关键词: 栾川;牙齿;直立人;中更新世;地区连续性

Abstract: New fossil hominins associated with rich large mammal fauna and a few stone artifacts, were discovered from the Sunjiadong cave site during 2012 excavation season by the Luoyang Cultural Relics and Archaeology Institute and the Luanchuan Heritage Management Centre. The geological age of the Luanchuan hominins is Middle Pleistocene according to the faunal assemblage. The six hominin fossils are identified as the follows: juvenile left maxillary fragment with upper M1 , juvenile left mandible fragment with lower M1, and four isolated teeth identified as a left upper P2 germ, left lower M2 germ, right lower lateral adult I2, and juvenile M2. These isolated teeth represent three individuals, respectively age 6~7, age 11~12 and one adult. Dental development of the juvenile maxilla and mandible and two isolated tooth germs, which might all belong to the same individual, match dental development patterns in juvenile modern humans. The age of M1 emergence of the Luanchuan hominins was possibly six years old. Tooth size and morphology of the six teeth match Homo erectus from Zhoukoudian. The Luanchuan hominins, with typical regional dental traits, provide new fossil evidence for the continuity hypothesis of human evolution in East Asia.

Key words: Luanchuan; Dentition; Homo erectus; Middle Pleistocene; Regional continuity