Pleistocene caballine horses exhibited considerable genetic diversity and maintained broad population connectivity across their range. The extinct Dalian horse (Equus dalianensis) from northeastern China likely contributed to this network. Here, we sequenced 20 complete mitochondrial and two nuclear genomes, establishing the Dalian horse as a distinct genetic clade within Northeast Eurasian caballines and extending its known geographic distribution. Ancestry component analyses revealed a distinctive component of Eastern Beringian (E-EBer), i.e. American ancestry in Dalian horses, absent from other Northeast Asian equids. The proportion of this ancestry fluctuated between approximately 50ka and approximately 32ka, consistent with contact with E-EBer populations followed by dilution through later admixture. Combined with published evidence of very low (<0.7%) and uneven E-EBer ancestry in Late Pleistocene Northeast Siberian (NEsib) horses, our data document spatiotemporal overlap and gene flow between Dalian and NEsib horses, supporting the hypothesis that Dalian horses served as intermediaries in the transmission of American ancestry to Eurasia. When integrated with stable isotope evidence, these genomic results suggested that Dalian horse's specialized dietary niche constrained its ability to adapt to rapid Late Pleistocene environmental change, ultimately contributing to its extinction. These findings highlight the Dalian horse's role in Late Pleistocene connectivity and extinction dynamics in northern Asia.

There is a long-standing view of Chinese Palaeolithic that lithic industries with pebble-tools and simple core-and-flakes are prevalent, without innovations and technological changes until the advent of the Upper Palaeolithic. However, with new discoveries and reassessments of previous archaeological materials, many doubts have been raised on the tenableness of this view. Preceding reports of the Levallois concept at Guanyindong revealed the presence of an early prepared core technology in East Asia. To further contribute to this issue, here we present a comprehensive study of the whole Guanyindong assemblage. Our results found that Levallois stone-tool technology is not the only skill acquired by Guanyindong knappers. Instead, systematic Middle Palaeolithic techno-complexes, including multiple flaking strategies, diverse tool types, and formal tool manufacture, suggest that Guanyindong industry is indeed a Middle Palaeolithic technological complex that is comparable with West Eurasia and Africa, challenging the previous understanding of Palaeolithic industries pre-40 ka in China as static and conventional.

The Dingcun locality 54:100 site was first excavated in 1950 s and has since yielded abundant stone artefacts and the famous 'Dingcun human' fossils, including three teeth and a parietal fragment. The Dingcun teeth has been regarded as a potential evidence of early emergence and development of 'modern' anatomic characters, making them key to understanding the origin and evolution of our species. However, there has been considerable debate regarding the chronology of the Dingcun site. Here we establish a new chronology for the site, based on optical dating of the fossil-bearing sediments and U-series dating of fauna fossils from the cultural layers. Our study shows that the age of the Dingcun human fossil ranges from 298,000 to 225,000 years ago (at 95.4 % confidence interval). This new dating result suggest that the Dingcun hominins represent a Late Middle Pleistocene population in East Asia who had borne some modern dental traits.

Recent observations on the HL-2A tokamak give new experimental evidence of resonant tearing modes (r-TMs) caused by the redistribution of energetic ions (EIs) due to sawtooth collapses in neutral beam injection plasmas. The m/n=2/1 (m and n are the poloidal and toroidal mode numbers) r-TMs with frequencies chirping down rapidly are found after strong bursts of fishbone modes and closely followed strong sawtooth collapses. The frequencies of fishbone modes and r-TMs chirp down from 10 to 7 kHz and 5 to 2 kHz rapidly, higher and lower than the 4-6 kHz existing weak resistive TMs. The fishbone modes propagate in ion diamagnetic drift directions in poloidal. In contrast, r-TMs propagate in the electron diamagnetic drift direction, though r-TMs are excited by EIs. It is suggested that counter-passing EIs, which originated from redistribution of EIs due to fishbone modes and combined with sawtooth collapses, excite r-TMs. Simulation results from the M3D-K code reveal that the counter-passing EIs play an important role in the excitation of r-TMs. The results can help broaden understanding of the interaction mechanisms between energetic particles and TMs, and open up a new perspective on the excitation mechanism of r-TMs.

