周口店第一地点高精度磁性地层学研究及古环境重建

It has been a long-lasting issue in debate for the relationship between human origin/evolution and climatic changes, although with different views developed. High-resolution geochronological and paleoenvironmental studies on the anthropological sites in critical areas with high-frequency human activities have been regarded as the important foundation to deeply explore this issue. Zhoukoudian, where has been long-time occupied and colonized by the Homo erectus during the middle Pleistocene, with abundant human remains and thick sedimentary sequences highly well preserved, is one of the most representative anthropological site in north China, and may provide the ideal conditions for studying the impact on the human evolution exerted by the climate variability and/or significant climatic events during the middle Pleistocene. However, the uncertainty for the dating results and shortage for the paleoenvironmental studies on the site limit our thoroughly studies on series of important scientific issues about the human evolution. In this project, we would like to carry out the studies on high-resolution magnetostratigraphy and the climatostratigraphy, on the basis of the systematically sedimentary studies, to precisely date the each layers in the Zhoukoudian first locality site. Moreover, detailed climatic conditions will be quantitatively reconstructed by using the inverse vegetation model (IVM), based on the pollen and organic carbon isotope data acquired in this project. Then, we will try to make clear the correspondence between the Zhoukoudian Man evolution and the glacial-interglacial cycles, and explore the impact on the human evolution of the Homo erectus in north China caused by the climatic variability and major climate changes. Thereafter, this project is possibly to achieve significant progress in the theoretic studies on relationship between the East Asian human revolution and environmental changes.

国际上对于古人类起源演化与环境变化的关系模式一直存在不同看法和分歧。在关键古人类活动区开展高精度年代学和古环境研究，是深入探讨该问题的重要基础。周口店遗址是我国北方最具代表性的古人类遗址之一，是中更新世直立人长期占据和活动的关键区域，保存了丰富的人类化石和较完整的沉积序列，为研究气候变率及重大气候事件等对人类演化的影响提供了理想条件。但目前其年代结果的不确定和古环境研究的不足限制了我们对一些重要古人类演化问题的深入研究。本项目拟对周口店第一地点在系统沉积学研究的基础上，开展高精度磁性地层学研究，与气候地层学相结合，获得气精确的年代序列；通过孢粉和碳同位素分析，利用植被反演模型，定量重建古人类生存的气候环境条件，明确直立人演化与冰期-间冰期的对应关系，探讨中更新世气候变化特征及重大气候变革等对北方直立人演化的影响。本项目的实施，有望在东亚古人类演化与环境关系理论研究方面取得重要进展。

开展对关键古人类活动区的高精度年代学和古环境研究，是深入揭示古人类起源演化与环境变化联系这一重要科学命题的基础手段之一。早更新世-中更新世，全球气候系统发生了重大转变，对地球生态和生命系统产生了重要影响。这一时期，东亚地区早期直立人到达欧亚大陆，并长期占据了东亚地区。然而，迄今对东亚早期直立人的演化历史、演化地位及其环境适应仍不清晰。周口店第一地点为代表的中更新世早期直立人地点的系统年代学和古环境研究，为研究该时期气候变率和重大气候事件对我国早期人类尤其是直立人演化的影响提供了理想场景。本项目通过对位于我国包括周口店第一地点在内四个代表性直立人化石地点的详细年代学研究，厘定了其生存时限，为建立和完善东亚直立人演化历史，探讨其演化地位提供了关键信息；通过对周口店第一地点及临近人类活动区的高分辨率环境记录研究，通过对古人类生存时期气候环境条件的定量重建，揭示出冰期-间冰期环境变化对直立人迁徙演化的可能影响，探讨了直立人演化与中更新世重大气候变化事件的可能联系，对进一步揭示东亚早期人类与全球、区域气候变化的联系这一个关键科学命题提供了重要信息。