Palaeohistory of the spruce in Switzerland

Pollen and carbon dating suggest that the Post-Glacial spread of the spruce (Picea) in Switzerland has been influenced by human activity. This is different from the situation in the eastern Alps.     

Direct dating of Early Upper Palaeolithic human remains from Mladec

The human fossil assemblage from the Mladec Caves in Moravia (Czech Republic) has been considered to derive from a middle or later phase of the Central European Aurignacian period on the basis of archaeological remains (a few stone artefacts and organic items such as bone points, awls, perforated teeth), despite questions of association between the human fossils and the archaeological materials and concerning the chronological implications of the limited archaeological remains. The morphological variability in the human assemblage, the presence of apparently archaic features in some specimens, and the assumed early date of the remains have made this fossil assemblage pivotal in assessments of modern human emergence within Europe. We present here the first successful direct accelerator mass spectrometry radiocarbon dating of five representative human fossils from the site. We selected sample materials from teeth and from one bone for 14C dating. The four tooth samples yielded uncalibrated ages of approximately 31,000 14C years before present, and the bone sample (an ulna) provided an uncertain more-recent age. These data are sufficient to confirm that the Mladec human assemblage is the oldest cranial, dental and postcranial assemblage of early modern humans in Europe and is therefore central to discussions of modern human emergence in the northwestern Old World and the fate of the Neanderthals.     

U-series dating of Zhangkou Cave in Yiliang,Yunnan Province:Evidence for human activities in China during 40—100 ka

The cultural deposits at pits T1 and T2 in Zhangkou Cave are intercalated with several flowstone layers. U-series dates show that the capping and 2rid flowstone layers are Holocene of age. The 4th and 5th flowstone layers are ca. 55 and 110 ka old respectively. The lithic artifacts bracketed by them provide unequivocal evidence for hominid presence during this time interval. The ““temporal gap““ of hominid fossil, widely quoted as in support of the out-of-Africa hypothesis, is most probably an artifact due to systematic errors of dating techniques. The infillings under 6th flowstone layer date to ＞300 ka, much older than the previous estimate at 15 ka based on classical 14C dating of fossil bones, providing one more example of the limited reliability of this chronometer. With rich relics and favorable conditions for precise dating, this site is promising for further multidisciplinary studies to address issues concerning recent human evolution in China.     

Late Pleistocene human skull from Jingchuan,Gansu Province

Jingchuan human fossil, found in Gansu Province in 1976, was given a preliminary report in 1984, but questions remained con- cerning the age and character of the fossil. We conducted field investigation at Jingchuan in May of 2006 to examine the stratum yielding the human fossil and to obtain sediment samples for optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating. Three samples collected from different stratigraphic levels at the fossil locality yielded OSL dates of 15, 48 and 7.9 thousand years ago (ka), respe...     

U-series dating of Zhangkou Cave in Yiliang, Yunnan Province: Evidence for human activities in China during 40–100 ka

The cultural deposits at pits T1 and T2 in Zhangkou Cave are intercalated with several flowstone layers. U-series dates show that the capping and 2nd flowstone layers are Holocene of age. The 4th and 5th flowstone layers are ca. 55 and 110 ka old respectively. The lithic artifacts bracketed by them provide unequivocal evidence for hominid presence during this time interval. The ┐temporal gap” of hominid fossil, widely quoted as in support of the out-of-Africa hypothesis, is most probably an artifact due to systematic errors of dating techniques. The infillings under 6th flowstone layer date to > 300 ka, much older than the previous estimate at 15 ka based on classical¹⁴C dating of fossil bones, providing one more example of the limited reliability of this chronometer. With rich relics and favorable conditions for precise dating, this site is promising for further multidisciplinary studies to address issues concerning recent human evolution in China.     