High-performance plasmas had been obtained with hybrid scenarios on HL-2A in past several years, and the quality factor G=H-89 beta(N)/q(95)(2) is around 0.3-0.4. In these high-beta(N) H-mode plasmas with beta(N)>2.5 and H-98>1.2 Chen et al. (2022) [24], there are multiple energetic-ion driven instabilities, such as toroidal Alfv & eacute;n eigenmode (TAE) and beta-induced Alfv & eacute;n eigenmode (BAE), and there are complex magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) dynamics, e.g. nonlinear mode-mode and mode-particle interactions. The TAE amplitude increases explosively, and the frequency is fast chirping in the range of f=90-150 kHz. The TAE toroidal mode-number is n=3-4, and they localize in outer plasma region. The BAE amplitude also increases explosively, and the BAE frequency is fast chirping in the range of f=50-90 kHz. The toroidal mode-number of dominant BAEs is n=2, and these modes localize at q=2 rational surface where there is a large radius internal transport barrier (ITB). Generally, the energetic-ion fraction is low in outer plasma region. It indicates that thermal ions at large radius ITB location possibly provide additional drive and destabilize the BAE in company with energetic-ions. These TAEs/BAEs occur regularly in high-beta(N) region and before large type-I ELM burst. To further illuminate the characteristics of these Alfv & eacute;nic modes, the 2D and radial mode structures had been calculated by using a well-benchmarked general Alfv & eacute;nic mode eigenvalue code (MAS). The experimental results suggest that these Alfv & eacute;nic modes may have important effects on the pedestal transport and ELM-onset.

The geographic expansion of Homo sapiens populations into southeastern Europe occurred by ∼47,000 years ago (∼47 ka), marked by Initial Upper Palaeolithic (IUP) technology. H. sapiens was present in western Siberia by ∼45 ka, and IUP industries indicate early entries by ∼50 ka in the Russian Altai and 46–45 ka in northern Mongolia. H. sapiens was in northeastern Asia by ∼40 ka, with a single IUP site in China dating to 43–41 ka. Here we describe an IUP assemblage from Shiyu in northern China, dating to ∼45 ka. Shiyu contains a stone tool assemblage produced by Levallois and Volumetric Blade Reduction methods, the long-distance transfer of obsidian from sources in China and the Russian Far East (800–1,000 km away), increased hunting skills denoted by the selective culling of adult equids and the recovery of tanged and hafted projectile points with evidence of impact fractures, and the presence of a worked bone tool and a shaped graphite disc. Shiyu exhibits a set of advanced cultural behaviours, and together with the recovery of a now-lost human cranial bone, the record supports an expansion of H. sapiens into eastern Asia by about 45 ka.

Between 1958 and 1999, notable lithic localities recorded prehistoric activities in Xiqiao Town of Nanhai District, Foshan City, Guangdong Province, from which double-shouldered and microlith-stone artefacts were uncovered. Currently, the "Xiqiaoshan site" is recognized as a substantial Neolithic quarry and processing location, dating back to 4‒7 ka B P. Subsequently, from 2011 to 2022, we conducted multiple geological environmental surveys and analyses on Xiqiaoshan Mountain. A well-preserved Quaternary stratigraphic profile was discovered north of Fuxian village in the southeast foothills of Xiqiaoshan Mountain. The sedimentological, geochemical, and geochronological results indicate the presence of two primary sedimentary strata in the Fuxian locality. The upper unit comprises the Holocene swamp facies, with a calibrated AMS14C dating range from 5052‒5409 a B P; whereas, the lower unit comprises the late Pleistocene alluvial-diluvial strata, with a calibrated AMS14C dating range from 38420‒40502 a B P, and an optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating range of 41.977‒43.796 ka B P. Late Pleistocene strata yielded two sand-gravel layers containing Paleolithic artefacts, which are marked as layers A1 and A2. The predominant artefacts in lower layer A1 include larger scrapers, pointed tools, tongue-shaped edged tools, and small flake tools, such as various scrapers, denticulates, notches, knives, utilized flakes, and cores, including tanged axe-shaped knives. In the upper layer A2, backed or tanged knives appear more frequently. The other small flake tools from this layer (A2) were not significantly different from those in lower layer A1. One bifacially prepared core for producing small elongated flakes is of particular interest for this artefact. Based on the average deposition rate, the computational age of the A1 layer was 46.511‒47.325 ka B P, whereas that of the A2 layer was 41.977‒42.167 ka B P. Although the number of artefacts within the Holocene sediments (>5 ka B P) overlying the late Pleistocene strata is limited, the characteristics of inheritance and development are still evident in the types of artefacts. The discovery presented in this study has completely updated and extended the connotation of Xiqiaoshan National Geopark and "Xiqiaoshan culture,"breaking through the late Pleistocene Paleolithic remains records with exact dating in the Pearl River Delta region for the first time. Therefore, a ground-breaking discovery can accurately trace the footsteps of modern humans in the coastal areas of South China from 40‒50 ka. It also reveals the rich features of lithic industry and the developmental characteristics and evolution of its cultural connotations during this period. The present study shows that during the relatively warm and humid conditions of marine isotope stages 3 (MIS3) interglacial period and the subsequent cold and arid stage of MIS2, human population in the Fuxian locality encountered environmental challenges and adopted new subsistence strategy, which is of great significance for understanding modern human responses and adaptations to global and regional environmental and climate change.

