Quaternary Science Reviews最新文献

{"title":"Distinct response of Arabian sea upwelling and Indian summer monsoon rainfall on the millennial timescale","authors":"Tao Wang ,&nbsp;Qin Wen ,&nbsp;Jian Liu ,&nbsp;Liang Ning ,&nbsp;Mi Yan ,&nbsp;Weiyi Sun","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109198","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109198","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The upwelling-induced productivity in the Arabian Sea is often used to infer changes in the Indian summer monsoon (ISM). However, the evolution of ISM based on these productivity records is inconsistent with other moisture records during the last deglaciation (20-11ka), leading to uncertainty about ISM variations. Here, we use an isotope-enabled transient climate experiment (iTraCE) to investigate the reasons for this discrepancy, suggesting that the discrepancy arises from different driving processes between the ISM rainfall and Arabian Sea upwelling. The ISM rainfall decreases during Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1) and increases during Bølling-Allerød (BA), driven by moisture convergence. However, the Arabian Sea upwelling is more complex, with coastal and open sea upwelling responding differently to climatic changes. The coastal upwelling along the Oman coast intensifies from the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM) to BA primarily due to strengthening coastal winds driven by increased local land-sea thermal contrast. In contrast, open sea upwelling exhibits a more nuanced pattern. During HS1, it increases near the Oman coast but weakens offshore, while during BA warming, it weakens over a large part of the open sea region. These variations in open sea upwelling are attributed to changes in the meridional movement of monsoon low-level jet with a slight northward shift during HS1 and a significant shift during BA, affecting the extent of Ekman pumping contraction. Our research demonstrates that western Arabian Sea upwelling does not accurately reflect changes in ISM rainfall intensity during the last deglaciation due to these divergent driving processes. This study provides new insights into the upwelling-ISM rainfall relationship from a millennial-scale perspective, contributing to a more nuanced understanding of paleoclimatic changes in the region.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"352 ","pages":"Article 109198"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143096052","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Archaeological evidence for persistent occupation of marginal environments in southeastern Ethiopia during the Early Holocene","authors":"Yonatan Sahle ,&nbsp;Behailu Habte ,&nbsp;Hila Ashkenazy","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109209","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109209","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The sparseness of securely dated archaeological sequences sampling the earliest Holocene in the Horn of Africa obfuscates human adaptive responses to the period's predominantly wet conditions and intermittent arid episodes. New radiocarbon dates and archaeological material from Dibé rockshelter show that the poorly drained, semi-arid southeastern Ethiopian lowlands were persistently occupied from 11.2 to at least 10.2 cal ka BP. The absence of a hiatus or abrupt sedimentary changes suggests generally stable environmental conditions during the period represented. Artefact accumulation rate increased, and retouched tools and volumetric cores appeared in the sequence after 10.4 cal ka BP. Locally available cryptocrystalline silicates dominate the excavated as well as surface assemblages while exotic raw material and pigment use is limited to a single excavated layer, suggesting nuanced mobility and/or exchange networks after 10.4 cal ka BP. We infer that peak hydroclimatic conditions during the period facilitated human habitation of marginal environments, with flexible adaptive responses enabling persistent occupation away from the more stable and ecotonal hotspots in the broader region. The sensitivity of such environments to subsequent pronounced hydroclimate changes likely led to the site's abandonment ∼9.8 ka BP, as estimated based on an age-depth model. Our results reinforce previous inferences about the geographical and temporal variability of Holocene climate fluctuations and attendant adaptive responses.