郧西人遗址洞穴发育与埋藏环境初步观察*

湖北省黄龙洞"郧西人"遗址是2004年新发现的一处重要的更新世晚期古人类遗址。3年来已经进行过3次发掘,出土了距今约10万年的晚期智人牙齿化石及文化遗物,是在东亚地区发现时代最早的现代人遗址。黄龙洞处于秦岭东段南麓的两郧断裂带,发育于上震旦系陡山沱组细晶灰岩和泥灰岩地层中,周围紧闭褶皱和次级断裂发育,为岩溶的发育提供了先决条件。黄龙洞的形成表现为前期以岩溶裂隙水溶蚀为主,后期则转变为大型管道状溶洞。古人类进入洞穴的出入口可能从洞顶"天窗"型开口入洞。古人类遗物属原地埋藏环境,活动期气候以温暖、干燥为主。     

Large mammal taphonomy of the Middle Pleistocene hominid occupation at Treugol’naya Cave (Northern Caucasus)

A taphonomic study was conducted of large mammal remains from the Middle Pleistocene site of Treugol’naya Cave. The site is located at an elevation of 1500 m above sea level near the town of Pregradnaya in the northwestern Caucasus region of Russia, and was excavated by Doronichev (Doronichev, V.B., 2000. Lower paleolithic occupation of the northern Caucasus. ERAUL 92, 67–77.) between 1986 and 2000. Large mammal remains were identified by Baryshnikov (Baryshnikov, G.F., 1993. Krupnye mlekopitayushchie ashelskoi stoyanki v peshchere Treugol’naya na Severnom Kavkaze. Trudy Zoologicheskogo instituta RAN 249, 3–47), and reflect predominance of red deer (Cervus elaphus), bison (Bison schoetensacki), and cave bear (Spelaearctos deningeri). Less common taxa include goat (Capra sp.), wolf (Canis mosbachensis), rhinoceros (Stephanorhinus hundsheimensis) and horse (Equus altidens). Data were collected on weathering, breakage, surficial damage, skeletal-part frequencies, and age and season of death from the these remains, which are stored at the Zoological Institute, Russian Academy of Sciences in St. Petersburg. Analysis of the data revealed little evidence for accumulation of the large mammal remains by the hominid occupants of the cave. The carnivore remains probably represent natural mortality, while some of the ungulate remains were apparently accumulated by stream action. Most of the remaining ungulate remains were probably collected by carnivores.     

Steppe lion remains imported by Ice Age spotted hyenas into the Late Pleistocene Perick Caves hyena den in northern Germany

Upper Pleistocene remains of the Ice Age steppe lion Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810) have been found in the Perick Caves, Sauerland Karst, NW Germany. Bones from many hyenas and their imported prey dating from the Lower to Middle Weichselian have also been recovered from the Perick Cave hyena den. These are commonly cracked or exhibit deep chew marks. The absence of lion cub bones, in contrast to hyena and cave bear cub remains in the Perick Caves, and other caves of northern Germany, excludes the possibility that P. leo spelaea used the cave for raising cubs. Only in the Wilhelms Cave was a single skeleton of a cub found in a hyena den. Evidence of the chewing, nibbling and cracking of lion bones and crania must have resulted from the importation and destruction of lion carcasses (4% of the prey fauna). Similar evidence was preserved at other hyena den caves and open air sites in Germany. The bone material from the Perick and other Central European caves points to antagonistic hyena and lion conflicts, similar to clashes of their modern African relatives.     

