Luminescence dating of prehistoric hearths in Northeast Qinghai Lake and its paleoclimatic implication
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Luminescence dating of prehistoric hearths in Northeast Qinghai Lake and its paleoclimatic implication Yongjuan Sun 1,2 & E. Chongyi 2 & Zhongping Lai 3 & Guangliang Hou 2
Received: 15 March 2016 / Accepted: 26 January 2017 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2017
Abstract Archeological research has been trying to provide evidence relevant to understanding both the timing of and processes responsible for human colonization of the Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP). Hearth is one of the most extensive, important, and typical prehistoric humanity activity evidence on the QTP. However, there are a number of hearths lacking charcoal material because of the wind and water erosion. Fortunately, most of these hearths can be dated by luminescence dating on the remnant sediments around the hearth. In this study, 18 optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) samples from 14 hearths in Yandongtai site (YDT) and Bronze Wire site (BW) in the northeast of Qinghai Lake area were systematically dated. The OSL ages range from 6.8 ± 0.7 to 14.4 ± 1.2 ka. There is a good agreement between OSL dating results and charcoal ages during the last deglaciation period, which indicates that OSL method has great potential in dating hearth on QTP. Combined with the previous dating results from other hearths, the age of hearths concentrates in 11–13 ka BP, i.e., the Younger Dryas (YD) chronozone. The increased number of hearths indicates reinforced colonization
* E. Chongyi [email protected] * Zhongping Lai [email protected]
1
Key Laboratory of Salt Lake Geology and Environment of Qinghai Province, Qinghai Institute of Salt Lakes, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xining 810008, People’s Republic of China
2
Key laboratory of Physical Geography and Environmental Processes of Qinghai Province, Qinghai Normal University, 810000 Xining, People’s Republic of China
3
School of Earth Sciences, China University of Geosciences, Wuhan 430074, People’s Republic of China
in the Qinghai Lake area during YD cold event, implying that the cold climate during YD event was not severe enough to hinder the inhabitation of prehistoric humanity at an elevation of 3.2 km. Keywords Qinghai Lake area . Hearth . OSL dating . Human migration pattern . Younger Dryas
Introduction Study of human adaptation to extreme environments is important for understanding our cultural and genetic capacity for survival (Rademaker et al. 2014). The Qinghai-Tibetan Plateau (QTP), as the Broof of the world,^ is a very harsh environment for human living with low-oxygen conditions, high solar radiation, cold temperatures, and high energetic costs of subsistence. In the past years, archeological research has provided some evidence relevant to the timing of human colonization on QTP. Based on both 14C and optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating, preliminary studies indicate that the prehistoric human occupation of the QTP began at 14–15 ka (Madsen et al. 2006; Rhode et al. 2014; Sun et al. 2010, 2012). The results are obviously younger than the previous indirect dating
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