47 The Late Quaternary Glaciation of Tibet and the Bordering Mountains: Implications for Understanding and Reconstructing the Evolution of the Mountains, Deserts, Hydrology, Vegetation and Early Humans in Central Asia
Monday, 28 July 2003
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM
THE BIOGEOGRAPHY OF LATE PLEISTOCENE HOMINID POPULATIONS IN CENTRAL AND EAST ASIA
Paper number: 47-12
Program: SYMPOSIA
Time: 11:30 AM – 11:50 AM
Authors
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Haizhou MaInstitute of Saline Lakes, Xining, N/A
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David B. MadsenUniv of Texas, Austin, TX
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Xing GaoInstitute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Beijing, N/A
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David RhodeDesert Rsch Institute, Reno, NV
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John W. OlsenUniv of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
Abstract
Pleistocene hominid populations in Central and East Asia exhibited many of the "garden-variety" biogeographic responses to large-scale climate fluctuations. Population range expansions occurred in tandem with regional climate shifts towards warmer and wetter interstadial/interglacial conditions. Range contractions, perhaps even wide-spread population extirpations, coincided with shifts to colder and drier stadial/glacial conditions. While these generic responses imply a simple population regulatory mechanism, there is also a pronounced long-term trend towards the occupation of extreme environments including the Mongolian Gobi, hyper-arid Northwest China and the high-elevation Tibetan Plateau. Paleontological, archaeological and geochronological data are presented in support of both biogeographic patterns. The mechanisms underlying the human colonization of extreme environments are discussed with special reference to the expansion of the early and late Upper Paleolithic in Central and East Asia over the past 45 ka.