Table of Content

16 December 2002, Volume 21 Issue S1

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Three-dimensional morphometric analyses of Hominoid lower molars from Yuanmou in Yunnan Province, China

LIU Wu; ZHENG Liang; Alan Walker

2002, 21(S1):  1-13. 

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Analysis of 3D measurements of 13 landmarks on 72 Yuanmou Hominoid lower molars and some comparative samples, using Euclidean Distance Matrix Analysis (EDMA), show that the 3D morphometric features of Yuanmou Homi noid lower molars largely resemble those of Lufengpithecus. Compared with extant great apes and humans, both Yuanmou Hominoid and Lufengpithecus differ markedly from humans, whereas they show much resemblance to apes. The two Chinese hominoids and extant great apes are different from humans in many of the same ways. Moreover, 3D morphometric features of Yuanmou Hominoid lower molars differ from those of each of the three extant great apes in similar ways. Of the three, the orangutan is the closest match to Yuanmou Hominoid in tooth morphology. However, the exact implications of these similarities and differences remain to be determined.

Eruption sequence of the lower permanent dentition of Lufengpithecus lufengensis

ZHAO Ling-xia; LU Qing-wu

2002, 21(S1):  14-18. 

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The paper aims to reconstruct the eruption sequence of the permanent teeth of Lufengpithecus lufengensis. Eruption sequence here means the order of appearance of the tooth crowns out of the alveolar crypt. The permanent dental developments of five juvenile mandibles are observed and analyzed via radiograph. Using such records as the stages of crown and root formation, location of the crown occlusion relative to the alveolar margin, and wear degrees of the erupted teeth, the eruption sequence of the mandibular permanent teeth of Lufengpithecus lufengensis is reasonably derived as M1 I1 I2 M2 P3 P4 C M3. This order is seen to differ very markedly from that in modern humans, and to be similar to that in apes.

Longgupo Hominoid mandible belongs to ape

WU Xin-zhi

2002, 21(S1):  19-24. 

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The present author made comparisons between the mandibular fragment and teeth attached on it from longgupo, Wushan on one side,and the corresponding specimens of early Homo of East Africa, Homo erectus from Dmanisi and Lufengpithecus from Yuanmou on other side. The results showed that the size of Wushan specimens are much smaller than those of early Homo of East Africa and Dmanisi mandible, and are concordant with that of Lufengpithecus from Yuanmou. Most of the characters which have been used to attribute Wushan mandible to Homo by some scholars, are shared by both hominid and ape. Among these characters, bifurcation of the root of the premolar is one of the characters of Lufengpithecusand seldom seen in hominid. The position of the anterior contact facet and the ratio of the length of talonid to that of the crown of Wushan premolar are characteristic in ape. Among the ape fossils avaliable in China Lufengpithecus is the closest relative of Wushan ape. Whether they have ancestor-descendant relation is waiting for more findings to prove.

Fossil human humerus of late Pleistocene from the Taiwan Straits

CAI Bao-quan

2002, 21(S1):  25-30. 

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A highly petrified human right humerus was salvaged from the Taiwan Straits. The large and robust humerus has a well developed deltoid tuberosity that causes the obvious flexion at mid shaft. The axes of the upper and lower parts of the shaft are not on the same line and make an angle of 65°. This is considered a primitive trait different from that of Neolithic and modern humans, suggesting that the humerus is at the same evolutionary stage as "Minatogawa Man" from Japan and "Obercassel Man" from Germany. Coexistent fossil mammals indicate that the fossil humerus is late Late Pleistocene.

A study of the lithic assemblage from Zhoukoudian Locality 15

GAO Xing

2002, 21(S1):  31-52. 

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Preliminary Study on Raw Materials Exploitation at Donggutuo Site, Nihewan Basin, North China

PEI Shu-wen; HOU Ya-mei

2002, 21(S1):  53-66. 

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The present study examines material quarrying, utilization, and exploitation strategy with respect to availability, quality and distribution at Donggutuo, a Lower Pleistocene archeological site in the Nihewan Basin of North China. Through identification of the bedrocks in the vicinity, the analysis reveals that raw materials available at the Donggutuo site are mainly chert, dolomicrite, siliceous dolomite, siliceous limestone, tectonic breccia, quartzite and intermediate lava. Related documents and a geological survey of the area demonstrate that the chert was quarried from dolomite within the Gaoyuzhuang Formation of the Mesoproterozoic Changcheng Group, and the quartzite from the Yousuopu Formation of the Archeozoic Qianxi Group, as well as from Jurassic volcanic lava. Fractures formed by tectonic movements of the Yanshan Stage and the Himalaya Stage made it convenient to quarry these materials. It is observed that fragmentary rock pieces were directly collected and quarried from local fracture belts and that this became the principal strategy of raw material exploitation adopted by the Donggutuo toolmakers. In general, raw materials were not efficiently used, and many of them could have been reduced, retouched and used again. Some suggestions are also proposed to improve the understanding of earlyhumans' tool complex in the Nihewan Basin.

Stratigraphy and TL Dating of Paleolithic sites in the Luonan Basin,China

WANG She-Jjiang; HUANG Pei-hua

2002, 21(S1):  67-77. 

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Between 1995 and 1999 the Longyadong cave site and 50 open air Paleolithic sites were investigated and excavated in the Luonan Basin of China. A total of 1?751 stone artifacts were collected from open air sites, and fossils from about 20 animal species as well as 65?000 lithic artifacts were excavated from the cave site. This paper provides a preliminary study of site lithic stratigraphics in their geological context as well as the results of thermoluminescence (TL) dating.
The TL dates of five soil samples place the sites into the middle to late period of the Middle Pleistocene (Q22—3). Upon further taking into account strata relationships, three cultural periods were identified in Longyadong cave. When compared with the TL dates and stratigraphy from Zhoukoudian Locality 1, loess deposits in Shaanxi Luochuan, red earth in Anhui and deep sea records, Longyadong is in the range of 500—250 kyr, approximately the same timeframe as Zhoukoudian Locality 1.

U-series dating of Ganqian Cave in Guangxi and its anthropological implications

SHEN Guan-juan; SHI Li; WANG Wei; WANG Qian

2002, 21(S1):  78-87. 

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From Ganqian (Tubo) Cave a total of 17 hominid teeth attributed to late Homo sapiens has been collected along with an abundance of mammalian fossils. The fossiliferous deposits are bracketed by the capping and second flowstone layers, which yielded 230 Th/ 234 U dates of ～93 and ～220 ka, marking the minimum and maximum age of the hominid teeth respectively. Two U series methods performed on two mammalian teeth gave dates in the range of 85 and 139 ka, lending support to the stratigraphic order of the depositional sequence. The results presented in this paper point to an occurrence of modern Homo sapiens in southern China much earlier than has been thought, which is supported by the dating of nearby Liujiang and Bailiandong hominid sites. Taken together, these data suggest that China should not be considered as a backwater in recent human evolution where all the previous populations were replaced.