Pleistocene lake landscapes reveal early human adaptability

The Middle Pleistocene was a turning point for human adaptation in East Asia, as shifting climates reshaped landscapes and demanded new survival strategies. By examining sediments, pollen, geochemistry, and fossils from the Jijiazhuang (JJZ) site in North China's Nihewan Basin, researchers reconstructed environmental changes between 0.63 and 0.49 million years ago. Their findings reveal that hominins occupied the site during a temperate, wooded grassland phase when lake levels were low, developing new technological and subsistence strategies to exploit both plant and animal resources. These results highlight how prolonged interglacial conditions provided opportunities for human innovation and resilience in challenging northern environments.

During the Middle Pleistocene, climates fluctuated dramatically, influencing ecosystems and early human evolution across Eurasia. In China, Homo erectus and related populations persisted through these shifts, yet the specific links between environmental variability and human adaptation remain unclear. The Nihewan Basin, with its rich fluvio-lacustrine deposits and dense concentration of Paleolithic sites, offers a unique window into these dynamics. While earlier studies emphasized Early Pleistocene occupations, less is known about how Middle Pleistocene ecological conditions shaped human behavior. Based on these challenges, it is necessary to conduct in-depth research on the relationship between Nihewan Basin paleoenvironment and human adaptation.

A research team from the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, reports new findings (DOI: 10.1007/s11442-025-2386-4) in the Journal of Geographical Sciences (published August 2025). Their study integrates multi-proxy evidence to reconstruct local ecological conditions. The results show how climate shifts around Marine Isotope Stages 15–13 created environments that both challenged and fostered human innovation.

The Jijiazhuang (JJZ) site in the Yuxian sub-basin of the Nihewan Basin provided sediments, pollen, and geochemical records that captured environmental changes over five stages. Sedimentological data indicate the site formed along a paleolake margin, with shifts in grain size, color reflectance, and elemental ratios reflecting alternating cold-humid and warm-dry phases. Pollen assemblages identified transitions between conifer-dominated forests and mixed grasslands, highlighting fluctuating habitats.

Archaeological excavations uncovered 255 stone artifacts, including standardized cores, retouched tools, and small flakes, alongside 464 animal bones dominated by Equus. Cut marks and percussion traces reveal activities such as skinning, dismembering, and marrow extraction. Notably, raw materials were transported from 8–10 km away, suggesting expanded resource procurement strategies compared to earlier populations. These behaviors contradict the traditional view of technological stasis in North China's Pleistocene record, instead pointing to adaptive flexibility.

Taken together, the evidence demonstrates that hominins thrived during a temperate, wooded grassland stage with lowered lake levels. The prolonged interglacial conditions (MIS 15–13) likely provided a "window of opportunity" for humans to innovate technologically and expand ecologically, supporting their persistence in northern East Asia.

"By combining environmental proxies with archaeological remains, our study shows that climate was not merely a backdrop but an active driver of human adaptation," said Professor Shuwen Pei, lead author of the study. "The JJZ site captures a critical moment when early humans broadened their strategies to cope with complex ecological shifts. These findings underscore how resilience and innovation emerged in response to long-lasting interglacial conditions, offering insights into the deep history of human survival in East Asia's challenging landscapes."

This research deepens our understanding of how early humans responded to prolonged climatic variability in northern China, revealing strategies that balanced innovation with ecological constraints. The evidence from JJZ suggests that environmental opportunities during interglacials fostered technological advances and diversified subsistence practices, laying groundwork for future human adaptations. Beyond archaeology, these findings provide a model for how human populations may respond to climate stress, relevant to contemporary challenges of global environmental change. By situating human evolution within dynamic ecosystems, the study highlights the enduring interplay between climate variability, resource availability, and adaptive capacity.

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References

DOI

10.1007/s11442-025-2386-4

Original Source URL

https://doi.org/10.1007/s11442-025-2386-4

Funding information

National Natural Science Foundation of China, No.42371165, No.41872029

About Journal of Geographical Sciences

Journal of Geographical Sciences is an international and multidisciplinary peer-reviewed journal focusing on human-nature relationships. It publishes papers on physical geography, natural resources, environmental sciences, geographic information, remote sensing and cartography. Manuscripts come from different parts of the world.