Abstract: The purpose of this paper is to study the evolution of Homo erectus by means of the analyses of dental metrics of the people of China in different time periods. The general trend of tooth reduction was found from Homo erectus to modern Chinese. From the time periods of Homo erectus till early Homo sapiens of China, there was no obvious change of tooth size. From the stage of late Homo sapiens in late Pleistocene, the tooth size of human in China decreased sharply. After that, the speed of tooth size reduction went down and came to the tooth size ranges of modern Chinese gradually. Compared with the tooth sizes of late Pleistocene and Holocene Europeans, the patterns of tooth size reduction in Chinese humans are quite different. The main differences include earlier appearance of sharp tooth size reduction, high variations of the speed of tooth size reduction and smaller scope of overall dental reduction.
The author believes that according to the currently hold evidence, the tooth sizes and their change patterns of Chinese humans, especially the similarities between Homo erectus and early Homo sapiens in tooth sizes, are the example of the mosaic of human evolution. The Homo erectus of China differs from early Homo sapiens of China obviously in fossil morphology and living periods. The evidence for the proposal of canceling Homo erectus and putting Homo erectus into Homo sapiens is not enough. At present, it is better to treat Homo erectus and Homo sapiens as two species within the genus of Homo. The evolutionary relationship between the two species is the course of phyletic gradualism. One of the important characteristics in the course is the existence of transition forms and......

Key words: Tooth measurements, Homo erectus, Homo sapiens, Human evolution