ABSTRACTAs the northernmost locality yielding one of the most representative Early PleistoceneGigantopithecus–Sinomastodonfaunas in southern China, the Longgupo site has preserved valuable geological archives that have significantly improved our understanding of Pleistocene biostratigraphy and biogeography. A convincing chronological framework of this locality is therefore important to elaborate on the evolution of Quaternary faunas as well as paleoenvironment. To reconcile the existing geochronological results with new advances in geochronology and biochronology, we present here a revised magnetostratigraphic age model based on detailed rock magnetic and paleomagnetic data and strengthened by biochronology as well as recently published electron spin resonance and uranium series (ESR/U‐series) age data. Two geomagnetic polarities were identified from the Longgupo sequence: the upper one is thin and normal, corresponding to the Olduvai normal subchron; and the lower one is distinctly thick and reversed, corresponding to the pre‐Olduvai Matuyama Chron. The age of the Longgupo fauna constrained by this refined magnetochronological framework is therefore estimated to be about 2.5–2.0 Ma, consistent with the newly published ESR/U‐series age of 2.5–2.2 Ma.

Background Woolly rhinoceros ( Coelodonta antiquitatis ) is a typical indicator of cold-stage climate that was widely distributed in Northern Hemisphere during the Middle-Late Pleistocene. Although a plethora of fossils have been excavated from Northern China, their phylogenetic status, intraspecific diversity and phylogeographical structure are still vague. Results In the present study, we generated four mitogenomes from Late Pleistocene woolly rhinoceros in Northern China and compared them with published data. Bayesian and network analyses indicate that the analyzed individuals contain at least four maternal haplogroups, and Chinese samples fall in three of them. One of our samples belongs to a previously unidentified early diverging clade (haplogroup D), which separated from other woolly rhinoceros around 0.57 Ma (95% CI: 0.76–0.41 Ma). The timing of this clade’s origin coincides with the first occurrence of woolly rhinoceros, which are thought to have evolved in Europe. Our other three samples cluster in haplogroup C, previously only identified from one specimen from Wrangel Island (ND030) and initially considered to be an isolated clade. Herein, our findings suggest that ND030 is likely descended from a northward dispersal of the individuals carrying haplogroup C from Northern China. Additionally, Chinese woolly rhinoceros specimens exhibit higher nucleotide diversity than those from Siberia. Conclusion Our findings highlight Northern China as a possible refugium and a key evolution center of the Pleistocene woolly rhinoceros.

The giant deer, widespread in northern Eurasia during the Late Pleistocene, have been classified as western Megaloceros and eastern Sinomegaceros through morphological studies. While Megaloceros's evolutionary history has been unveiled through mitogenomes, Sinomegaceros remains molecularly unexplored. Herein, we generated mitogenomes of giant deer from East Asia. We find that, in contrast to the morphological differences between Megaloceros and Sinomegaceros, they are mixed in the mitochondrial phylogeny, and Siberian specimens suggest a range contact or overlap between these two groups. Meanwhile, one deep divergent clade and another surviving until 20.1 thousand years ago (ka) were detected in northeastern China, the latter implying this area as a potential refugium during the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM). Moreover, stable isotope analyses indicate correlations between climate-introduced vegetation changes and giant deer extinction. Our study demonstrates the genetic relationship between eastern and western giant deer and explores the promoters of their extirpation in northern East Asia.

