# Early Hominin Dispersal across the Qinling Mountains, China, during the Mid-Pleistocene Transition
## 2 Materials and Methods
### Chronological Study of the 55 Hominin Fossils and Paleolithic Sites  
The main methods of dating these 55 Paleolithic sites are optically stimulated luminescence (OSL, including single-aliquot regenerative-dose-based OSL (SAR-OSL), thermally transferred OSL (TT-OSL) and post-infrared infrared-stimulated luminescence (pIRIR)), paleomagnetism, and pedostratigraphic correlation with the typical loess-paleosol sequence, and some other independent dating methods are occasionally used, such as \({}^{26}\)Al/\({}^{10}\)Be burial dating, U-series, ESR/U-series, and ESR, etc. Pedostratigraphic correlation, paleomagnetism, and OSL are the three most commonly used methods. Paleomagnetism is applicable to eolian loess, fluvial-lacustrine sediments, and cave sediments, among various others. It can only obtain accurate results of geomagnetic polarity inversion boundaries (e.g., the Brunhes/Matuyama (B/M) boundary, Jaramillo, Olduvai, etc. ), and its dating accuracy of layers between polarity inversion boundaries is limited [(39; 61)]. The materials of OSL dating method are mainly quartz and feldspar grains purified from loose deposits. The upper dating limit is generally 0.06-0.1 Ma for SAR-OSL [(62; 63; 64)], 0.78 Ma for TT-OSL [(48; 65)], and 0.5 Ma for pIRIR [(66)]. However, the dating ability of the TT-OSL and pIRIR methods in practical application generally does not exceed 0.2-0.3 Ma [(32)]. In general, the hominin fossils and Paleolithic sites during the Early and Middle Pleistocene are mainly dated via paleomagnetism and pedostratigraphic correlation, and the sites during the Late-Middle Pleistocene and Late Pleistocene are mainly dated via OSL, and U-series and other dating methods are mostly used for dating cave sites. All chronological results of the 55 hominin fossils and Paleolithic sites are summarized in Table 1. \begin{table}
\begin{tabular}{c c c c c c c} \hline \hline
**Location** & **Site** & **Age (Ma)** & **Dating Method** &
\begin{tabular}{c} **Loess–Paleosol** \\ **Period** \\ \end{tabular} & **MIS** & **References** \\ \hline \multirow{8}{*}{Northern QMR} & Shangchen & 2.12–1.26 & PM, PC & S15–S27 & 39–81 & [(67)] \\  & & 1.15 & PM, PC & & & [(37)] \\  & Gongwangling & 1.63 & PM, PC & L15/S22–S23 & 12/53–56 & [(68)] \\  & & 1.82 & \({}^{26}\)Al/\({}^{10}\)Be & & & [(49)] \\  & & 1.27 & PM, PC & & [(40)] \\  & Xihoudu & 1.4 & \({}^{26}\)Al/\({}^{10}\)Be & S17–S18 & 43–45 & [(69)] \\  & & 2.43 & \({}^{26}\)Al/\({}^{10}\)Be & & & [(52)] \\  & Chenjiawo & 0.65 & PM, PC & S6 & 17 & [(37; 70)] \\  & Shuigou-Huixinggou & 0.9 & PM, PC & L9 & 23 & [(71)] \\  & & 0.43–0.38 \& 0.33–0.30 & & & \\  & Jijiawan & \& 0.25–0.19 & OSL, pIRIR, PM, & S1, S2, & [(72)] \\  & & \& 0.13–0.07 & & & \\  & Ganyu & 0.43–0.38 \& 0.13–0.07 & pIRIR, PC & S1, S4 & \(5,11\) & [(72)] \\  & & 0.23–0.18 & U & & & [(73)] \\  & & 0.27 & PC & & & [(43)] \\  & Dali & 0.30–0.26 & IBSL, ESR, U & L3 & 8 & [(74)] \\  & & 0.28 & ESR/U & & & [(75)] \\  & & 0.26–0.27 & TT-OSL, pIRIR & & & [(48)] \\  & Diaozhai & 0.07–0.02 & OSL, pIRIR & L1 & 2–4 & [(72)] \\ \hline \hline \end{tabular}
\end{table} 
Table 1: The chronological results of the 55 hominin fossils and Paleolithic sites in the QMR.