Abstract: This paper is a preliminary study of human and mammalian fossils unearthed from Maomao cave (25°10′N, 105°02′E), a rockshelter-type cave site located at the hillside of Maomao mountain, 1.5 km to the southwest of Dingxiao township, or some 25 km to the southeast of Xingyi County, Guizhou Province. The human fossils consist of four mandibles and three femoral fragments. The mandibles include a complete female jaw, an incomplete male jaw, an anterior fragment of a child’s jaw and a right fragment of a female jaw. Half of the jawbone has two mental foramens that are mainly located between P2M1. The mental foramen of another sample GM7504, however, is located at P2. These features are similar to those of other Late Pleistocene human fossils in China. Their morphological features are quite similar to those of the No.101 mandible of the “Upper Cave Man” from Zhoukoudian. Of the preserved mandibles, two possess a double mental foramen and one has only a single mental foramen. Only one of the three femoral fragments is well preserved, and of this specimen, the bone wall is very thick and the measurements are similar to those of the Ordos man and Hsiatsaowan man. The overall shape of the jawbone of GM7502 from Maomao cave is close to Late Pleistocene Homo sapiens in East Asia , especially the Upper Cave man (female) and Garden Hole man, but distinctive from Linde Mindanao people and Mengzi Red Deer cave people who shared close geographical locations. The measurements and index of the middle of thigh bones show that they more closely resemble Late Pleistocene Homo sapiens, and some features are even closer to that of human beings from Holocene site nearby. Meanwhile, the primitive nature is also prominent in forms of thick bone wall and small medullary cavity of the thigh bone. These jawbones and their teeth of Maomao cave site have the following characteristics. The chins of the human fossils are protruding, without mandibular torus; The mental spine has an evident progressive nature of tubercle shape and is protruding; The mental foramen position, jawbones and teeth show that Maomao cave human fossils closely resemble the late Pleistocene Homo sapiens but some primitive characteristics such as thick and low jawbone, short and wide sloping branch and double chin hole of large proportion. Their jawbone size and tooth crown area are basically closer to the minimum value of the variation range of Homo sapiens, and even some items are closer to the Neolithic people. Accordingly, it concludes that human fossils from Maomao cave should be classified as late Homo sapiens. This result is also confirmed by the study of stratigraphy, Paleontology and chronology. They can be named as Xingyi man. Dating result of uranium series method for the fossil deer tooth, coexisting with the human fossils in same layer, is 14500±1200 BP, which can be considered as the minimum age of the fossil horizon.

Key words: Maomao cave; Homo sapiens; Osteology; Late Pleistocene