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"352 ","pages":"Article 109209"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143104807","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Loess facies analysis and chronology to reconstruct morpho-sedimentary and palaeoclimatic evolution: A case study from the Belgian-Dutch Maas valley","authors":"J. Vandenberghe ,&nbsp;D.A.G. Vandenberghe ,&nbsp;A.S. Huijzer ,&nbsp;J. De Grave","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109163","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109163","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Through sedimentary and micromorphologic analyses of four Late Pleniglacial loess sections in NE Belgium and the SE Netherlands we demonstrate that stratigraphic subdivision and correlation should not be based on facies. Three facies are identified which are not linked to specific lithostratigraphic units but are a function of local conditions and geomorphologic processes: a homogeneous aeolian facies, an eolian loess redeposited by afterflow, and a more inhomogeneous loess affected by overland flow.</div><div>Correlations between the aeolian periglacial depositional environments in the studied loess region and the neighbouring type region of coversand deposition are upgraded using both available and new sedimentological descriptions, detailed analyses of grain-size properties and OSL chronologies. Both regions show a general tendency from wet to dry climate with equivalent changes from energetic to moderate overland flow and finally wind deposition. Two main phases of continuous permafrost formation have been identified by the presence of ice-wedge casts, an older one before 25 ka and a younger one around 18–21 ka followed by permafrost degradation with presence of cryoturbation. The presence of residual frozen ground between these two phases is suggested. Continuous permafrost disappeared after 17 ka.</div><div>The new luminescence dates enable a better understanding of the regional evolution of processes and environmental conditions in the eastern and southern Netherlands at the end of the last glacial. They show that <em>in-situ</em> loess deposition was absent between c. 17 and 14.7 ka in the Maas valley of the southern Netherlands although <em>in-situ</em> coversand deposition was typical during this interval in the adjacent central and eastern type region of coversands, and that the characteristic tongued Nagelbeek palaeosol, an important lithostratigraphic marker in loess series, has an age of c. 24.5 ka.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"352 ","pages":"Article 109163"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143095619","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Palaeoecological characterization of the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition on the Mediterranean littoral area: Almenara-Casablanca (Castellón, eastern Spain)","authors":"Rafael Marquina-Blasco ,&nbsp;Christian Sánchez-Bandera ,&nbsp;Juan Manuel López-García ,&nbsp;Alberto Martínez-Ortí ,&nbsp;Paloma Sevilla ,&nbsp;Francisco Javier Ruiz-Sánchez ,&nbsp;Hugues-Alexandre Blain","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109154","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2024.109154","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Pliocene-Pleistocene transition in the Almenara region (eastern Spain) is investigated through the analysis of herpetofaunal assemblages from ACB-4 (latest Pliocene, MN16) and ACB-1 (earliest Pleistocene, MN17), serving as proxies for palaeoclimate and palaeoenvironmental reconstructions. Our study revealed the presence of new taxa not identified in previous studies in ACB-4 site (<em>Tarentola mauritanica</em> and Testudines indet.), thus enlarging previous faunal lists. Palaeoecological reconstructions indicate a shift from forest and scrubland dominance in the Late Pliocene to open habitats in the Early Pleistocene, potentially influenced by the onset of the double seasonality (hot and dry summers, with rainfall concentrated during the other seasons and low temperatures during winter) that characterized the Mediterranean climate then. Palaeoclimatic analyses suggest cooler and wetter conditions during this transition than currently, with higher Mean Annual Temperature (MAT) and Mean Annual Precipitation (MAP) during the earliest Pleistocene than in the latest Pliocene. Moreover, according to our results precipitations had a more seasonal character in ACB-1, which likely influenced the vegetation and habitat types in the region. The higher seasonality in ACB-1 may have played a significant role in the inferred ecological changes (shift from forest to open habitats), though other factors could also be involved.</div><div>These results have been contextualized in the regional palaeoclimatic evolution during the early Quaternary by comparing them with those provided by the palaeoherpetofaunal assemblage from ACB-3 site (Early Pleistocene), according to which open habitats became increasingly dominant and a slight increase in rainfall seasonality took place compared to ACB-1.