Qingfeng Shao

Nanjing Normal University · College of Geographical Science

The Pongo fossil record of China extends from the Early Pleistocene to the Late Pleistocene, but to date, no late Middle Pleistocene samples of Pongo with precise absolute dating have been identified in southern China. Here, we report the recovery of 106 fossil teeth of Pongo from Ganxian Cave in the Bubing Basin, Guangxi, southern China. We dated...

Yanlidong is a cave site in southern China where a diversity of vertebrate palaeontological fossils were recently discovered. Our previous study showed that the Yanlidong sediments can be divided into an early stage and a late stage. Here, we report our analysis of the mammal fossils from the deposits of the Early Stage in Yanlidong (DES-YLD). The...

Des analyses par uranium-thorium (U-Th-TIMS), par résonance de spin électronique combinée à l’U-Th (ESR/U-Th) et par luminescence stimulée optiquement (OSL) ont été réalisées sur des échantillons provenant de la formation de Waziers, en France septentrionale. Ces trois méthodes ont été respectivement appliquées sur un échantillon de gyrogonite prov...

The giant panda, currently restricted to a small region of central China, was once widely dispersed throughout southern China and even some parts of continental Southeast Asia during the Pleistocene epoch. However, the evolutionary process and intraspecific variation remain poorly understood in light of limited fossil records, which are usually iso...

This report describes fossils recovered from Ganxian Cave in 2008 and 2018 by the Natural History Museum and Anthropology Museum of Guangxi. The cave sedimentary fill yielded rich mammalian fossils consisting mainly of isolated teeth of medium- to large-sized mammals (Primates, Proboscidea, Perissodactyla, Carnivora, Rodentia, Artiodactyla) of typi...

The Asian hydroclimate variability during the early and middle Marine Isotope Stage (MIS) 3 was reconstructed from a high-resolution stalagmite δ18O record from Qixing Cave in southern China, which exhibited an extraordinarily strong precessional cycle. When compared with other cave records (mostly) from East Asia, covering a latitudinal transect f...

This paper reports the discovery of a new mammalian assemblage at Mocun cave in 2000 by the Natural History Museum of Guangxi. The Mocun site is located in a residual karst peak in southwest Guangxi, south China. Abundant mammalian fossil teeth and bones were extracted from relatively thick deposits, well constrained stratigraphically. The results...

The rainfall changes in East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) regions on the orbital timescale remain controversial due to the lack of reliable rainfall records. Here, we present new multiproxy records (δ18O, δ13C, Sr/Ca and Mg/Ca) of a 230Th-dated stalagmite from Hulu Cave in central eastern China. Multiproxy records reconstruct a regional hydroclimate...

The Galería de las Estatuas is a Mousterian site located within the Cueva Mayor-Cueva del Silo karstic system at the Sierra de Atapuerca (Burgos, Spain). This site is characterised by an important Upper Pleistocene stratigraphic sequence in which a large number of lithic artefacts exhibiting clear Mousterian affinities and a rich assemblage of faun...

The Three Gorges region (TGR) located in the geographic center of China, is a transition zone between mountain and plain areas, and a probable migration corridor for hominins and other mammals between South and North China. Detailed chronological information of paleoanthropological evidence in this area could help us better understand the human evo...

Meteorological observations indicate that both natural and anthropogenic forcing contribute to regional drought/flood in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) domain. However, spatiotemporal rainfall pattern and its dynamics during natural climatic variability remains unclear. Here we reconstruct a ∼3 year-resolution EASM precipitation record over t...

The skeletons of aragonitic corals carry essential information about oceanic environmental changes in the past. However, coral-based geochemical proxies are sensitive to vital effect and post-depositional diagenetic processes, which have not been well understood for deep-sea corals. In this study, we have investigated the mineralization and early d...

Climate reconstructions over the last millennium are essential to estimate natural and anthropogenic forcing. Here we present a stalagmite δ¹⁸O record from southwestern China, which characterizes changes in the Asian Summer Monsoon (ASM) precipitation over the past 1350 years. Wet climate is clearly identified during the Dark Age Cold Period (DACP)...

A multi-proxy (δ¹⁸O, δ¹³C and trace elements) analysis of an absolutely-dated stalagmite in northern China is conducted to reconstruct the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) intensity and local hydroclimate conditions during the period of 53.8–47.4 ka (BP, before 1950 CE). Our δ¹⁸O and δ¹³C records, with 24-yr resolution, clearly register the Dansgaa...

A continuous high-resolution record from a precisely-dated stalagmite spanning the last precessional cycle provides new insight into the dynamics of climate change from orbital to centennial scales. A 600-mm length stalagmite (LS46) collected from the Luoshui Cave, Hubei Province, Central China, was well-dated (a total of 24 ²³⁰Th dates) and high-r...

