Shandong Evolutionary Model Chapter 11 Elimination Test: Logical Self-Consistency Screening of Global Candidate Regions

This chapter applies the exclusion method established in Chapter 10 to eleven candidate regions proposed as the original site of modern human emergence, under a unified parameter framework. Luxi (western Shandong) is included as a self-examination item and judged by the same criteria as its competitors. Eight operational criteria are defined (K1–K8), of which K3 is inapplicable to MIS 4–2; K4 and K7a are operational criteria, while K1 and K2 are directional criteria. Exclusion is categorized as LSED necessary-condition exclusion or “provisionally not selected”; no biophysical exclusion is produced in this chapter. On the K4×K7a plane, Luxi is the only region passing the conjunction (K4(a)(b)(d) directly supported, (c) pending; K7a is a necessary condition, not a discriminating criterion).; in the Southwest–South China region, “heat is present but no driving force exists”; in the North China Plain, “driving force is present, but K4 conjunction has not been fully satisfied” (K7a✓; K4(a), (b), (d) are locally satisfied, with weaker connectivity patterns compared to Luxi).This 2 × 2 configuration depends neither on K5/K6 evidential sufficiency nor on K1/K2 body-size data. Its geological basis is the northern segment of the Liaocheng–Lankao fault: low Quaternary slip rate (0.12–0.35 mm/a) combined with a deep, connected geothermal conduit (heat flow 68 mW/m²; Ordovician karst reservoir interval 800–1000 m). No exclusion was identified during the self-assessment of Luxi ✗; K1, K2, and K5 are marked as?, K6 is marked as — (materials missing); the dominant feature is determined to be K4(a)(b)(d) ∧ K7a. The Bashan site complex is treated as out-of-region parallel evidence (see 11.10) and does not serve as local K5 support for Luxi. Conclusion: Luxi is the “most likely phase-transition locus not ruled out” within candidate set C—not as proof of past human existence. Four limiting conditions and eight pre-registered counterexamples accompany the conclusion. Five appendices respond to possible challenges. The physical criterion (K4×K7a) in this chapter and the empirical evidence (fossils) constitute two independent lines of evidence; fossils such as MZR (~14 ka) are present in the Southwest–South China region, whereas none are found in the Luxi Lowlands. The discrepancy between these two findings is an inevitable consequence of sampling bias and does not constitute a refutation of the physical criterion.