</div><div>Overall, our findings contribute to a better understanding of the ecological and climatic dynamics that took place in the Pliocene-Pleistocene transition of the Almenara region, showing the importance of the integration of diverse proxies and methodological approaches for comprehensive reconstructions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"352 ","pages":"Article 109154"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143104810","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Mid-late Holocene meridional out-of-phase precipitation patterns in the margin of the East Asian monsoon region revealed by paleoclimate records and simulations","authors":"Fengyi Zhang ,&nbsp;Jun Cheng ,&nbsp;Weiwei Sun ,&nbsp;Xianqiang Meng ,&nbsp;Zhenyu Ni ,&nbsp;Yao Wang ,&nbsp;Enlou Zhang","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109211","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109211","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Holocene precipitation inferred by paleoclimate records in Northeast China (NEC), the northern margin of the East Asian monsoon region, exhibits different and sometimes opposite trends over a long-term period, especially from the mid-to late Holocene. The underlying mechanisms driving these precipitation changes remain poorly understood. Here we collect extensive paleoclimate records and compare them with the Transient Climate Evolution of the last 21,000 years (TraCE-21ka) simulation to better understand the variations in mean annual precipitation in NEC during the Holocene. The findings demonstrate strong alignment between the paleoclimate records and the simulation, highlighting consistent spatiotemporal patterns of mean annual precipitation. Both show an increase in mean annual precipitation from the early to mid-Holocene across the northern margin of the East Asian monsoon region. However, during the mid-to late Holocene, meridional out-of-phase patterns emerged, characterized by reduced mean annual precipitation in southern NEC but minimal changed or slightly increased mean annual precipitation in northern NEC. We attribute this meridional out-of-phase patterns of mean annual precipitation in NEC to the combined effects of diminished East Asian summer monsoon, strengthened westerlies, and the movement of the westerlies indicated by the simulated wind field.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"352 ","pages":"Article 109211"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143104812","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Climate change during the Holocene in South Asia: A review study of Pakistan","authors":"Syed Asim Hussain ,&nbsp;Liangcheng Tan ,&nbsp;Gayatri Kathayat ,&nbsp;Amjad Hussain ,&nbsp;David Widory","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109203","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109203","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The climatic challenges faced by Pakistan, such as heat waves, glacier melting, and increased frequency of catastrophic floods, underscore the urgency of addressing climate change. Understanding historical climatic patterns, especially during the Holocene epoch, is crucial. Various proxy archives in Pakistan offer valuable resources for accurately reconstructing paleoclimatic conditions. This paper compiles and reviews available paleoclimate records to comprehensively understand Holocene climate variations in Pakistan, focusing on the Indian Summer Monsoon (ISM) and Westerly variations. While some proxies like tree rings have been well-studied, others, such as ice cores, peat, lake sediments, and speleothems, remain largely unexplored. Our synthesis indicates heightened frequency and intensity of extreme weather events in the past century, centennial-scale variations showing a shift from persistent dry conditions to punctuated wet periods, and notable climatic anomalies like the Medieval Warm Period/Anomaly (MWM) and the Little Ice Age (LIA). Mid-to-late Holocene witnessed decreased precipitation, possibly contributing to the decline of ancient civilizations. Early Holocene was comparatively more humid, with glacier advancements around 8–9 kyr BP (cal). The review advocates for generating high-resolution data and revisiting multiple sites across diverse climatic zones to refine climatic reconstructions.