The Homo sapiens Cave hominin site of Mulan Mountain,Jiangzhou District,Chongzuo,Guangxi with emphasis on its age  

作　　者：JIN ChangZhu PAN WenShi ZHANG YingQi CAI YanJun XU QinQi TANG ZhiLu WANG Wei WANG Yuan LIU JinYi QIN DaGong R. Lawrence Edwards CHENG Hai 

机构地区：[1]Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China [2]School of Life Sciences, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China [3]Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Xi'an 710075, China [4]Natural History Museum of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, Nanning 530012, China [5]Department of Geology and Geophysics, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55455, USA

出　　处：《Chinese Science Bulletin》2009年第21期3848-3856,共9页

基　　金：Supported by the Key Knowledge Innovation Project of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (Grant No. KZCX2-YW-106);National Basic Research Program of China (Grant No. 2006CB806400)

摘　　要：One of the most hotly debated and frontal issues in paleoanthropology focuses on the origins of modern humans. Recently, an incomplete hominin mandible with a distinctly weaker mental protuberance than modern human and a great variety of coexisting fossil mammals were unearthed from the Homo sapiens Cave of Mulan Mountain, Chongzuo, Guangxi. The mammalian fauna from the Homo sapiens Cave characterized by the combination of Elephas kiangnanensis, first occurring Elephas maixmus, and Megatapirus augustus, and strikingly different from the Early Pleistocene Gigantopithecus fauna and the Middle Pleistocene Ailuropoda-Stogodon fauna of South China could be regarded as an early representive of the typical Asian elephant fauna. Faunal analysis, biostratigraphic correlation, and, most importantly, U-series dating all consistently support an estimate of ca. 110 ka for the age of the fossil Homo sapiens and coexisting mammalian fauna, that is, the early Late Pleistocene. The fauna is mainly made up of tropical-subtropical elements, but grassland elements have a much greater variety than forest elements, which probably indicates a drier climate at that time. This discovery of early Homo sapiens at the Mulan Mountain will play a significant role in the study of the origin and its environmental background of modern humans.One of the most hotly debated and frontal issues in paleoanthropology focuses on the origins of modern humans. Recently, an incomplete hominin mandible with a distinctly weaker mental protuberance than modern human and a great variety of coexisting fossil mammals were unearthed from the Homo sapiens Cave of Mulan Mountain, Chongzuo, Guangxi. The mammalian fauna from the Homo sapiens Cave characterized by the combination of Elephas kiangnanensis, first occurring Elephas maixmus, and Megatapirus augustus, and strikingly different from the Early Pleistocene Gigantopithecus fauna and the Middle Pleistocene Ailuropoda-Stogodon fauna of South China could be regarded as an early representive of the typical Asian elephant fauna. Faunal analysis, biostratigraphic correlation, and, most importantly, U-series dating all consistently support an estimate of ca. 110 ka for the age of the fossil Homo sapiens and coexisting mammalian fauna, that is, the early Late Pleistocene. The fauna is mainly made up of tropical-subtropical elements, but grassland elements have a much greater variety than forest elements, which probably indicates a drier climate at that time. This discovery of early Homo sapiens at the Mulan Mountain will play a significant role in the study of the origin and its environmental background of modern humans.

关 键 词：早期智人 木兰 人族 广西 年龄 现代人类起源 哺乳动物化石 哺乳动物群 

分 类 号：Q981.4[天文地球—古生物学与地层学] TS974.3[生物学—人类学]