Palaeolithic sites associated with the Eemian Interglacial (MIS 5e) are very rare in NW Europe, and especially in Northern France, where their preservation is restricted to very specific geological contexts, in association with carbonated tufa (Caours) or peat deposits (Waziers). In order to check the reliability of ESR/U-series method to date teet...

Yumidong (Corn Cave) is a newly discovered Paleolithic site in the Three Gorges region of central China. Numerous Paleolithic artifacts have been excavated from the sedimentary deposits of the cave in association with faunal remains attributed to the Middle-Late Pleistocene Ailuropoda-Stegodon fauna of southern China. To establish the chronology of...

Painted rock art figures from the Boqueirão da Pedra Furada and Toca do Paraguaio shelters (Serra da Capivara, Piauí, Brazil) have been recently analysed using various recognised scientific techniques. After the geochemical results, the samples that revealed carbonate were used for the dating process. Uranium-series disequilibrium dating (U/Th) met...

North African coastal Middle Stone Age (MSA) sites are key to study the development and expansion of early H. sapiens. El Mnasra cave on the Atlantic coast of Morocco (Té mara region) is a crucial site associated with MSA archaeological materials considered advanced cognitive hallmarks of behavioural innovation, such as numerous Nassar-iidae perfor...

High-precision measurements of 238U/235U and 234U/238U atomic ratios are essential for U-Pb and 230Th/U dating, as well as for a wide range of Earth and environmental studies. The 238U/235U ratio of a natural material has been considered to be a constant of 137.88 since the 1970s. However, recent advances in analytical techniques, such as TIMS (The...

Paleolithic rock paintings are known from many parts of the world, including Africa, Australia, Europe and Island Southeast Asia. However, no Paleolithic rock paintings have yet been confirmed in the East Asia mainland, partly due to the lack of suitable dating materials. The rock paintings distributed at more than 70 sites in the Jinsha River vall...

An anti-phased relationship between Greenland Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) and Antarctic temperature was revealed by ice core records, and the "bipolar see-saw" mechanism has since been proposed in explanation for the interhemispheric thermal redistribution. However, limited by chronology uncertainties of ice cores, particularly the ice age-gas age diff...

Here, high-resolution paleoclimatic records from 55.2 to 36.5 ka BP were reconstructed using 21 230Th/U dates and 647 sets of δ18O and δ13C data by one stalagmite HJ1 from Huangjin Cave, Hebei Province, northern China.

East Asian-Pacific pattern ENSO Meteorological observations reveal an inverse relationship of summer monsoon rainfall between the tropical western North Pacific (WNP) and middle Yangtze River Valley (mid-YRV) on interannual and intraseasonal timescales. This seesaw-like pattern, named the East Asian-Pacific (EAP) pattern, is one of the major teleco...

The age when the giant panda (Ailuropoda melanoleuca) transitioned to a bamboo dominant diet has not been well established due to the lack of fossil evidence. In particular, a radial sesamoid bone, which acts as a ‘pseudo-thumb’, has been used as evidence of giant pandas’ adaptive evolution to bamboo specialised consumption, but no relevant fossil...

High-resolution stalagmite δ¹⁸O records, representing Asian summer monsoon (ASM) intensity, were reconstructed from Wulu and Xiao caves, southwestern China, over Chinese Interstadials (CIS) 25 and 22. A most prominent feature of these stalagmite records is a persistent ASM strengthening throughout the entire event, different from a gradual cooling...

El Niño/Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is Earth's dominant interannual climate variability mode, but knowledge about its relationship with the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) during the medieval warm period (MWP) is limited, hampering predictions of ASM changes. Here, we present a high-resolution and annually layered stalagmite δ¹⁸O record covering most of...

As one of the most complete archaic human fossils, the Harbin cranium provides critical evidence for studying the diversification of the Homo genus and the origin of Homo sapiens. However, the unsystematic recovery of this cranium and a long and confused history since the discovery impede its accurate dating. Here, we carried out a series of geoche...

The ancient rock paintings drawn with ochre on the limestone cliffs at 15 sites in Cangyuan County, in southwestern China, contain more than 1200 identifiable figures. The paintings portray scenes of daily life in a remote mountainous area. The inhabitants probably led a sedentary life of animal herding and cultivation and in the scenes they are en...

The rarity and poor preservation of hominin fossils from the East Asian Early Pleistocene hamper our understanding of their taxonomy and possible phylogenetic relationship with other members of the genus Homo. In the 1970s, four isolated hominin teeth were recovered from the Meipu site, southern China, which biostratigraphic analysis placed in the...