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"352 ","pages":"Article 109203"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143095608","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Human consumption of carnivorans during Prehistory. The case of the Iberian Peninsula","authors":"Joel López-Parés ,&nbsp;Isabel Cáceres","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109205","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109205","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Zooarchaeological evidence of the consumption of carnivorans (order Carnivora) by Palaeolithic and Epipalaeolithic/Mesolithic humans on the Iberian Peninsula is scarce, but it is still significant enough to be studied as a phenomenon on its own. In this work, we conduct an updated and comprehensive review of the data on the human butchering and consumption of carnivorans in pre-Neolithic Prehistory on the Iberian Peninsula. Chronologically, the evidence spans from the time of <em>Homo antecessor</em> (950-800 Ka BP) to the Epipalaeolithic/Mesolithic-Neolithic transition (6-5 Ka BP) and includes a wide taxonomical variety of carnivorans: canids, mustelids, ursids, pinnipeds, felids and hyenids. We propose several alternative interpretations regarding why the hunter-gatherers of the Iberian Peninsula hunted and consumed these animals based on ethnographical data from recent human communities that still engage in these practices. Additionally, we explore the role that hunting and consuming carnivorans may have played in the hominin-carnivoran coevolution process. Our findings ultimately broaden the scope of the current understanding of the subsistence strategies of hunter-gatherers on the Iberian Peninsula and highlight the importance of carnivoran remains in archaeological contexts.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"352 ","pages":"Article 109205"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143104808","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Long-term hominin preference for the gallery forest edge: Insights from the Gona paleosols, Afar, Ethiopia","authors":"Gary E. Stinchcomb ,&nbsp;Michael J. Rogers ,&nbsp;Sileshi Semaw","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109207","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109207","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Gona Paleoanthropological Research Project area in the Afar Region of Ethiopia arguably contains one of the most complete records of archaeological sites anywhere in the world, from the earliest Oldowan dated to 2.6 Ma, to the Later Stone Age (LSA) dated to ca. 12-7 Ka. This makes Gona an ideal place to examine long-term trends in hominin-environment interaction. We revisited archaeological and hominin fossil sites at Gona and characterized the fossil soils using paleopedology and found evidence of paleo-Fluvisols, -Cambisols and -Vertisols. Greater than 70% of those archaeological sites spanning Oldowan to the Later Stone Age are found in buried paleosols with A-C and A-Bk-C paleosol profiles resembling modern-day Fluvisols or Fluvic Cambisols. Fluvisol morphology shows presence of bedding, incipient soil structure development and overprinting after burial. Stratigraphy and lithofacies show that these paleo-Fluvisols were proximal to the ancestral Awash River (Type I depositional system) or a distal fan channel (Type II depositional system). These data suggest that soil burial rates were rapid due to proximal flooding, where this would be a primary factor inhibiting soil development. This style of sedimentation and weathering resembles a narrow (5–10 m width) strip of land in a modern-day channel shelf and bar setting, separating the river from the adjacent gallery forest. A review of the literature shows that the frequent association of artifacts with paleo-Fluvisols may be prevalent throughout eastern Africa and indicates a long history of hominin reliance on a riverine ecosystem edge, proximal stream water and gallery forest resources within broader river valleys. The few older archaeological sites (e.g., Oldowan and Acheulian) found in/on more well-developed paleosols at Gona are an exception to this rule. These latter sites may hint at different land-use patterns and thus differing trajectories of hominin-environmental interactions. Because most paleosol studies at Gona and elsewhere in eastern Africa use paleo-Vertisols or other more well-developed calcareous soils to reconstruct paleoenvironment, there is a potential spatial and temporal decoupling between those well-studied paleosols and the more weakly-developed ones where archaeology is found.