固体金属同位素在油气运移研究中的应用

:固体地球化学中常用的Pb Pb和Rb Sr同位素方法被用于测定石油生成、运移的年龄。对准噶尔盆地乌尔禾沥青脉、塔里木盆地志留系固体沥青的Pb Pb和Rb Sr同位素年龄测定表明 ,油气生成、运移均与重大地质事件有关 ,这种方法可以用来测定石油生成、运移的年龄 ,从而解决了石油生成机制、运移动力等研究难题。说明用固体金属同位素定年方法可以解决石油地质的重大问题     

海洋沉积物同位素年代测定技术发展现状分析

海底沉积物很好地记录了地质历史,根据“将今论古”原则对其进行研究,对了解海洋的形成和演变具有关键意义。本文叙述了国内外海洋沉积物同位素年代学的研究进展,分析了当前常用几种定年技术如14C法、230Th法、231Pa/220Th法等的适用性和局限性,讨论了海洋沉积物同位素定年过程中存在的一些问题,指出准确定年的注意事项。     

120-150 ka human tooth and ivory engravings from Xinglongdong Cave, Three Gorges Region, South China

Rich paleoanthropological materials were unearthed in primary context from the Xinglongdong Cave in Fengjie County, Chongqing, South China, including a human tooth, numerous mammalian fossils, some stone artifacts and a Stegodon tusk exhibiting intentional engravings.Based on biostratigraphic data and uranium series dating,the cave was utilized as a human shelter about 120000-150000 years ago. It is the first time that an archaic Homo sapiens fossil has been unearthed from the Three Gorges Region. Engravings on the Stegodon tusk appear in groups,making up simple and abstract images. It is the earliest known engravings created by human beings; it exhibits great potential for the study of the origin of art and the development of ancient cultures in south China and bears important implications for the origin of modern humans in East Asia.     

释光测年的研究简史及研究现状

针对释光现象的研究，及其在地质和考古年代测定中的应用，将释光测年的研究历史划分为3个阶段：20世纪50年代末以前，释光测年研究的萌芽阶段；60年代至80年代中期，热释光测年的研究及发展阶段；80年代中期至今，光释光测年的研究及发展阶段。最后，对释光测年的研究现状进行了简单的总结，认为对释光现象产生机制的许多细节还有待深入研究，对于非线性释光生长曲线的校正及提高测年的精度，仍是测量等效剂量(De)时研究的主要问题。     

Comparison of SHRIMP U-Pb dating of monazite and zircon

Monazite dating is an important technique in geochronological studies. However, monazite U-Pb dating by SHRIMP is much less popular than zircon in geochronological applications. This paper compares the results of SHRIMP U-Pb dating of monazites and zircons separated from two granite samples, indicating that monazite SHRIMP U-Pb dating at the Beijing SHRIMP Centre is feasible and provides identical results within error.     

Origin and evolution of the genus Homo.

It is remarkable that the taxonomy and phylogenetic relationships of the earliest known representatives of our own genus, Homo, remain obscure. Advances in techniques for absolute dating and reassessments of the fossils themselves have rendered untenable a simple unilineal model of human evolution, in which Homo habilis succeeded the australopithecines and then evolved via H. erectus into H. sapiens-but no clear alternative consensus has yet emerged.     

基于年代数据的青藏高原东北部全新世风沙活动研究

本文对青藏高原东北部全新世风成沉积剖面的年代数据应用概率密度方法结合年代数据分布情况重建了该区全新世风沙活动历史.结果表明:青藏高原东北部早全新世风沙活动强烈,但也存在不同尺度的空间差异,表现在共和盆地、柴达木盆地及青海湖盆地风成砂都广泛发育,但青海湖盆地同期还有古土壤发育,冬给措纳湖流域在这一时期也有少量的风成砂层出现;中全新世古土壤广泛发育,风沙活动较弱,整个东北部具有较好的一致性;晚全新世以来,柴达木盆地和冬给措纳湖流域风成砂发育较好,而共和盆地古土壤广泛发育,同时青海湖盆地风成砂和古土壤均有出现,说明风沙活动强度的区域差异较大,这可能是由于局部地区受到了人为活动强烈干扰的影响.风沙活动强度与区域有效湿度密切相关,区域有效湿度较高时,风沙活动较弱;反之,风沙活动较强.另外,大面积湖泊的存在使得青海湖盆地和冬给措纳湖流域全新世风沙活动的特点与柴达木盆地和共和盆地不尽相同,湖泊水位与湖泊增湿降温效应的相互关系以及物源供给特点可能是造成这一现象的原因.年代数据的概率密度方法相对于频率统计直方图具有一定的优势,充分利用了单个年代数据符合正态分布的特点,能够反映年代数据的范围和精度.     