Recently, rich fossiliferous deposits dated to the late Cenozoic have been discovered from Jinyuan Cave at Luotuo Hill, an extremely large-sized cave site situated within in the Dalian Puwan Economic Zone of Dalian Municipality, Liaoning Province in Northeast China. Abundant and diverse vertebrate fossils unearthed from different fossiliferous laye...

The stratigraphic sequences of numerous Palaeolithic sites of Central and Southern Italy, very rich in both archaeological and palaeontological remains, have also recorded Pleistocene volcanic events through volcanic ash deposits (tephra). They allow the establishment of an accurate chronological framework by comparing results obtained by ⁴⁰Ar/³⁹Ar...

A high resolution stalagmite record over the early portion of the last deglaciation

The isotopic records of two ²³⁰Th-dated stalagmites from Longfugong Cave, Mt. Shennongjia, central China, reveal a highly resolved Asian summer monsoon (ASM) history from 29.5 to 14.5 ka BP. The two δ¹⁸O records are consistent with other Chinese cave δ¹⁸O records, suggesting that our new records are of regional significance. Due to the reservoir mi...

Stalagmite oxygen isotope (d 18 O) records have enhanced our understanding of the history of the East Asian monsoon. However, abrupt changes in the monsoon are not constrained well enough to address certain issues and there are still unknowns in the interpretation of cave d 18 O records. Here we present a new high-resolution stalagmite record from...

Chronological sequences of Quaternary terrestrial mammalian faunas can provide important information about the evolutionary history of mammals, regional biostratigraphy and paleoenvironmental changes. Here we report the results of studies of a thick, nearly-continuous sedimentary sequence from Jinyuan Cave, in Liaoning Province, northeast China; th...

The spotted hyena (Crocuta crocuta) is the only extant species of the genus Crocuta, which once occupied a much wider range during the Pliocene and Pleistocene. However, its origin and evolutionary history is somewhat contentious due to discordances between morphological, nuclear, and mitochondrial data. Due to the limited molecular data from east...

千年尺度事件的结构特征和区域响应是理解和认识冰期气候变化及动力机制的关键。本文基于陕西汉中宁强县地洞河一支长417 mm石笋DDH1的11个U-Th年代和417个氧同位素（δ18O）数据，重建了末次冰期（64.8~33.2 ka B.P.）亚洲季风演化历史。石笋δ18O记录在64.7±0.2 ka B.P.和59.3±0.1 ka B.P.快速负偏，分别指示了DO18事件的开始和H6事件的结束。在DO18事件结束过程，石笋δ18O记录在64.0~60.4 ka B.P.持续正偏，振幅达2.9 ‰，反应季风逐渐减弱，但未出现明显转型阶段。其总体形态与大西洋Cariaco盆地岩芯反射率、南极冰芯的记录较为一致，但是不同于格陵兰冰芯的记录。因地洞河所处青藏高原、秦岭叠加影响的区域，纬度和地形的双重...

高精度定年的石笋记录有助于校正冰芯时标和理解千年尺度事件的驱动机制。基于湖北永兴洞YX288石笋5个高精度230Th年龄和264组氧同位素数据，重建了MIS4早期东亚季风水文循环演化过程。结合同一洞穴YX46记录，发现两条记录在重叠时段的波动特征高度一致，清晰地记录了持续时间较长的DO19.1事件和持续极短的DO19.2事件。石笋记录显示DO19.2和DO19.1事件的开始时间分别为约72.06 ka和69.40 ka，结束时间依次为约69.85 ka和69.03 ka，在误差范围内与格陵兰NGRIP冰芯AICC2012时标一致。这两个事件的持续时间依次约为2200 a和360 a。在DO19.2事件期间，石笋记录的东亚季风较为稳定，显著不同于格陵兰冰芯记录的温度持续下降的特征。这一季风稳定...

The teleconnection between Asian monsoon and climate change of the northern and southern high latitudes during the last glacial has been widely recorded in the geological archives. However, how the processes of high latitudes affects millennial-scale events of Asian monsoon is an open question. This paper is based on an 830-mm stalagmite from Luosh...

A 67-yr-resolution δ¹⁸O profile of a²³⁰Th-dated stalagmite from Luoshui Cave, central China, is presented to refine the Asian summer monsoon (ASM) history from 336 to 290 kyr BP. The sub-stages of Marine Isotope Stage 9 (MIS 9) are clearly reflected in the Luoshui δ¹⁸O record, in line with changes in the Northern Hemisphere summer insolation (NHSI)...

To date, in Africa, evidence for animal processing and consumption in caves routinely used as living spaces is only documented in the late Middle Pleistocene of the North and South of the continent and postdates the Middle Pleistocene in East Africa. Here we report the earliest evidence in a North-African cave (Grotte des Rhinocéros at Casablanca,...

