Nihewan setlagadældin í Kína: Umhverfi og loftslag við búsetu einhverra fyrstu landnema af mannætt utan Afríku - verkefni lokið
Fréttatilkynning verkefnisstjóra
Setlög og fornleifar í Nihewan lægðinni í Kína spanna tímabilið frá fyrri hluta fram á síðari hluta Pleistósen. Í þeim hafa fundist ýmsir gripir sem benda til endurtekinnar viðveru frummanna á svæðinu.
Fyrri rannsóknir á setlögunum og dýraleifum risafánunnar á Pleistósen gáfu til kynna að setlögin hafi aðallega hlaðist upp í straumvatna- og stöðuvatnaumhverfi á víðáttumiklum gresjum. Okkar rannsóknir á mörgum mismunandi setlagasyrpum í Nihewan lægðinni sýna að setlögin mynduðust einkum í votlendisumhverfi, þar sem þéttur gróður og vatn drógu að sér dýr, sem aftur voru bráð fyrir frummenn. Votlendisaðstæður ríktu í lægðinni í nokkur hundruð þúsund ár án teljandi umhverfisbreytinga.
English:
Early to Late Pleistocene archaeological excavation sites and exposed sedimentary sequences in the Nihewan Basin partly contain artefacts as evidence of repeated visits of hominins in the region. Earlier studies of sedimentary sections and of remains of the Pleistocene mega-fauna led to the conclusion that sediments mainly accumulated in a fluvio-lacustrine depositional setting of an
open grassland, steppe environment. Thus, earlier inferences pointed to the predominance of either a river or rivers, or a large lake in the basin. Our study of a number of different sedimentary sequences revealed that the thick sedimentary sequences were typically formed in a wetland environment which attracted animals (dense vegetation, water) and which provided rich resources (water, prey) and shelter for early hominins in the region. Wetland conditions prevailed in the Nihewan Basin over long periods of several hundred thousand years without significant environmental fluctuations as a result of global climate change and local tectonics.
Information on how the results will be applied:
There are no commercial applications based on the conducted research.
A list of the project’s outputs:
1) One published paper by main cooperation partner Hailong Zhao as first author,
2) One conference proceedings publication by PhD student Ahmed Hamdi,
3) In total, nine conference contributions by two PhD and one MS students,
4) One completed MS thesis of Elísabet Ásta Eyþórsdóttir,
5) One manuscript completed and submitted for publication in Frontiers in Earth Sciences,
currently in review,
6) One completed manuscript draft by PhD student Catherine Langford, currently under revision.
See the more detailed description of the listed paper, conference contributions, thesis and
manuscripts above.
Heiti verkefnis: Nihewan
setlagadældin í Kína: Umhverfi og loftslag við búsetu einhverra fyrstu landnema
af mannætt utan Afríku/Environment and climate of early
hominins outside of Africa: The Nihewan Basin (NE China)
Verkefnisstjóri: Steffen Mischke,
Háskóla Íslands
Tegund styrks: Verkefnisstyrkur
Styrktímabil: 2018-2020
Fjárhæð styrks kr. 8.498.000
Tilvísunarnúmer Rannís: 185360