Paleobiological Implications of the Isotopic Signatures (C,N) of Fossil Mammal Collagen in Scladina Cave (Sclayn, Belgium)

An isotopic investigation of upper Pleistocene mammal bones and teeth from Scladina cave (Sclayn, Belgium) demonstrated the very good quality of collagen preservation. A preliminary screening of the samples used the amount of nitrogen in whole bone and dentine in order to estimate the preserved amount of collagen before starting the extraction process. The isotopic abundances of fossil specimens from still-extant species are consistent with their trophic position. Moreover, the¹⁵N isotopic abundance is higher in dentine than in bone in bears and hyenas, a phenomenon already observed in modern specimens. These results demonstrate that the isotopic compositions of samples from Scladina cave can be interpreted in ecological terms. Mammoths exhibit a high¹⁵N isotopic abundance relative to other herbivores, as was the case in Siberian and Alaskan samples. These results suggest distinctive dietary adaptations in herbivores living in the mammoth steppe. Cave bears are clearly isotopically different from coeval brown bears, suggesting an ecological separation between species, with a pure vegetarian diet for cave bear and an omnivorous diet for brown bear.     

Late Pleistocene steppe lion Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810) footprints and bone records from open air sites in northern Germany – Evidence of hyena-lion antagonism and scavenging in Europe

Bone remains and a trackway of Pantheraichnus bottropensis nov. ichg. ichnsp. of the Late Pleistocene lion Panthera leo spelaea (Goldfuss, 1810) have been recovered from Bottrop and other open air sites in northern Germany. Some of these bones are from open air hyena den sites. A relative high proportion of lion bones (20%) exhibit bite, chew or nibble marks, or bone crushing and nibbling caused by a large carnivore. Repeated patterns of similar bone damage have been compared to bone remains found at hyena dens in gypsum karst areas and cave sites in northern Germany. Ice Age spotted hyenas have been the main antagonists and the main scavengers on lion carcasses. The remains appear to have been imported often by hyenas into their communal dens, supporting the theory of strong hyena-lion antagonism, similar to the well documented antagonism between modern African lions and spotted hyenas. Most of the lion bones from the open air hyena den at Bottrop are probably a result of such antagonism, as are the rare remains of these carnivores found within large hyena prey bone accumulations along the Pleistocene rivers. The Emscher River terrace also has the largest quantity of hyena remains from open air river terrace sites in northern Germany. Their cub remains, and incomplete chewed prey bones from mammoths and woolly rhinoceroses, typical of hyena activity, underline the character of these sites as cub-raising and communal dens, where their prey was accumulated along the riverbanks in a similar manner to modern African hyenas.     

Cave sites,faunal analysis,and Big-Game Hunters of the Great Basin: A caution

Deposits of inferred natural origin excavated at Mineral Hill Cave, north-central Nevada, exhibit a similarity to the reported evidence for “Big-Game Hunters” from cave sites in the Great Basin. Split bone and charcoal were observed throughout the deposits. In addition, the remains of a number of animal taxa including several Pleistocene genera, which are considered to have been of economic importance, were recovered from the deposits. These findings suggest that the role of natural processes in cave deposition is of crucial importance in understanding cave-site archaeology.     

双河洞中大熊猫-剑齿象动物群化石的发现

对贵州省境内的双河洞历次科考中发现的第四纪动物群化石进行初步研究和总结,认为目前对双河洞第四纪动物群研究尚处于起步阶段,化石的发现者都是洞穴科考专家,古生物知识相对欠缺且重视不够是洞穴化石研究进展缓慢的原因。为了加快双河洞第四纪动物群的研究进程,以今年中法联合科考过程中发现的大熊猫-剑齿象动物群化石为样本,采用ICP-MS铀系定年方法对这批大熊猫骨骼化石碳酸盐岩包裹物的年龄进行测试,结果表明该化石群化石距今6.75万年,初步判定此动物群可能生存于中更新世-晚更新世早期。这批哺乳动物化石及其地层信息将为贵州（尤其是黔北）第四纪的研究提供重要资料。      

Mammal remains at Rantis Cave,Israel, and Middle–Late Pleistocene human subsistence and ecology in the Southern Levant

