Abstract: Recently, three human fossil teeth in association with abundant mammalian remains have been recovered from the limestone Mawokou Cave in Bijie, Guizhou Province of south western China. The human teeth including one upper canine and two upper molars can be assigned into anatomically modern Homo sapiens both in tooth sizes and morphological traits. The mammalian assemblage associated with human teeth discovered from the Mawokou Cave contains 8 orders, 20 families, 43 genera and 53 species after identification, including 23 species of large mammals and 30 species of small mammals. In this study the proboscidean remains from this site are systematically described as Stegodon orientalis and Elephas maximus. Due to the absence of the typical Early Pleistocene members in southern China, such as Sinomastodon and Stegodon huananensis, the Mawokou fauna bears the transitional characteristics of the typical Middle Pleistocene Ailuropoda-Stegodon fauna (s. s.) and Late Pleistocene Asian elephant fauna in southern China. The geological age of the Mawokou fauna is estimated to be late Middle Pleistocene or early Late Pleistocene based on the biostratigraphic correlation. The preliminary TL/OSL dating of the strata containing the human fossils gives an age of 178 ka~112 ka. The proboscidean assemblage with the associated fauna from the Mawokou Cave signifies a warm, humid subtropical forest with aquatic resources, shrubs, and grasslands nearby. This environment was apparently favorable for habitation of Homo sapiens, as well as Stegodon orientalis and Elephas maximus.

Key words: Proboscidea; Homo sapiens; Mawokou Cave; Bijie, Guizhou Province; Middle-Late Pleistocene