中国地区早期现代人起源与演化的考古学研究

In the past 30 year, the issue of modern human origins has been a hot topic for anthropological studies. Concerning the region of China and East Asia, two major school oftheories, namely Out of Africa and Continuity with Hybridization has formed and fierce debates have been generated.  In the past, research on this important academic issue has been conducted mainly in fields of Paleoanthropology and Molecular Biology, Archeology seldom joined the debate. However, as everyone knows, there are far more archaeological materials and evidence left by ancient humans than their fossils and genetic traces. Therefore, there are great potentials for archaeology to bring about major breakthroughs in this direction. Project in this application, based on the rich archaeological remains and information since the emergence of archaic Homo sapience in China, will approach the issue in the following aspects: 1）The evidence of evolutionary continuity of.local humans expressed by lithic technology, tool assemblage and cultural sequence; 2) Archaeological evidence for the presence of human groups during 100-50 Kya in the region; 3）Evidence of immigration, interaction, and amalgamation of different human groups; 4）Paleoenvironmental conditions for certain human groups in sensitive periods of climate fluctuation；5）Human adaptation strategies and survival capabilities based on information of tool function, fire use, the way the resource exploitation, etc. This project will try to collect a whole array of artifacts, associated materials, and relevant information, generate a batch of solid and systematic data and evidence on the.continuity of human evolution and survival in Upper Pleistocene China, publish a series of papers and other research results, and combining with information and evidence from fossil and genetic studies, to reinforce and develop the theories of Continuity with Hybridization and Regional Complexity for modern human origins and evolution.

中国地区现代人起源存在不同的假说和争论。以前的研究主要在分子生物学和化石人类学领域进行。旧石器时代人类留下的遗物-遗迹远比化石证据丰富和连贯，从考古的角度开展此项研究有不可比拟的优势和取得创新突破的潜力。本项目立足早期智人以来中国主要遗址的考古材料，从以下方面开展研究：1）石器技术与组合演变及文化序列所反映的本土人类群连续演化的考古证据；2）关键节点的考古证据以证伪距今10-5万年间该地区无人类生存的论断；3）人群迁徙、互动、交流的文化证据；4）特定人群的生存环境和连续演化的条件；5）工具功能、用火方式、食物获取方式等行为信息所反映的古人群应对环境变化、延续种群的能力。本项目将获取一批重要的材料、数据与论文成果，提出早期智人以来本土人群连续演化和独特适应生存方式的系统考古证据， 并结合分子生物学和化石人类学的最新成果发展“连续进化附带杂交”的理论并进一步强化现代人起源演化的区域性多样化论述。

本项目围绕中国地区现代人起源与演化这个争论了30余年的重大问题展开，以考古学的证据和视角对中国-东亚本土人类群连续演化，关键时间段人群生存的证据，特定人群的迁徙、互动、交流及生存适应方式开展研究。本项目在上述议题上取得了多方面进展，从石器技术与文化传统，对资源的利用策略和适应生存方式，Toba火山事件的影响等古环境研究成果诸方面，并结合人类化石证据，系统论述了该地区古人类演化的连续性，否定了距今10-5万年间该地区不存在人类生存的假设，并通过遗址年代厘定和石器技术分析论证了早期现代人迁徙的北方路线，提出了不同人群文化交流与融合的证据与论述，否定了“替代说”对东亚现代人来源的假定。对青藏高原尼阿底的发现与研究进一步证明和阐释了早期现代人强悍的适应生存和向极端环境拓展的能力。本项目圆满完成了预设目标，深化了对相关问题的研究。