Acta Anthropologica Sinica ›› 1999, Vol. 18 ›› Issue (04): 270-281.
Previous Articles Next Articles
Dong Wei
Online:
Published:
Abstract: Hulu Cave is located at Tangshan County , Nanjing Municipality , Jiangsu Province. It is composed of a main cave and a branching cave. Some mammal fossils were found by local workers in 1990 and 1992 in the main cave, and they were identified by Professor Xu Qingqi up to 15 species. The fauna is very close to that of Locality 1 of Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site and that of Hexian Man Cave.Xu felt that it would be possible to find hominid fossil at the cave. A big discovery was made on 13 March of 1993, a hominid skull was unearthed in the branching cave. This finding aroused the interests of many related units and experts. Professor Wu Rukang was then funded by CNN SF to launch a research on the site. Within the framework of this research, the present author studied the artiodactyla found from the main cave. The artiodactyla found in the main Hulu Cave and identified by the present author total 3 fimilies, 5 genera and 5 species. Another team has identified Capreolussp. with their collections ( Huang Yunping , 1996). The artiodactyla found at Tangshan Hulu Cave are therefore as follow:Sus lydekkeriCervus ( Sika ) grayiMegaloceros pachyosteusElaphodus cephalophusCapreolus sp.B Aubalus cf.teilhardiThey are larger in size ( e. g . Sus lydekkeri, Cervus grayi , Megaloceros pachyosteus ) and more advanced in morphology ( e. g. Sus lydekkeri, Bubalus cf. teilhardi) than those from Locality 1 of Zhoukoudian Peking Man Site. And they are very likely the descendents of Zhoukoudian forms. That is to say , the Hulu fauna is younger than Zhoukoudian fauna, and likely the late Middle Pleistocene. The Elaphodus cephalophus is the first Pleistocene record in East China. The Hulu fauna is similar to Hexiam fauna, too , but less important than Zhoukoudian fauna.Among these 6 species, 4 of them arecervids, which are forest-woodland dwellers. The suid is also a woodland dweller, while the buffalo is a grassland dweller. Both suid and buffalo are wetland dwellers too. It can be concluded that the environment of the period was forest-woodland, with some intermittent grassland and wetland. The vegetation was rich. The annual temperature was similar to the present, but the winter temperature was lower than the present. The early man in the north was very likely pushed southward by the cold weather while the fauna and flora sorrounding Hulu offered him a good source to develop his hunting and gathering techniques.
Key words: Homo erectus, accompany animal, artiodactyla, Middle Pleistocene, paleoenvironment, Tangshan Hulu Cave
Dong Wei. The artiodactyla from Hulu cave, Tangshan, Nanjing and the environment of Nanjing man[J]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica, 1999, 18(04): 270-281.
0 / / Recommend
Add to citation manager EndNote|Ris|BibTeX
URL: https://www.anthropol.ac.cn/EN/
https://www.anthropol.ac.cn/EN/Y1999/V18/I04/270