Variations of precipitation, also called the Meiyu rain, in the East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) domain during the last millennium could help enlighten the hydrological response to future global warming. Here we present a precisely dated and highly resolved stalagmite δ18O record from the Yongxing Cave, central China. Our new record, combined with...

Observations and models suggest a latitudinal redistribution of precipitation as a result of ongoing global climatic warming. However, the dynamic link between temperature and regional precipitation in the course of natural climatic variability during the current interglacial period remains unclear, especially in the monsoon regions of China. Here...

A large number of hominin fossil-bearing caves in South China have yielded evidence for the occupation of early modern humans during the Middle to Late Pleistocene. However, the geology of these caves and the paleoenvironmental context of human occupation remain poorly documented and understood. In this study, we obtained new ages yielded by MC-ICP...

Data supplement of article: East Asian summer monsoon climates and cave hydrological cycles over Dansgaard-Oeschger events 14 to 11 revealed by a new stalagmite record from Hulu Cave

Variations of East Asian summer monsoon (EASM) during the last millennium could help enlighten the monsoonal response to future global warming. Here we present a precisely dated and highly resolved stalagmite δ¹⁸O record from the Yongxing Cave, central China. Our new record, combined with a previously published one from the same cave, indicates tha...

A ²³⁰ Th/U-dated stalagmite from Hulu Cave was analyzed for δ ¹⁸ O, δ ¹³ C, and trace elements. A ~10-yr-resolution δ ¹⁸ O record, spanning 51.7–42.6 ka, revealed Dansgaard-Oeschger (DO) events 14 to 11. A similar rapid transition and synchronous timing of the onset of DO 12 is evident between the Greenland and Hulu Cave records, which suggests a c...

In this work, three important Pleistocene sites of the Madrid basin located close to the junction of the Manzanares (PRERESA site) and the Jarama (Valdocarros site and Maresa quarry) rivers have been studied in order to improve the existing chronological framework of the basin and to clarify the geological evolution of these fluvial systems and the...

Tourville-la-Rivière (Normandy, France) is one of the rare Middle Pleistocene palaeoanthropological localities of Northern France. Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) and combined ESR/U-series dating methods were independently applied by different teams on sediments and teeth from this site. The present work provides an overview of this multi-laboratory...

The study of geomagnetic excursions is key for understanding the behavior of the magnetic field of the Earth. In this paper, we present the geomagnetic record in a 2.29-m-long continuous core sampled in a flowstone in Liguria (Italy) and dated to the Lower Brunhes. The cored flowstone developed from Marine Isotopic Stage (MIS) 13 to MIS 7, accordin...

Multiple-collector inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric (MC-ICPMS) techniques, with high-precision and high-throughput capabilities, have been applied to ²³⁰Th/U geochronology since the late 1990s. Significant effort has been dedicated to refining such techniques, but few studies have emphasized the development of data processing schemes....

The two mainstream deformation models of the Tibet plateau are continental escape model and crustal thickening model, the former suggests that the NW-trending Karakoram Fault, Gyaring Co Fault, Beng Co Fault and the Jiali Fault as the Karakoram-Jiali fault zone is the southern border belt and that the dextral strike-slip rate is estimated as up to...

transitions at the onset, suggesting that the observed millennial-scale AM variability is likely forced by northern high-Termination II is analogous to the Bølling-Allerød warming interval. A precisely 230Th-dated stalagmite δ13C profile from Hulu Cave, China, is presented to characterize the frequency and pattern of millennial-scale Asian monsoon...

A precisely ²³⁰ Th-dated stalagmite δ ¹³ C profile from Hulu Cave, China, is presented to characterize the frequency and pattern of millennial-scale Asian monsoon (AM) variability from 160.6 to 132.5 ka. Evidence for an antiphased relationship of the δ ¹³ C and δ ¹⁸ O on the millennial scale suggests that the δ ¹³ C is indicative of the local hydro...

The present study reports the results of the first direct Electron Spin Resonance (ESR) dating study of Homo antecessor, the oldest known hominin species identified in Western Europe. The analysis of a tooth (ATD6-92) from TD6 unit of Atapuerca Gran Dolina (Spain) following a “semi non-destructive” procedure provides a final age estimate ranging fr...

Recent archeological discoveries in North Africa brought this area back at the heart of the debate on the origin of the Middle Stone Age (MSA) and Later Stone Age (LSA) human settlements. This study focuses on the chronology of the MSA/LSA Transition in the Temara region (Atlantic coast, Northwestern Africa). This cultural transition is characteriz...

Over 60 years ago, stone tools and remains of megafauna were discovered on the Southeast Asian islands of Flores, Sulawesi and Luzon, and a Middle Pleistocene colonization by Homo erectus was initially proposed to have occurred on these islands. However, until the discovery of Homo floresiensis in 2003, claims of the presence of archaic hominins on...