Climatic Cycles Investigated by Sediment Analysis in Peking Man's Cave, Zhoukoudian, China

ISSN： 0305-4403

Source： Journal of Archaeological Science, Vol.27, Iss.2, 2000-02, pp. : 101-109

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Abstract

The cave sediments at Locality 1 in Zhoukoudian, which are more than 40 m thick, have been divided into 17 layers. According to recent dating by thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS), the age of the sediments has been increased by about 200 ka. On the basis of cluster and factor analyses of mammal fossils and sporopollen in the cave sediments and of the vicarious paleoclimatic indexes, such as the weathering index and content of trace elements, the paleoclimatic cycles recorded by the cave sediments have been quantitatively established. Based on the age of Layer 2 (410 ka bpby TIMS) and the occurrence of the Brunhes/Matuyana palaeomagnetic boundary in the upper part of Layer 14, Layers 1–14 of the cave sediments may be recorrelated with Stages 11–19 of the δ¹⁸O curve of deep-sea cores or S₄–S₇of the loess sequences in China. The secondary climatic variations in each paleoclimatic cycle may be correlated to one another to some extent. According to deep-sea core chronology the Upper Culture Layer (Layer 4), the Lower Culture Layer (Layer 8–9) and the Bottom Culture Layer (Layer 10) were formed between about 470 and 670 ka bpand Peking Man should be at least 400 ka old.