A Middle Palaeolithic human hyoid bone

The origin of human language, and in particular the question of whether or not Neanderthal man was capable of language/speech, is of major interest to anthropologists but remains an area of great controversy. Despite palaeoneurological evidence to the contrary, many researchers hold to the view that Neanderthals were incapable of language/speech, basing their arguments largely on studies of laryngeal/basicranial morphology. Studies, however, have been hampered by the absence of unambiguous fossil evidence. We now report the discovery of a well-preserved human hyoid bone from Middle Palaeolithic layers of Kebara Cave, Mount Carmel, Israel, dating from about 60,000 years BP. The bone is almost identical in size and shape to the hyoid of present-day populations, suggesting that there has been little or no change in the visceral skeleton (including the hyoid, middle ear ossicles, and inferentially the larynx) during the past 60,000 years of human evolution. We conclude that the morphological basis for human speech capability appears to have been fully developed during the Middle Palaeolithic.     

用核裂变径迹法和热释光法研究瘦狗岭断裂活动年代

用核裂变径迹法和热释光法测定广州市郊瘦狗岭的断裂活动年代．结果表明：广州瘦狗岭断裂在中新代是处在较大规模较强烈的活动时期，而在第四纪早更新世及中更新世仍发生过较强烈的活动．最新的断裂活动是在４３×１０４ａ前．两种方法的数据可以互相印证     

Geochronology: age of Mexican ash with alleged 'footprints'

A report of human footprints preserved in 40,000-year-old volcanic ash near Puebla, Mexico (http://www.royalsoc.ac.uk/exhibit.asp?id=3616&tip=1), was the subject of a press conference that stirred international media attention. If the claims (http://www.mexicanfootprints.co.uk) of Gonzalez et al. are valid, prevailing theories about the timing of human migration into the Americas would need significant revision. Here we show by 40Ar/39Ar dating and corroborating palaeomagnetic data that the basaltic tuff on which the purported footprints are found is 1.30+/-0.03 million years old. We conclude that either hominid migration into the Americas occurred very much earlier than previously believed, or that the features in question were not made by humans on recently erupted ash.     

ESR dates for the hominid burial site of Es Skhul in Israel

The Middle East has been critical to our understanding of recent human evolution ever since the recovery of Neanderthal and early anatomically modern fossils from the caves of Tabun and Skhul (Mount Carmel) over 50 years ago. It was generally believed, on archaeological and morphological grounds, that middle eastern Neanderthals (such as those from Tabun, Amud and Kebara) probably dated from more than 50,000 years ago, whereas the earliest anatomically modern specimens (from Skhul and Qafzeh) probably dated from about 40,000 years. Recent thermoluminescence and electron spin resonance (ESR) determinations, however, have supported biostratigraphy in dating the Qafzeh deposits to an earlier part of the late Pleistocene, probably more than 90,000 years ago. These dates have been questioned on unspecified technical grounds, and it has also been argued that they create explanatory problems by separating the morphologically similar Qafzeh and Skhul samples by some 50,000 years, thus implying a long-term coexistence of early modern humans and Neanderthals in the area. Here we report the first radiometric dating analysis for Skhul, using ESR on bovine teeth from the hominid burial levels. Early uptake and linear uptake ages average 81 +/- 15 and 101 +/- 12 kyr respectively. These analyses suggest that the Skhul and Qafzeh samples are of a similar age and therefore it is possible that the presence of early modern humans in the area was episodic, rather than long-term during the early late Pleistocene.     

