Table of Content

15 December 1988, Volume 7 Issue 04

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Bone artifacts from the early Pleistocene of Nihewan, Hebei Province

Wang Shangzun, Guo Zhihui, Zhang Lidai

1988, 7(04):  0-305、397. 

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The present paper describes 38 pieces of the bone artifacts which are kept in Tianjin Natural History Museum. The specimens were discovered in 19241929 from the Nihewan (Nihowan) bed of early Pleistocene in the Xia-hagou site etc. of Yangyuan County, Hebei province.

Comparative study of early Homo Sapiens from China and Europe

Wu Xinzhi

1988, 7(04):  287-293. 

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Comparisons of early H. sapiens from China and western Europe show following differences in morphological characteristics.
1. The orientation of fronto-sphenoidal process of zygomatic bone: The Chinese specimens face more forward, while the European ones more laterally except the Steinheim specimen which also faces more forward.
2. Zygomaxillary angle: This angle of the reconstructed Dali skull is 125°. Those of western Neanderthals are 105°-110°. The earlier specimens from Europe (Petralona and Steinheim) are intermediate between Neanderthals and Dali in this regard.
3. The zygomatic process of maxilla: ln Neanderthals the lower margin of the lower end of this process is near the alveolar border. From the lower margin runs obliquely upward and back ward. The transition from the lower margin of zygomatic process of maxilla to the lower margin of zygomatic bone is smooth and gradual without sharp turning at the joining part. There is no depressive portion between the anterior surface of the zygomatic process of maxilla and the antero-lateral surface of the body of maxilla. Petralona skull is similar with Neanderthals in these respects.
In Dali skull, there is a depression between the anterior surface of the zygomatic process and the antero-lateral surface of the body of maxilla because the former one faces more forward than that of Neanderthals. The beginning of zygomatic process from the body of maxilla is higher than that of Neanderthals or more distant from the alveolar border. The direction of the lower margin of this process is generally more horizontal than that of Neanderthals, This margin turns sharply to the lower margin of zygomatic bone. No different condition has been found so far in other Chinese specimens. 1n Xujiayao specimen, the position of the beginning part of zygomatic process from maxillary hody in relation to alveolar border is also similar to that of Dali skull.
In Steinheim and Arago specimens, the morphological status of this part is intermediate between Dali and Neanderthals. H. erectus pekinensis is similar to Dali Man in this respect, But the location of the beginning of the zygomatic process of maxilla of Lantian Man is of Neanderthal type.
4. Nasal area: The profile angle of the nasal bone is large in Dali, Jinniushan and Maba. In European early H. sapiens, Neanderthals exhibit more protruding nose while skulls of earlier period possess flatter one.
5. The height of upper facial part: Judging from the upper facial index of early H. sapiens the European faces are higher than those of Chinese ones. But Maba might have a higher face as a result of influence from the West.
6. Frontonasal and frontomaxillary sutures: These sutures of the Chinese specimens form a more or less horizontal line, while in European ones they form a curve protruding upward.
7. Glabellar region: In Dali and Maba skulls the horizontal section of this region is concave. The medial segment of upper margin of the supraorbital torus of both sides turns medially and slightly downward so we can see that they form a concave line in frontal view. The European carly H. sapiens skulls show a different morphology in this region except the earlier skulls (from Steinheim and Arago) of which the horizontal section of glabellar region is recessive as in Chinese specimens.
8. Sagittal keeling: This structure generally exists in Chinese early H. sapiens at the central part of the frontal bone. This keeling does not exist in Neanderthal skulls except La Chapelle which has a very faint one at this region. Petralona has a very wcak and broader prominence at the upper part of frontal bone.
9. Inca bone. This triangular small bone exists in Dali skull and probably also exist in Dingcun and Xujiayao because of the special shape of postero-medial corner of their parietal bones. Peking Man had a high frequency of Inca bone. In Europe the condition was entirely different during the same period.
10. Shovel shaped upper incisor: This special feature exists in all of the fossil Man in China. In Europe, the frequency is lower.
The features mentioned above have persisted in a very long time from Peking Man to upper Paleolithie Man in China. Some persisted a shorter time. These indicate the continuity of human evolution in China. Meanwhile gene exchanges between ancient China and Europe could be indicated by some features of certain Chinese specimens such as the high and nearly circular orbit of Maba, weak chignon oa most of the upper Paleolithic skulls in south China (Liujiang, Ziyang and Lijiang) and the bulging at the basal part of nasal process: of maxill? lateral to the upper part of the pyriforme aperture of Dali skull. Some features appearing in European fossils might be resulted from the influence from China. The flatness of upper face at Steinheim and European upper Paleolithic skulls and the receding glabella region of Steinbeim and Arago might be features of such kind. Early H. sapiens was the product of long term human evolution. Isolation and other factors created the differences between human populations of different regions. Small scale gene flow reduced the clearness of the distinction. In case that ancient China had experienced a continuous human evolution with gene flow from other regions, the difference between the populations lived in China and other regions could only be shown in different frequencies and different evolutionary trend of some morphological features. Therefore the human evolutionary lineages in China and Europe in that period were two relatively independent lines. It is reasonable to infer that at least in that time different races of human being had inhabited in these two regions. The climatic history and Paleolithic tradition in China also support the hypothesis mentioned above. The climate of Pleistocene in south China had not experienced big change. The mammals persisted throughout whole Pleistocene without change or only with little change.

