PRELIMINARY STUDY ON THE LIVING ENVIRONMENT OF HOMINIDS AT THE XUJIAYAO SITE, NIHEWAN BASIN

The Xujiayao site (loc. 74093), situated in the Nihewan Basin, is one of the most important archaic Homo sapiens sites in north China, which is of significance to the study of origin and adaptive behaviors of modern human. The site was buriedo in the third based terrace of Liyigou River, When the sedimentary environment changed from an oxbow lake to a river floodplain. Based on the study of grain size, magnetic susceptibility, stable carbon and oxygen isotope, and total organic carbon of the profile at the locality of 74093, four stages of environmental changes are identified. Four major stages of environment and climate change are idenlikied. 1) relatively warm and humid stage to 2) cold and dry stable stage 3) fluctuated cool and dry stage and 4) relatively warm and fluctuated. stage hominid activities appeicd in Early Late Pleistocene (MIS5), corresponding to the climate change from relative warm and humid to stable cold and dry. Furthermore, it can be inferred from the fauna remains that the early hominids adapted to the relatively cold and humid weather in the landscape of grassland with sparse forest. The results are of significance to the study of the relationship between hominid occupation and environmental changes as well as the adaptive behaviors of early humans at the Xujiayao site.