The discovery of early Levallois stone-tool technology at 170 ka at Guanyindong cave, Southwest China, has raised questions about the validity and characters of Levallois strategy at this site. To address these questions, we present a detailed technological analysis that primarily focuses on the Levallois cores, along with Levallois flakes and by-products. These analysis include analytical descriptions, technological illustrations, worldwide inter-site comparisons, and quantitative analysis, providing extended and substantial evidence of the usage of Levallois strategy at Guanyindong cave, and indicating highly technological variability and likely convergent technological evolution during Late Middle Pleistocene in East Asia.

Since its discovery in the 1920s, Salawusu (Sjara-osso-gol), located on the southern edge of the Mongolian Plateau, has been one of the most important Paleolithic findings in East Asia. Unfortunately, because of the miniaturized sizes of the Salawusu artifacts that have traditionally been considered too small to study, little has been known about the lithic technology and tool making skills of these hominins. Here we reexamined the lithic assemblage from the Fanjiagouwan Locality at Salawusu, that has been tentatively dated by Optically Stimulated Luminescence to between 100 ka and 90 ka, to identify hominin activities during Marine Isotope Stage 5 that appear to be specific to this spatial-temporal facie. We analyzed the artifacts at higher magnification and 3D scans to overcome the difficulties of "reading" the reduction traces left on these miniature sized lithics. We also conducted a microwear analysis in addition to a standard techno-typological study. It is quite evident that advanced reduction techniques were applied in the reduction of the miniaturized lithics, and evidence of hafting and composite tools are present as well. These latter observations reveal important features of the Salawusu lithic assemblage. These hominin behaviors are likely directly related to raw material constraints in the region that forced these hominins to get as much as possible out of these small cores. It is possible this technology originated in the Salawusu area and then later spread across northern China, Korea, and Japan during the Late Pleistocene. Given the age of the Fanjiagouwan deposits, it is unclear, at this time, exactly who these stone knappers were.

Guanyindong Cave is one of most important Palaeolithic sites in southwestern China, due to its presence of the earliest Levallois artifacts in East Asia, which was dated to two discrete periods at ∼160–170 thousand years ago (ka) and ∼70–80 ka, respectively, based on optical dating of the artifact-bearing sediments from the west entrance of the cave (Hu, et al., 2019a). There were five excavation pits at Guanyindong during the initial excavation seasons in 1960s, all of which have yielded abundant stone artifacts and fauna fossils. However, in contrast to the excavation pits at the west entrance whose chronology and lithic industry were intensively studied, the chronological frameworks of the excavation pits inside the cave chambers have not been established. Here we report optical dating results of sediment samples taken from two of the pits inside the cave (Profiles 2A and 3). We established Bayesian age models for the two profiles based on our new optical ages and the U-series ages obtained in previous studies. Our results indicate that the group B deposits in the main chambers of the cave accumulated between ∼200 ka and ∼100 ka. The chronology of the deposits from the inner chambers, together with those from the west entrance, provided a new age constraint for the Levallois artifacts from the site and suggested that hominins occupied the cave from ∼180 ka to ∼80 ka, spanning a full glacial and interglacial period (from MIS 6 to MIS 5).

本文是对2018年广西百色六林岭旧石器遗址试掘结果的报道.试掘共开7个探方(面积28 m2)和1条探沟,可见9层堆积,从两个层位共获得石制品182件(其中地层出土40件,采集142件).虽然两个文化层石制品在埋藏和保存状况上存在明显差异,但属于同一个技术传统.石制品分为备料、石锤、石核、石片、断块和石器;石器包括砍砸器、手镐和刮削器.在第一文化层发现了与石制品伴生的玻璃陨石碎片,初步推测其年代为803 kaBP,尚不排除二次堆积的可能;第二文化层在第一文化层之下,年代要早于第一文化层,表明古人类在百色盆地持续活动了相当长的一段时间;两个文化层显示出不同的沉积环境,表明古人类在百色盆地生存环境的复杂性和多样性.