New discoveries of stone artifacts on the southern edge of the Tarim Basin, Xinjiang

Huang Weiwen, John W. Olsen, Richard W. Reeves, Sari Miller-Antonio, Lei Jiaqiang

1988, 7(04):  294-301. 

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The Chinese Academy of Sciences and the University of Arizona conducted collaborative field studies during June 1987. The study vielded a total of six artifact-bearing localities in Southern Xinjiang that are thought to reflect two discrete periods of occupation.
The investigation was carried out along the southern margin of the Taklamakan Desert. The area is bounded by 36°10′-37°40'N, 79°20'-83°50'E, and it includes the Kunlun front range as well as the dissected gobi plain separating the Kunluns from the Taklamakan Desert.
The following sites were located:
1. Locality XYE-87: about 10km south of Hayen Dake on the right bank of the Yurungkax (White Jade) River at an elevation of about 1600 m a.s.l.
2. Locality XNF-87: on the third terrace of the upper Niya River northwest of Nagerihana about 15km north of the river's major confluence at an elevation of about 2000 m.
3. Locality XLF-87: located east of Hetian (Khotan) City between Lop Bazar and Yangdakeleke (about 25 km southeast of Lop Bazar) on the third alluvial fan surface at an elevation of about 1500 m a.s.1.
4. Locality XNM-87: located at an. elevation of about 2600 m near the confluence of the Niya and Wulukesayi rivers on the first terrace of the Niya River about 52 km south of Minfeng City.
5. Locality XKM-87: about 4km south of the Yutian County Water Control Station on the second terrace of the left bank of the Keriya River at an altitude of about 2000 m.
6. Locality XDM-87: about 17 km east of Yutian City approximately 1000 m north of the Southern Xinjiang Highway at an altitude of about 1500m.
The six sites which were discovered can be divided into two categories. The first, three (XYE-87, XNF-87, and XLF-87) contained only large flaked stone, non-microlithic, aceramic assemblages that we consider to be of probable late Pleistocene affinity due to typological and geomorphological considerations. However, the fact that all occurrences discovered thus far derive from surface contexts makes their absolute chronology impossible to determine. Artifacts associated with these sites include hammerstones, side-choppers, a protobiface-like double -edged chopper and large direct percussion hard hammer flakes made on andesitic porphyrite, metamorphic sandstone, quartzite and hornfels.
The second category (XNM -87, XKM-87, and XDM-87) all yielded microlithic assemblages made on quartzite and hornfels generally in association with red sand-tempered ceramic fragments. Consequently, these sites are thought to be of Holocene. Neolithic derivation and may date to the climatic optimum of 7000 -4000 bp. The wide variety of localities where these microliths were found, spreads across Central Asia as far west as the Pamir Plateau and Afghanistan and as far south as Tibet.
While the evidence from southern Xinjiang docs not yet provide us with unequivocal evidence of Pleistocene human occupation, all lines of evidence point to an age corresponding perhaps to the Last Glacial Maximum for the XYF-87, XNF-87, and XLF-87 localities.

The reobservation of stone artifacts in Dingcun

Liu yuan

1988, 7(04):  306-313. 

