Environmental background of evolution from the paleolithic to neolithic culture in Nihewan Basin, North China

The relationship between the paleolithic-neolithic cultural transition and environmental evolvement has been a focus of the paleoanthropologists, archeologists, and Quaternary geologists in the world. The analysis result of the paleoanthropic living environment at Yujiagou site of Nihewan Basin in the north of China shows that the microlithic culture at the Yujiagou site occurred during the opening centuries of the last deglaciation and developed markedly in the continuous warm and dry climatic conditions from late period of last deglaciation to early postglacial. Moreover, it also shows that the neolithic culture at the Yujiagou site occurred in the early postglacial and developed rapidly in a warm and humid climatic condition in the Holocene Megathermal. Climate variation is an important factor leading to the paleolithic-neolithic cultural transition.