and multiregional hypothesis.