Rantis Cave is a recently discovered filled cave in central Israel, displaying a rich faunal accumulation of micromammals, ungulates and carnivores. U–Th dating assigns the beginning of accumulation to ca. 140 ka. The accumulation is culturally assigned to the late half of the Middle Paleolithic (MP) period. Single‐grain optically stimulated luminescence measurements attest to a complex sedimentological history. We present the cross‐disciplinary results of taphonomic and geomorphological analyses, which point to the cave serving as a natural pitfall trap for the large fauna, with little human or carnivore activity. The fauna is dominated by Dama among the ungulates and by Microtus among the micromammals. These data in conjunction with ungulate tooth mesowear analysis suggest a xeric Mediterranean environment on the eastern margin of the southern Levantine foothills. The relative taxonomic abundance of ungulate taxa shows some differences from anthropogenic MP sites, possibly reflecting the prey choice patterns of MP hunters. Overall, the natural accumulation scenario for Rantis Cave provides a rare paleoenvironmental and paleoeconomic reference to the rich anthropogenic MP faunas of the Southern Levant, enabling the reconstruction of a rich and diverse environmental setting for this important human dispersal route. Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Huanglong Cave: A Late Pleistocene human fossil site in Hubei Province,China

This contribution discusses recent paleoanthropological findings from Huanglong Cave, a Late Pleistocene human fossil site from Yunxi County, Hubei Province, China. Three excavations in the Huanglong Cave from 2004 to 2006 yielded seven human teeth, some stone and bone tools, possible burnt sediment and other evidence possibly related to hominin activities. Based on the presence of extinct faunas (20% of total taxa identified), the deposits dated to the Late Pleistocene. Electron spin resonance (ESR) and uranium-series (U-series) dating analyses on associated teeth and speleothems have resulted in divergent chronometric ages (ESR: 44–34 ka; U-series: 103–79 ka). Analysis indicates: (1) most of the morphological and metric features of the human teeth from Huanglong Cave fall within the range of variation of modern Chinese, but a few characters may still link them to more archaic hominins; (2) some activity-induced abrasion and other tooth use-marks were identified, including pronounced tooth chipping and interproximal grooves on the anterior teeth; (3) the sample of blackened deposit has a high carbon content (over 70%), experienced high temperatures, and likely was of cultural origin and not natural; (4) the mammal fossils represent the “Ailuropoda-Stegodon” faunal unit which lived in southern China throughout the Pleistocene. Synthesizing all of these findings, especially the human teeth that display modern human characteristics, Huanglong Cave will offer some new insights into various issues currently being debated in Late Pleistocene human evolutionary research.     

周口店地区第四纪哺乳动物群的演化与环境变迁探讨

讨论了Ａｌｉｌｅｐｕｓａｎｎｅｃｔｅｎｓ、ＨｙｐｏｌａｇｕｓｂｒａｃｈｙｐｕｓＬｅｐｕｓｓｐ．、Ｓｃｉｕｒｏｔａｍｉａｓｐｒａｅｃｏｘ、ＡｌｌｏｃｒｉｃｅｔｕｓｔｅｉｌｈａｒｄｉＣｒｉｃｅｔｉｎｕｓｖａｒｉａｎｓ、Ｈｙｐｅｒａｃｒｉｕｓｙｅｎｓｈａｎｅｎｓｉｓ、Ａｌｌｏｐｈａｉｏｍｙｓｃｆ．ｐｌｉｏｃａｅｎｉｃｕｓ、Ｐｒｏｅｄｒｏｍｙｓｃｆ．ｂｅｄｆｏｒｄｉ、Ｃｈａｒｄｉｎｏｍｙｓｎｉｈｅｗａｎｉｃｕｓ、Ｍｕｓｃｆ．ｍｕｓｃｕｌｕｓ和Ａｐｏｄｅｍｕｓｄｏｍｉｎａｎｓ的地史分布。根据哺乳动物群的分析与对比，得出第１８地点为早更新世早期，第１２地点、东洞地点为早更新世中期，第９地点、西洞地点为早更新世晚期，第１３地点为早更新世末期至中更新世初期，第１、２、５、６、１１、１０、２１、２３及上店洞地点为中更新世，新洞为中更新世晚期至晚更新世早期，东岭子洞为晚更新世，山顶洞为晚更新世晚期。还讨论了周口店地区一些主要第四纪哺乳动物群的生态类型特点，第四纪的气候波动及生态环境变迁。     

