Abstract: Lianhua Cave in the southern suburb of Zhengjiang City is one of the few hominid fossil- containing localities in Jiangsu Province. A human lower molar and numerous mammalian fossils of 16 species were recovered during an excavation season in 1981. Based on biostratigraphic studies, this site has been assigned to Late Pleistocene in time.
230Th/234U and 227Th /230Th age determinations were carried out on two in situ collected mammalian teeth, obtaining broadly consistent dates ranging from 104 to 136 ka, which should be indicative to the age of the hominid tooth.
Morphologically the human tooth has been classified to late Homo sapiens. If correct, the present dates imply an early presence of late Homo sapiens in the lower reaches of Yangtse River. Parallel studies on Ganqian (Tubo), Liujiang and Bailiandong hominid sites in Guangxi, southern China, yielded similar results. Taken together, much earlier than previously estimated appearance of modern humans might be a general phenomenon in extended areas of China.

Key words: U-series dating; Fossil teeth; Lianhua cave