Sequence of sediments at Locality 1 in Zhoukoudian and correlation with loess stratigraphy in northern China and with the chronology of deep-sea cores

According to recent dating by several methods, the impressive cave sediments at Locality 1 at Zhoukoudian, about 40 m thick, have not only allowed the age of Peking Man to be established, but have calibrated the general course of cave development, permitted correlation with events both within China and farther afield, and placed the sequence in the global frameword of late Cenozoic climatic change. The cave deposits can be divided into 17 layers which are correlated with the great loess sequence (L9–L4) in China and with deep-sea-core oxygen-isotope stages 16-6. The 14th layer upward (730,000–230,000 yr B.P.) represents at least four glacial cycles.