Laser microarea analysis of40Ar-39Ar isochron age for Fanshan superlarge alunite deposit, Zhejiang Province, China

Laser micro area analysis 40 Ar 39 Ar isochron dating for pure alunite is first reported. Micro area 40 Ar 39 Ar isochron dating results revealed that the metallogenetic epoch of Fanshan superlarge alunite deposit is 74.50 Ma, and this age is 10-20 Ma later than that of regional volcanic activity. Moreover, the potential application of micro area analysis 40 Ar 39 Ar isochron dating method in metallogenetic epoch studies for nonmetal deposits is also discussed.     

无稀释剂法K-Ar定年的原理及地质应用

年轻火山物质K-Ar定年中Ar的精确测量一直是地质年代学研究的重要课题。在常规K-Ar定年法中,样品外来氩的⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar比值被假定为295.5。但研究表明,这种假定在某些情况下,尤其是在年轻样品的测量中受到了限制。一种无稀释剂的测Ar技术已在近年来得到了发展和应用。该方法的优势在于测氩系统不受³⁸Ar稀释剂的混染,利用标准大气的校准可测得样品中的⁴⁰Ar、³⁸Ar和³⁶Ar。考虑火山岩中大气氩分馏造成的影响,利用测得的³⁸Ar/³⁶Ar比值还可以对所测样品中的外来⁴⁰Ar/³⁶Ar比值进一步加以校正,给出精确的放射性成因⁴⁰Ar^*含量计算和K-Ar定年。目前,无稀释剂的K-Ar定年技术在地质上已有广泛应用,并能取得晚第三纪到第四纪可靠的年龄,对地质事件做出合理地解释和重建岩浆活动历史。对无稀释剂法K-Ar定年原理及地质应用的介绍,将为K-Ar年代学应用于研究晚第三纪以来的年轻火山岩提供一种有力的手段和解决途径。     

Effect of dead carbon on the ^14C dating of the speleothem

Based on the comparison of dating results among high-precision TIMS U-series and AMS ^14C as well as the published ^14C dating results and their band counting ages(i.e. calendar ages), this paper discusses the effect of dead carbon on the speleothem ^14C dating. The result shows that the fraction of incorporated dead carbon during the formation of speleothem varies. The change in the fraction of dead carbon would result in big deviation in the ^14C age of the speleothem. It is indispensable to take the dead carbon into consideration when dating the speleothem using the ^14C method or studying the atmospheric ^14C concentration during the past with the speleothem.     

铀系法年代学研究进展及在高原盐湖中的应用

 高原盐湖在形成的各个阶段,都详尽记录和保存着其咸化阶段的环境变化信息,是研究极端干旱气候的重要载体。年代学是盐湖古气候研究最重要的一项内容,也是后续研究工作的基础。目前除了最常用的¹⁴C定年、光释光（OSL）定年、电子磁悬共振（ESR）和古地磁定年等方法外,铀系法定年在盐湖沉积的年代学研究中也得到了广泛的应用。随着技术发展,铀系测年技术方法经历了α谱法、热电离质谱法（TIMS）再到多接受器电感耦合等离子体质谱技术（MC-ICP-MS）的不同发展阶段。而这些技术方法在不同时期和阶段对第四纪及高原盐湖的定年研究做出了一定的贡献。盐湖沉积中的碳酸盐黏土、石盐和石膏等盐类矿物都可以作为铀系定年的研究材料。随着质谱技术的发展,盐类矿物的微区定年也逐渐成为可能。同时,盐湖沉积中盐类矿物的铀系定年研究仍然有限,未来多开展这些方面的研究将对铀系测年技术在盐湖沉积中的应用产生积极作用。