Loading...

Table of Content

    15 September 2004, Volume 23 Issue 03
    Previous Issue    Next Issue
    The first skull of Peking Man was found in Layer 11, not in layer 10
    LIN Sheng-long
    2004, 23(03):  175-186. 
    Asbtract ( 251 )   PDF (637KB) ( 133 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    In 1929, Prof. Pei found the first skull of Peking Man from the Lower Cave in the northern Lower Fissure.At the same year, Teilhard et al. described the strata which bore the first skull. They divided the sequence in Loc.1 into 10 Layers[6]. In 1933, Black et al. published 《Fossil Man in Chi-na》[7], in which the authors distinguished the deposits of the cave into 3 regions: Main Deposit, Lower Fissure and Kotzetang and 11 layers were identified. The first skull was located below the bottom of the northern Lower Fissure which is a very smaller part of whole Peking Man Cave. In 1959, Prof. Jia di-vided the strata of Main Deposit into 13 layers[9]. Recently, Xu Qinqi et al. published a research paper, they considered that “Teilhard' s Layer 8-9 are the same at Black' s Layer 8—10; Teilhard' s Layer 10 equals Black' s Layer 11”, “the first skull found in Layer 10 according to Teilhard and Young (1929) or Layer 11 by Black et al. (1933), i. e. the red sandy clay. The only difference is in the name they gave to the layer. Teilhard et al. called it Layer 10, but Black et al. called it Layer 11. ” They also considered that “In 1959 Jia pointed out that Layers 11 —13 were excavated in 1949 and 1951, but the first discovered skull wasfound in 1929, so the skull was from Layer 10 of Jia' s scheme (1959), which is called a red sandy day”, “According to Jia (1959), the human fossil material of Peking Man is distributed in Layers 3 —10”[3].
    Auther of this paper investigates the data of excavation process of Peking Man site during 1929 — 1930 in detail.The result shows that in 1930, Prof. Pei excavated the whole deposits of Lower Cave, which were identified as Layer 11 in 1933 by Black et al. Layer 11 located below Main deposit Layer 10 or Layer δin northern Lower Fissuce, thickness about 10m. Locus E skull and Locus F fossils were found in the top and base of Layer 11. So Black' s Layer 11 does not correspond to Teilhard' s Layer 10 and Jia' s Layer 10. The first skull of Peking Man wasfound in Layer 11, not in Layer 10. The fossil materials of Peking Man are distributed in Layer 3—11. Peking Man lived in the Zhoukoudian region at least by 600ka.
    The morphology of nasal bones of homo erectus from Nanjing and the possibility of gene flow from european fossil hominids
    ZHANG Yin-yun; LIU Wu; ZHANG Luo
    2004, 23(03):  187-195. 
    Asbtract ( 277 )   PDF (251KB) ( 138 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    The highly projecting nasal bones of Homo erectus from Nanjing have been believed to be the evidence for western affinities. However, an observation made in this paper shows that highly projecting nasal bones have not been found in the crania from Africa, Europe and West Asia during the time period of Nanjing Homo erectus or earlier times. This feature appeared much later in Africa and Europe than in Asia. The fossil evidences available cannot support the western affinities of Homo erectus from Nanjing now.
    Estimation of the stature of paleolithic man from Salawusu valley
    SHANG Hong
    2004, 23(03):  196-199. 
    Asbtract ( 288 )   PDF (124KB) ( 166 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    The femur PA88 is more probably supposed as belonging to a female individual based on its median sagittal popliteal diameter of the distal end of shaft and the circumference at the mid-shaft lev-el.Because the femur specimen PA88 was found in the Salawusu gravel of InnerMongolia of China and the geological period could be Late Pleistocene. This paper estimated the stature of individual represented by this specimen according to the regression equations of Mongoloid group first. Based on the median sagittal popliteal diameter, transverse popliteal diameter of the distal end of shaft and the sagit-tal diameter, transverse diameter, circumference at the mid-shaft level the average stature is calculated to be 157.5cm with a formula suggested by Zhang Jizong.
    The femur PA88 is not impossible to belong to a male individual based on its transverse popliteal diameter of the distal end of shaft and the sagittal diameter, transverse diameter at the midshaft level. So the stature should be 165.3cm based on its circumference at the mid-shaft level, 169.8cm and 167.0cm with formulae suggested by Wang Yong-hao and M. Trotter respectively.
    There are some evidences of cultural communications between the Paleolithic culture at Shuidong-gou site and that in the west. It is not impossible that the cultural and physical characters of the people around the district is similar to that. So the stature of femur PA88 could be considered in a wider way. They are, the stature of female PA88 with the formulae by M. Trotter should be 155.1cm as belonging to Whites and 153.0cm as belonging to Blacks. The stature of male PA88 with the formulae by M. Trotter should be 166. 0cm as belonging to Whites and 163.1cm as belonging to Blacks.
