Deciphering site formation processes in lakeshore environments: a case study of early pleistocene site of Feiliang (Nihewan Basin, China)

Lakeshore environments often preserve a rich record of Pleistocene hominin evidence, and hence are promising vantage points from which to infer hominin evolutionary pathways. However, early Pleistocene sites from fluvial-lacustrine contexts are usually palimpsests, making it essential to understand their formation processes. Focusing on the evidence from the 1.2 Ma-old site of Feiliang (Nihewan Basin, north China), this paper applies a new package of several taphonomic, spatial and fabric approaches to enable a more detailed reconstruction of site formation history. So far, many assemblages from the Nihewan fluvial-lacustrine sequence in North China have lacked this detailed kind of evaluation, even though they are important sources of evidence for hominins’ arrival and adaptations in East Asia. We conclude that the Feiliang assemblage is well preserved and has only undergone minor disturbance mainly by water flow. As various post-depositional modifications are identified at different localities, hominins used this area in varied freshwater environment, and did so recurrently for a long period. This study shows that the interpretation of site structure from lakeshore paleo-landscape should play an important role in the identifying site integrity and in extrapolating hominin behavioural patterns during early Pleistocene in the Nihewan Basin.