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"352 ","pages":"Article 109207"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143135571","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Pre-industrial Common Era temperature fluctuations in South China inferred based upon bacterial tetraether lipids from Lake Poyang","authors":"Rui Miao ,&nbsp;Hong Yang ,&nbsp;Qin Leng ,&nbsp;Yuwei Chen ,&nbsp;Shangbin Xiao ,&nbsp;Xiaoke Qiang ,&nbsp;Xiangzhong Li ,&nbsp;Yuan Yao ,&nbsp;Zenghao Zhao ,&nbsp;Hongxuan Lu ,&nbsp;Zhonghui Liu ,&nbsp;Huanye Wang ,&nbsp;Weiguo Liu","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109206","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109206","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Quantifying past temperature changes during the Common Era (the past 2000 years) is essential for assessing the rates, magnitudes, and consequences of different climate forcings on current warming and projecting future climate change. At present, however, the quantitative evaluation of temperature changes at multi-centennial-to-millennial timescales remains not well understood. In this study, we provide a high-quality mean annual temperature record for the past 2000 years based on branched glycerol dialkyl glycerol tetraethers (brGDGTs) in a well-dated sediment core retrieved from Lake Poyang in the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. Our results show an overall pre-industrial cooling trend in the Poyang Lake region, with clear temperature changes associated with the Medieval Warm Period (MWP) and Little Ice Age (LIA), consistent with local, regional, and global records. The centennial to millennial temperature fluctuations, particularly the pronounced cooling at approximately 1500 CE, generally agrees with changes in total solar irradiance, supporting the importance of solar activity in affecting pre-industrial temperature changes. Further comparisons with other biomarker-based quantitative temperature reconstructions revealed that the temperature offset between the MWP and LIA increased with latitude and elevation, suggesting that centennial-scale temperature fluctuations were amplified at higher elevations and latitudes during the past two millennia.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"352 ","pages":"Article 109206"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143095607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}

{"title":"Chronological and palaeoecological insights into the Dayakou fauna in Yanjinggou, Chongqing, China: Responses of large mammals to the Early-Middle Pleistocene Climate Transition","authors":"Haiqian Hu ,&nbsp;Haowen Tong ,&nbsp;Fei Han ,&nbsp;Hui Dai ,&nbsp;Wanbo Huang ,&nbsp;Qigao Jiangzuo ,&nbsp;Paul Rummy ,&nbsp;Xunqian Wang ,&nbsp;Yu Lin ,&nbsp;Guangbiao Wei","doi":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109199","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.quascirev.2025.109199","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The Yanjinggou fauna has long been recognized as the quintessential Middle Pleistocene fauna in South China. However, the recent discovery of the Dayakou fauna in the same region has unveiled a fossil assemblage indicative of the Early Pleistocene. Our new excavations at the Dayakou pit have yielded a substantial increase in fossil materials, which not only enriched the composition of the local fauna but also play a pivotal role in reconsidering the geochronology of the faunal complex in Yanjinggou area. The newly recovered fossil remains from the Dayakou pit comprise at least ten mammal taxa, including carnivorans (<em>Homotherium</em> sp., <em>Neofelis nebulosa</em>, <em>Panthera tigris</em> and <em>Ailuropoda melanoleuca wulingshanensis</em>), proboscidean (<em>Stegodon huananensis</em>), perissodactyls (<em>Hesperotherium sinense</em>, <em>Tapirus sinensis</em> and <em>Rhinoceros</em> cf. <em>sinensis</em>), and artiodactyls (Cervini gen. et sp. indet. and <em>Leptobos</em> sp.). thereinto, <em>A. m. wulingshanensis</em>, <em>T. sinensis</em> and <em>Leptobos</em> sp. represent the first discoveries of their kinds in the Yanjinggou area. The faunal combination, along with the combined ESR and U-series dating of the <em>Stegodon</em> tooth, resulting in an age estimate of 1010 ± 115 ka, suggests that the geologic age of the mammalian assemblage of the Dayakou pit corresponds to transition phase from the middle to late Early Pleistocene. Our study challenges preconceived notions and provides a more sophisticated understanding of the temporal framework for the Yanjinggou faunal complex, offering new insights into the Pleistocene mammalian faunas of South China. Furthermore, the Dayakou fauna is proposed to mark the onset of Early-Middle Pleistocene Transition mammalian faunas in South China, reflecting an ecosystem of mountainous subtropical forest mixed with arbor and shrub vegetation. The Dayakou locality witnesses the first appearances of modern clouded leopards and tigers in Asia, prompting the origin and early dispersal considerations of these two species.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":20926,"journal":{"name":"Quaternary Science Reviews","volume":"352 ","pages":"Article 109199"},"PeriodicalIF":3.2,"publicationDate":"2025-01-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143104809","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"地球科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}