    In summary, the individual represented by this specimen should be between 153 cm and 157cm as a female, between 164 cm and 170cm as a male. Compared with other Homo sapiens from Upper Pleistocene in China this individual should be shorter than the Upper Cave Man and taller than the Liu-jiang Man. At the same time this individual should be taller than Beijing Homo erectus as a male.
    Zaoziping paleolithic site in the three gorges region
    PEI Shu-wen; CHEN Fu-you; FENG Xing-wu; GAO Xing; WEI Qi; LI Guo-hong
    2004, 23(03):  200-212. 
    Asbtract ( 197 )   PDF (533KB) ( 126 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    The Zaoziping Paleolithic site on the second terrace of the right bank of the Yangtze River, is located in the Xinwan village, Sanhe town, Fengdu county, Chongqing. The site was excavated in 2000 and 2002 as part of the salvage archeological project in the Three Gorges Region.
    Deposits of the terrace consist of 4 layers, more than 14 metersin thickness. The cultural remains were mainly unearthed from the 4th layer, a layer of fine sands, 1m in thickness, 150 —156m above the sea-level, distributed along the Yangtze River. Over 1000 square meters were unearthed during the two field seasons and 101 stone artifacts were unearthed.
    The stone artifact assemblage includes retouched tools (16), cores (19), flakes (56), stone hammers (1) and chunks (9). The general features of these artifacts are summarized as follows:
    1) The stone raw materials exploited at the site are locally available on ancient riverbeds. Silicarenite is the predominant raw material used for producing stone artifacts.
    2) The principal flaking technique at the site is direct hammer percussion without core preparation.
    3) Most of stone artifacts are medium in size.
    4) Major blanks for tools retouch are complete flakess (62.5 %), followed by incomplete flakes and pebbles.
    5) Most of retouched tools are medium in size.
    6) Scrapers are the dominating tool types, followed by choppers and points.
    7) Modified tools appear to be retouched by direct hammer percussion mostly unifically retouched on the dorsal surface of a blank.
    The stone tool assemblage at the Zaoziping site shows the distinctive character of the Main Indus-try in South China. Geomorphological and stratigraphical similarities between the Zaoziping and Jing-shuiwan site indicate that the two sites can be placed at the same age, i. e. about 80, 000 aBP., which result to the Middle Paleolithic in China.
    Large mammal fossils from the Tianyuan cave, a human fossil site of end-pleistocene age recently discovered near Zhoukoudian
    TONG Hao-wen; LIU Jin-yi; ZHANG Shuang-quan
    2004, 23(03):  213-223. 
    Asbtract ( 215 )   PDF (459KB) ( 162 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Tianyuan Cave is a human fossil-bearing site found recently outside of the core area of prehistoric localitiesin Zhoukoudian area. The newly discovered site is also very rich in large mammal fos-sils, most of which are cervids. Until now, all the mammal fossils recovered here can be included into the living forms except a broken tooth of Crocuta. The geologic age of the new site can be correlated with that of the Upper Cave at Zhoukoudian. Some elements of the mammal fauna have become disap-peared from this region nowadays, they are Martes sp., Ursus thibetanus, Moschus moschiferus, Cervus nippon, Bos sp. and Capricornis sp. The fossil evidence of all these mammal species mentioned above may represent the latest records of their existence in Beijing area. But some elements are the first records of their appearance in Beijing area, such as Arctonyx collaris and Capricornis sp., both of them are oriental animals.
    Somatotyping character of uzbek adults
    LU Shun-hua; ZHENG Lian-bin; LI Shu-yuan; CUI Jing; GULI Banong
    2004, 23(03):  224-228. 
    Asbtract ( 232 )   PDF (164KB) ( 106 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    The somatotyping character of uzbek adults aged 20 to 69 was analysed in a sample inclu-ding 201 subjects (110 males and 91 females) by the Health-Carter somatotyping method. The results showed that mean somatotype of males was the endo-mesomorph category (3.7—5.1—2.0) and that of females was the meso-endomorph category (5.9—4.9 —1.4). Before 60 years old, there was a tenden-cy of change in somatotype ratings. The tendency was related to the growth of age, decreased in ecto-morphic component and increased in other two components. In this stage, there was very significant sexual difference in the somatotype. Compared with the data home and abroad, it is shown that the me-somorphic component obviously dominanct in Uzbek female group. And the somatotype of males was similar to Canadian.
    A study on somatotype of the han youngsters in Weifang of Shandong province with the heath-carter anthropometric method
    JIN Li-xin; ZHU Qin
    2004, 23(03):  229-232. 