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The Dingcun site is located at Xiangfen county, Shanxi Province. It was found in 1953 and excavated the following year. The excavation yielded many vertebrate and human fossils, and over 2,000 stone artifacts. The preliminary report was published in 1955, and a book was published three years later.
Based on the past works, this author tried to use statistical analysis to reobserve all the materials. The study concentrated on the industry of the assemblages. There are 1,932 stone artifacts from 9 localities of Dingcun. They c2n be divided into core, flake, and tool. The raw material is mostly hornfel gravel (Table 1) which emerges on the hill 7 km to the east.
All cores are of multi-striking platforms. Flakes, whose width is longer than the length, are more than those whose length is longer than width. 50 percent of the lengths of flakes are from 51 to 100 mm, 33 percent of them less than 50 mm. Flaking angles of 110°to 120° account for 34.5 percent, those less than 110°are 32.2 percent. The striking platforms are mostly flaking, and only a few are natural and ridgy. Most flakes with flaking angle of more than 120 show flaking striking platforms.
A closer observation indicated clear points and bulbs of percussion, but not fissures and ripples. These features show that the main technology used was direct blow with hammer-stones. Of course, bipolar and block on block methods might also be used. Whether they were used widely or not should be resoveled by more experiments.
The group of tools is as follows: 55.7 percent scrapers, 16.1 percent chopper-chopping tools, 10.7 percent handaxes and points, and a few stone balls, hammerstones. The majority of the tools are of 5l-100 mm. This suggests that the technique of retouching the larger flakes into the big points and chopper-chopping tools was used frequently.

An analysis of the physical characteristics of mordern Chinese

Zhang Zhenbiao

1988, 7(04):  314-323. 

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A survey on the physical characteristics of modern Chinese was carried out in Han nationality and 11 minority nationalities in 16 regions of China in 1979-- 1980. 10997 adults (including 8851 males and 3103 females) from 20 to 60 years old were measured. The cluster analysis and the principle component analysis are used here.
Judging from the dendrogram of male and the scattergrams of both sexes, the physical characteristics of modern Chinese can be divided into two types: the northern type and the southern type.
The northern type is mainly distributed in a wide area to the north of the Yangize River. The population consist of Han and minority nationalities living in North, Northeast and Northwest China, as well as Qinghai-Xizang Plateau.
The southern type is distributed in the area south of the Yangtze River. The population of this type consists of Han and minority nationalities living in South China, Southwest China, as well as Taiwan and Hainan Islands.
In comparison with the northern type, the head of the southern type has a longer sagittal dimension, moderate transverse dimension, narrower bigonial breadth, lower facial height, lower and broader nose and shorter stature. The Mongolian fold is usually absent and the direction of the eye aperture is horizontal in most cases. It has a broader eye opening and a thicker red lip.
The results from the cluster analysis and the principle component analysis coincide with that from the analysis of the immunoglobulin Gm factor in forty populations of Chinese as glven by Zhao (1987). It might be suggested that two types of modern Chinese in physical characteristics have existed since the Neolithic period in China.

Characters of the facial cranium in area of Guangxi and Guangdong

Din Xifan, Mo Shitai, Zhang Wenguang

1988, 7(04):  324-328. 

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The means of the upper facial height, the orbital height, the nasal height, the simotic subtense and the palatal height of Chinese male adults in Guangxi and Guangdong are obviously lower than those in Xian area. The upper facial index, the orbital index 1 and nasal index are rather different from those in Xian area. But most of other items of the facial cranium are less different from those in Xian area. The results are compared with the data from Qingdao area.

Sex determination of mandible by discriminant analysis

Yang Maoyou, Liu Wu, Tai Fengjiu

1988, 7(04):  329-334. 

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One hundred and eighty-three Chinese mandibles(male 113, female 70) were measured. Statistical test shows that of all 13 measurements 12 have significant sex differences. The sex differences of mandibular ramus height was found most significant. It can discriminate mandibles 80% accurately alone. 11 mandibular sex discriminant functions were calculated by Fisher's method. The discriminant rate ranges from 85.2% to 87.4%.

The study of hair transverese section in Jiujiang

Zhang Wanzhou, Wang Yin, Liu Xianhua, Wang Yidong

1988, 7(04):  335-341. 

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The author observed and measured 4710 hair transverse sections of 463 healthy people of Han nationality. The relations between the age and hair diameter were analysed. The Chinese hair transverse sections were compared with those of European, other Asian and American samples. The result shows that the various hair diameters of the European and American are shorter than those of the Asian. However the index of hair in this paper is intermediate between those of the Enropean and American in one side, and Japaness and Korean in another side.

Digital hair distribution of the Dong people, Guangxi

Liang Mingkang

1988, 7(04):  342-345. 