白龙洞古人类遗址三维数字模型的建立与初步分析

湖北白龙洞古人类遗址是中国较有影响的更新世中期古人类遗址之一。本项工作通过使用日本宾得公司产RS-202N免棱镜型全站仪及美国Autodesk公司产AutoCAD2006计算机软件等,实地采集白龙洞遗址地貌和洞穴形态三维数据,使用计算机建立起遗址地貌数字模型和洞穴居址数字模型。通过数字模型进行多视角观察、分析,认识到这种方法可以实现以三维空间的形式保存和处理多种考古遗存信息,能够提供古人类遗址三维动态的观察视角,以及提供多种用途的遗址三维分析数据和考古专题图等。白龙洞遗址数字模型的测量和观察分析认识到,白龙洞遗址古人类（直立人）具有对洞穴高效开发利用的能力,并且具有在洞穴空间较为高大的区域集中活动的特点;  还可能具有在洞穴内部使用火进行照明的行为;  在居址选择上,白龙洞古人类已经具备对低山地区复杂地貌、开阔视野、干燥居址与近水环境,以及石料集中地和多元食物生境的适应性选择。此外,分析工作还显示洞穴遗址内部堆积物,除古人类活动遗留外,其他土状堆积物的来源可能来自于洞穴内部裂隙。白龙洞遗址数字模型的建立与初步分析,是国内将三维数字模型技术应用于古人类遗址研究的首次尝试。该方法对于获取更多遗址研究信息和多学科综合研究古人类遗址具有重要作用。     

Cave bear occupation in Schwabenreith Cave,Austria, during the early last glacial: constraints from 230Th/U‐dated speleothems

The cave bear was a prominent member of the Upper Pleistocene fauna in Eurasia. While breakthroughs were recently achieved with respect to its phylogeny using ancient DNA techniques, it is still challenging to date cave bear fossils beyond the radiocarbon age range. Without an accurate and precise chronological framework, however, key questions regarding the palaeoecology cannot be addressed, such as the extent to which large climate swings during the last glacial affected the habitat and possibly even conditioned the final extinction of this mammal. Key to constraining the age of cave bear fossils older than the lower limit of radiocarbon dating is to date interlayered speleothems using ²³⁰Th/U. Here we report new results from one such site in the Eastern European Alps (Schwabenreith Cave), which yielded the highest density of bones of cave bear (Ursus spelaeus eremus). Although dating of the flowstones overlying this fossiliferous succession was partly compromised by diagenetic alteration, the ²³⁰Th/U dates indicate that the bear hibernated in this cave after about 113 ka and before about 109 ka. This time interval coincides with the equivalent of Greenland Stadial 25, suggesting possible climate control on the cave bear's habitat and behaviour. © 2019 The Authors. Journal of Quaternary Science Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd     

ESR,U-series and paleomagnetic dating of Gigantopithecus fauna from Chuifeng Cave,Guangxi, southern China

Several Gigantopithecus faunas associated with taxonomically undetermined hominoid fossils and/or stone artifacts are known from southern China. These faunas are particularly important for the study of the evolution of humans and other mammals in Asia. However, the geochronology of the Gigantopithecus faunas remains uncertain. In order to solve this problem, a program of geochronological studies of Gigantopithecus faunas in Guangxi Province was recently initiated. Chuifeng Cave is the first studied site, which yielded 92 Gigantopithecus blacki teeth associated with numerous other mammalian fossils. We carried out combined ESR/U-series dating of fossil teeth and sediment paleomagnetic studies. Our ESR results suggest that the lower layers at this cave can be dated to 1.92 ± 0.14 Ma and the upper layers can be dated to older than 1.38 ± 0.17 Ma. Correlation of the recognized magnetozones to the geomagnetic polarity timescale was achieved by combining magnetostratigraphic, biostratigraphic and ESR data. The combined chronologies establish an Olduvai subchron (1.945–1.778 Ma) for the lowermost Chuifeng Cave sediments. We also analyzed the enamel δ¹³C values of the Gigantopithecus faunas. Our results show that southern China was dominated by C₃ plants during the early Pleistocene and that the Gigantopithecus faunas lived in a woodland-forest ecosystem.     