    Asbtract ( 219 )   PDF (137KB) ( 129 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    The somatotypes of 2511 students of Han Nationality (1253 boys and 1258 girls) living in urban and rural areas of Weifang of Shandong Province aged between 7-19 years old were randomly collected and studied with the Heath-Carter somatotyping method in August and September, 2000. The mean somatotypes of the urban boys in 7-15 age groups were Central, and in 16-18, Endomorph-Mesomorph. The mean somatotypes of the rural boys in 7-10 were Mesomorph-Ectomorph, in 11-14, Mesomorphic Ectomorph, in 15-17, Central, and in 18-19, Endomorph-Mesomorph. On the other hand, the mean somatotypes of the urban girls in 7-9 were Central, in 10, Balanced Endo-morph, in 11-12, Mesomorph-Ectomorph, and in 13-18, Balanced Endomorph. The mean somato-types of the rural girls in 7-12 were Balanced Ectomorph, in 13-14, Ectomorph-Endomorph, and in 15-18, Balanced Endomorph. The difference in the mean somatotypes became significant between the boys and girls from 9 years old in the city and 7 years old in the country (t =2.87, P <0.05), and more significant from 13 years old (t =4.21, P <0.001).
    Study on the foot size and foot shape of college students in Liaoning province
    LI Yan; XU Fei
    2004, 23(03):  233-238. 
    Asbtract ( 292 )   PDF (219KB) ( 90 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Objective The purpose of this research was to know the developmental state of foot shape of college studentsin Liaoning Province. Methods According to the international commonly used way of Shao Xiangqing standard anthropometic method, we investigated 319 (boys156, girls163) Han nationality college students in Liaoning Province. Results The measured values of foot of male and female college students in Liaoning Province were all smaller than those in Japan. There were significant sex differences among the values of all items. The differences also existed between right and left side of the foot; 23.1 %of male college students and 34.4% of female were in the situation that the right foot was longer than the left, 21.8 %of male and 47.2 % of female were in the situation that the right was equal to the left, and 55.1 % of male and 18. 4 % of female were in the situation that the right foot was shorter than the left. There were significant right-and-left proportional differences between male and female. Among the proportions of three-foot types, the proportion of moderate type was the highest. The proportion of male and female groups in the moderate type, the short-wide type and the long-narrow type of the foot shape were 80.1 % and 81.0 %, 12.2 % and 8.6 % , 7.7 % and 10.4 % respectively. Conclusion The foot shape of male and female college students in Liaoning Province was relatively shorter and thinner. There were notable nationality differences and area differences in foot length and foot width.
    Study on the polymorphism of dyf155s1 locus, Y-specific minisatellite, among Bai population of Yunnan province
    HUANG Yan-mei; WU Xin-yao; CAI Gui-qing; TONG Da-yue; OU Jing-hua; ZENG Yan-hong
    2004, 23(03):  239-247. 
    Asbtract ( 245 )   PDF (293KB) ( 77 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    This study is to reveal the polymorphism of DYF155S1 locus, Y-specific minisatellite, among 136 cases unrelated male in Bai population of Yunnan Province.The analytical methods include Amp-FLP (Amplified fragment length polymorphism) and MVR-PCR (minisatellite variant repeat by PCR) with type 1-specific primer at 5′end and type 4-specific primer at 3′end. It is found that DYF155S1 locus possesses a high polymorphism and its gene diversity (h) reaches 0. 9996. These results indicated that Amp-FLP in combination with MVR-PCR may reveal fully the polymorphism of DYF155S1 locus and provide a useful tools and more data for the field of human genetics, anthropology and forensic medicine.
    Osl dating using single-aliquot protocol and its application to paleolithic sites in Australia
    HAN Zhi-yong; ; SHEN Guan-jun; ZHANG Jia-fu
    2004, 23(03):  248-253. 
    Asbtract ( 140 )   PDF (178KB) ( 73 )  
    Related Articles | Metrics
    Optically stimulated luminescence (OSL) dating is becoming an important Quaternary dating method, especially for sediments that cannot be dated by other methods, such as 14C and uranium-series. OSL dating can usually be reliably applied to sediments of ages ranging from decades to more than 100 kyr.The rapid development of OSL dating techniques over recent years is embodied by the establishment of single-aliquot protocols——— in particular, the single-aliquot regenerative-dose (SAR) protocol. These new techniques require much less sample for analysis than multiple-aliquot protocols and often result in an improvement in precision of equivalent dose estimates. In addition, single-aliquot methods make it possible to date sediments composed of grains that have been bleached by sunlight to different extents at the time of deposition. Various luminescence dating techniques have been applied to Paleolithic sites in Australia in order to provide age controls beyond the practical dating range of 14C. Results show that both thermoluminescence (TL) and OSL dating are feasible methods for sediments that have been sufficiently bleached at the time of deposition, while only single-aliquot protocols can be used to retrieve reliable age data from unequally and incompletely bleached samples. Because of the paucity of well bleached sediments at Paleolithic sites in China, single-aliquot protocols are believed to be the best choice to establish a luminescence-based temporal framework.
Announcement More>>
Commentary More>>
Wechat
Links More>>