The Asian continent is an unique land for human evolution as it is a combination of continental landmasses and island territories. Numerous human remains and artifacts preserved during the past over 2 million years, provide valuable archives for reconstructing the evolution history of human kind. It holds great importance to establish a robust chronostratigraphic framework for a better understanding of the dispersal routes of ancient humans and the related environmental and climatic context. However, most of the prehistoric archives have undergone particular alterations either caves or open-air sites, which poses a great challenge to geochronological studies.
Viarious dating methods are routinely employed in Asian prehistorical sites according to the types of dating materials available. The volcanic contexts in Southeast Asian archipelago facilitates the utilization of Potassium-Argon (or Argon-Argon) dating, while the broad latitudinal range across Asian continent allows the use of other methods such as paleomagnetism and palaeodosimetric (ESR & OSL) techniques in the loessic environment of northern China, and U-series dating in karstic caves prevalent in southern China housing numerous prehistoric sites.
In recent years, an increasing number of chronological studies on existing or newly discovered archaeological sites have contributed to the refinement of the chronological framework of human evolution in this vast region. Meanwhile, new methods or protocols (e.g., isochron burial dating, post-IR IRSL) are emerging, filling in previous gaps, or improving the analytical precision and accuracy.
This symposium focuses on dating methods and their applications on prehistoric sites in various environmental/geological settings of Asia. Scholars and students interested in dating prehistoric sites are welcome. Participants are invited to share their insights on overcoming obstacles related to dating studies drawing on developments of methods or specific case studies.
For inquiries and submissions, please contact:
Hua TU, Institute of Marine Science, Shantou University, China – huatu87@hotmail.com
Qingfeng SHAO, College of Geographical Science, Nanjing Normal University, China – 09396@njnu.edu.cn
Christophe FALGUERES, UMR7194, Département Homme et Environnement, Muséum national d’histoire naturelle, France – christophe.falgueres@mnhn.fr