After the Salawusu and Shuidonggou sites, the Wulanmulun site found in 2011 is another important Paleolithic site in Ordos, China, due to its numerous stone artifacts and animal fossils. Here, we carry out a combined luminescence and radiocarbon dating of the site. The luminescence dating was done on coarse-grained quartz from 24 sediment samples using a single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) protocol. The radiocarbon dating was performed on ten charcoal samples and one bone sample using acid-base-acid (ABA) and acid-base-wet oxidation-stepped combustion (ABOx-SC) pretreatments. The results showed that: (i) although some samples show relative large (>20%) overdispersion in De distribution (small aliquots), the quartz grains are considered to be sufficiently bleached before burial; (ii) the quartz OSL ages of ~4-65 ka obtained for the samples are generally stratigraphically consistent and reliable; (iii) the radiocarbon ages obtained using the ABA pretreatment procedure are much younger than the corresponding OSL ages, and the radiocarbon ages obtained using the ABOxSC method are beyond or close to the laboratory background. The radiocarbon ages obtained using the ABA treatment were considered to be underestimated. This implication is that caution must be taken for dating Chinese Paleolithic (>25 ka) using the ABA pretreatment procedure on carbon samples. Finally, the cultural layers from the Wulanmulun site are deduced to be between 50 and 65 ka.

The geographic and ecological background behind the development and spread of microblade technologies in Asia is a topic of considerable research interest. Microblade technologies are geographically widespread, and present in southern Siberia, the Russian Far East, Mongolia, northern China, the Korean Peninsula and the Japanese archipelago. Here we examine microblade sites of Northeast China which date to from similar to 28,000 years ago to the end of the Pleistocene. Though microblade assemblages in Northeast China are found to share a number of technological traits, regional divergences are identifiable on account of raw material differences. Technological changes through time correspond with climatic and environmental shifts during Marine Isotope Stage 2 (MIS 2). Microblade technology has its root in southern Siberia on the basis of early age ranges, and thereafter, these assemblages diffused widely, both southward and eastward into China. Microblade industries subsequently underwent a standardization process in Northeast China, leading to the formation of pressure flaking microblade technology on typical wedge-shaped cores of the Northern Microblade Industry (NMI). The NMI appears to have then diffused relatively rapidly across northern and eastern Asia, perhaps representing population movements and cultural interactions.

第10地点是目前乌兰木伦河流域调查发现的唯一一处保留有地层的地点,其东南距乌兰木伦遗址约9.3 km.该地点于2013-2014年进行了试掘,出土 789件石质标本,其中人工制品356件.石制品大部分存在一定程度的磨蚀.原料主要为石英岩,此外还有少量的石英和燧石,它们均来源于附近老第三纪基岩砾石层.类型有石核(36％)、石片(25％)、工具(4％)和断块(35％).其中,工具类型包括锯齿刃器、刮削器、凹缺器和带铤石镞等;毛坯以片状为主,大部分可分辨出石片特征;均采用锤击法修理.初步判断该地点地层堆积性质为二次埋藏.

A phase tracking method based on Hilbert transform algorithm is applied to the nonlinear wave-wave coupling analysis on HL-2A tokamak. Synthetic signal analysis is given to show the principle of phase analysis for the detection of nonlinear coupling. If the phase difference between two coherent modes is synchronized with the phase of a third mode, these three modes are nonlinearly coupled, vice versa. The time evolution of the phase of a coherent mode could be computed with Hilbert transform for experimental data, and a phase tracking flowchart is summarized. On HL-2A tokamak, the nonlinear coupling among two Alfvén modes (AMs) and a tearing mode (TM) has been confirmed with bicoherence analysis (Shi et al 2017 Phys. Plasmas 24 042509). With Hilbert transform, it is clearly observed that the phase difference between two AMs Δ θ 12 is synchronized with the phase of the TM θ TM . The synchronization is confirmed with normalized cross-correlation. An alternative to check this synchronization is to observe the histogram of the phase difference Δ θ 12 − θ TM .

Late Pleistocene witnessed significant changes in lithic technological behaviors, mobility patterns and subsistence strategies in northeastern Eurasia, which are also correlated with paleoclimatic and paleoenvironmental changes. Integrating artifact analysis and paleoenvironmental evidence, Taoshan, a newly excavated archaeological site, provides a crucial case study for evaluating human adaptation in Northeast China. Taoshan site was excavated in 2013–2014, uncovering three prehistoric layers and abundant remains. Here we present the results of a systematic techno-typological analysis of the Late Pleistocene assemblages of the site, and place special emphasis on diachronic cultural developments and underlying dynamics.