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The frequency and pattern of hair distribution on the phalanges of the hand were examined in the Dong with a total number of 279 people including male and female pupils and peasants aged 18 to 50, living in Mapan village, Sanjiang County, Guangxi. The results obtained are similar to those reported in the literature. No hair exists on the distal phalanges, whereas it exists on the proximal and· middle phalanges. As to the incidence of hair on the middle phalanx in the Dong nationality of G1angxi, it is much lower than that in the American (White), the Bengali (Indian), the Japanese, and the Han nationality of China, and it is a little higher than that in the Africans (Nigerian). The incidence of hair on male fingers is higher than that on the female. Hair distribution on both hands in the same individual is fundamentally symmetrical.

A dermatoglyphic study of sole in juvenile

Hua Zhaohe, Wu Runhe

1988, 7(04):  346-352. 

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The normal values of 11 dermatoglyphic parameters of sole in juveniles of Han nationality in Wuhu prefecture of Anhui province were reported. 372 cases (male: 194: female: 178) were examined. In order to record pattern of centre of sole, authors supplemented a plantar arch area in plantar. pattern area. The result can be summarized as follows: 1. The frequencies of toe patterns Ws, Wd, Lt, Lf, As, At are 5.31%, 8.76%, 3.14%, 60.31%, 15.72%, 6.75% in males respectively and 4.78%, 7.13%, 3.88%. 62.13%, 14.78%, 7.30% in females. 2.The toe patterns index: Dankmeije's index is 159.70 in males and 185.39 in females; Furulata's index is 22.18 in males and 18.04 in females; PII is 9.83 in males and 9.71 in females. 3.The frequencies of hallucal patterns W, L. A, are 35.28%, 56.19%, 7.99% in males respectively and 24.16%, 70.22%, 5.627% in females. 4. The frequencies of true patterns of sole inter-digital areas II, II, IV are 7.47%, 44.85%, 9.02% in males respectively and 6.74%, 48.03%, 11.52% in females. 5. The frequency of hypohenar distal area true pattern of sole is 17.78% in males and 9.83% in females. 6. The frequency of true pattern in calcar area is only 0.52% in males and 0.84% in females. 7. The frequency of true pattern in plantar arch area is 1.26% in males and 2.25% in females. 8. True pattern has not been found in sole thenar proximal area or in sole hypothenar proximal area either.
This paper analysed the difference between sexes, left and right feet, nationalities and races.

Studies of taste competence of phenylthicarbamide(PTC) of ten various nationalities, Gansu and Qinghai

Zhang Rang, Yan Ling, Peng Baozhu

1988, 7(04):  353-358. 

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Among 7008 people of Han, Hui, Dongxiang, Tibetan, Yugu, Baoan, Tu. Kazak, Mogolian, Salar, ten various nationalities in Gansu and Qinhai were determined by Harris- Kal-mus' modified method of threshold determination. By using No. 3 solution as the borderline of taste-blindness, the result shows (1) The taste-blindness frequency has significant difference.(P <0.001) among various nationalities. So far the taste-blindness of Baoan nationality is higher than Li nationality. (2) There is no difference of taste -blindness between female and male in various nationalities in total, but females' taste threshold is lower than male. (3) PTC taste blindness and taste threshold had nothing to do with anomalous color vision.

Genetic polymorphism of haptoglobin in 6 populations

Zhao Huiquan, Zhang Guiyin, Duan Yuqin, Yu Shihui

1988, 7(04):  359-362. 

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The phenotypes of haptoglobin were determined for 1854 individuals from 6 Chinese populations in the northeast region. Gene frequencies of haptoglobin were calculated in different populations and were compared with other reported information.

An investigation on consanguineous marriage in nine ethnic groups of Yunnan province

Wang Honglin

1988, 7(04):  363-375. 

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An investigation was carried out on 11598 cases of marriage in Dai, Hani, Yi, Jino, Lahu, Kucong, Hur and Han ethnic groups of Yunnan Province in 1985. The findings are as follows:
1. The difference of consanguineous n1arriage percentage between the urban and rural regions, as well as between ethnic. groups, was significant.
2. The consanguineous marriage percentage in all nine ethnic groups investigated was higher than that of the same groups in developed regions of China.
3. The marriages between first cousins and 1? consins accounted for 84.7% of the total number of consanguineous marriage.
4. The average inbreeding coefficient (AIC) of nine ethnic groups investigated was higher phan that of the same groups in developed areas. Among them the AlC of Kucong (0.018579) was the highest in the country. Even the AIC of Han (0.001935), which showed the lowest value among nine ethnic groups, appeared to be higher than that of Han in Beijing Shanghai and Yichang City of Hubei Province.