北京石花洞岩溶学研究进展

全面介绍北京石花洞发现与研究的历史、取得的重大成果,以及在岩溶学研究领域所起的作用。石花洞位于北京西山,发现于明朝正统十一年,开发于20世纪80年代。岩溶学研究表明,石花洞洞层多（8层）,石盾多（200多个）,为世界罕见。在全国范围内,首次发现月奶石,首次发现碳酸钙微层理,首次发现膜足硬肢马陆穴居动物。笔者从地质学、气象学和环境学全面研究了石花洞,测绘精度达到1：200,进行了氡浓度研究。从溶蚀形态来看,石花洞8层溶洞展示北京西山的8次隆升;从沉积形态来看,石花洞中的粗犷石笋代表中更新世沉积,杆状石笋代表晚更新世沉积,微层理石笋代表全球转暖以来的全新世沉积,奠定了首次建立第四纪石笋剖面的基础。     

Measuring Late Quaternary Ursid Diminution in the Midwest

Paleobiologists generally agree that within the past 10,000 yr North American black bears (Ursus americanus) have decreased in body and tooth size. Some researchers infer that diminution was gradual and continuous; thus, one might infer that a specimen is old if it is larger than an average-size modern bear. Ursid remains recovered in the 1950s from Lawson Cave, Missouri, that are larger than some modern bears have been reported to date to the late Pleistocene, but association with modern taxa, taphonomic considerations, and a radiocarbon date of 200 yr B.P. indicate that they are modern. Modern specimens from Lawson Cave and other parts of the American Midwest are relatively large compared to modern North American black bears from other areas, suggesting that many supposed late Pleistocene bears from the area might be modern also.     

周口店田园洞洞穴发育与充填序列探讨

周口店田园洞遗址是2001年新发现的一处重要的更新世晚期古人类遗址。该遗址经过两次发掘,出土了34件古人类化石和大量哺乳动物化石,是中国目前从人类化石本身所测得的最早现代人遗址。田园洞地处华北地台北部的燕山板内(陆内)构造带西南缘,发育于中元古界蓟县系薄层碳酸盐岩地层内。周围褶皱和次级断裂发育,岩脉侵入和片理化作用明显,为地下水的水平和垂直运动提供了大量不同级序和不同形式的通道,提高了岩石的透水性,有利于岩溶的发育。田园洞的形成以岩溶裂隙水垂直渗流方式沿岩脉和节理裂隙溶蚀而成。洞内地层对比和岩石矿物分析显示洞穴经历了洞穴发育期-快速堆积期-稳定沉积期-充填完成期的充填过程。动物化石和古人类化石属原地埋藏,古人类活动于角砾层快速堆积期。田园洞古人类活动的时间处于距今4万年前的晚更新世M IS 3阶段,对探讨中国现代人起源具有重要意义。     

New Quaternary Mammalian Faunas and Cave Deposits in the Zhoukoudian Area,Beijing

From 1985 to 1987, four new localities with abundant fossil mammals were dis-covered by Cao, Tian and others in the Zhoukoudian (Choukoutien) area, Beijing. They are theEast, West, Shangdian and Donglingzi caves. The East Cave fauna consists of 28 speices ofmammals and its age is middle Early Pleistocene. The East Cave assemblage shows that a tem-perature-falling event took place at around 1.20 Ma B.P. at Zhoukoudian. Sixteen species ofmammals were collected from the West Cave, which are mainly forms of late Early Pleistoceneage. The West Cave fauna represents a transitional fauna from the East Cave fauna (dry-cold)to the fauna (warm) at locality 9. The Shangdian Cave fauna is composed of four forms, beingMiddle Pleistocene in age. The Donglingzi Cave fauna contains 21 Late Pleistocene forms. Inthe cave two fossil horizons may be distinguished. The age of the lower horizon is early LatePleistocene, which is equivalent to that of the New Cave fauna; while the fauna of the upper ho-rizon may be correlated with the Upper Cave fauna.     

Preliminary investigation of Late Pleistocene fauna from Ryonggok Cave No. 1, Sangwon County,North Hwanghae Province,Democratic People's Republic of Korea

The investigation of a limestone cave on the Ryonggok-ri of Sangwon County, North Hwanghae Province, DPRK, has yielded many faunal remains including Late Pleistocene deer, brown bears and horses. Uranium series dating of fossil teeth yielded dates of ~72ka at the base of Layer 2 – the bone-bearing unit – and ~44ka at the top. The rich and diverse mammal remains of Ryonggok Cave No. 1 are indicative of warm and humid temperate conditions during the Late Pleistocene, and reflect the presence of both dense forests and open grassland. In addition, pollen and spores from the site include two families and 24 genera of trees, six families and a genus of grasses and herbs, and two families and six genera of ferns, corroborating the environments inferred from the faunal remains.     

Late Quaternary environmental and human events at En Gedi, reflected by the geology and archaeology of the Moringa Cave (Dead Sea area, Israel)

The Moringa Cave within Pleistocene sediments in the En Gedi area of the Dead Sea Fault Escarpment contains a sequence of various Pleistocene lacustrine deposits associated with higher-than-today lake levels at the Dead Sea basin. In addition it contains Chalcolithic remains and 5th century BC burials attributed to the Persian period, cemented and covered by Late Holocene travertine flowstone. These deposits represent a chain of Late Pleistocene and Holocene interconnected environmental and human events, echoing broader scale regional and global climate events. A major shift between depositional environments is associated with the rapid fall of Lake Lisan level during the latest Pleistocene. This exposed the sediments, providing for cave formation processes sometime between the latest Pleistocene (ca. 15 ka) and the Middle Holocene (ca. 4500 BC), eventually leading to human use of the cave. The Chalcolithic use of the cave can be related to a relatively moist desert environment, probably related to a shift in the location of the northern boundary of the Saharo-Arabian desert belt. The travertine layer was U-Th dated 2.46 ± 0.10 to 2.10 ± 0.04 ka, in agreement with the archaeological finds from the Persian period. Together with the inner consistency of the dating results, this strongly supports the reliability of the radiometric ages. The 2.46-2.10 ka travertine deposition within the presently dry cave suggests a higher recharge of the Judean Desert aquifer, correlative to a rising Dead Sea towards the end of the 1st millennium BC. This suggests a relatively moist local and regional climate facilitating human habitation of the desert.     

New dates and palaeoenvironmental evidence for the Middle to Upper Palaeolithic occupation of Higueral de Valleja Cave,southern Spain

A research programme has been set up at Higueral de Valleja Cave in southern Spain to investigate the late survival and eventual extinction of the southern Iberian Neanderthals and the arrival of modern humans. Of key interest in the first phase of research was to understand the depositional environment in the entrance chamber of the cave and to establish whether palaeoenvironmental and dating samples could be retrieved from the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic sequences. The outcome is a series of OSL, TL and radiocarbon dates showing that the cave was occupied by Neanderthal populations in Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3, if not earlier, and by modern human Solutrean populations during the last glacial maximum. Cave sediments provisionally indicate that the lower Middle Palaeolithic sequence (X–VIII) formed in warm and humid environments and the upper sequence (VIII–V) formed when the climate was cooler and drier. The presence of long grass phytoliths and of the small mammals Microtus duodecimcostatus, Microtus brecciensis and Apodemus sylvaticus in the upper sequence indicates that a range of habitat types persisted near the cave including grassland, scrubby vegetation, patchy tree cover and ponds. This raises the possibility that environmental factors were key factors in the late survival of Neanderthal populations at the cave.