Archaic human remains from Hualongdong, China, and Middle Pleistocene human continuity and variation

Abstract

Middle to Late Pleistocene human evolution in East Asia has remained controversial regarding the extent of morphological continuity through archaic humans and to modern humans. Newly found ∼300,000-y-old human remains from Hualongdong (HLD), China, including a largely complete skull (HLD 6), share East Asian Middle Pleistocene (MPl) human traits of a low vault with a frontal keel (but no parietal sagittal keel or angular torus), a low and wide nasal aperture, a pronounced supraorbital torus (especially medially), a nonlevel nasal floor, and small or absent third molars. It lacks a malar incisure but has a large superior medial pterygoid tubercle. HLD 6 also exhibits a relatively flat superior face, a more vertical mandibular symphysis, a pronounced mental trigone, and simple occlusal morphology, foreshadowing modern human morphology. The HLD human fossils thus variably resemble other later MPl East Asian remains, but add to the overall variation in the sample. Their configurations, with those of other Middle and early Late Pleistocene East Asian remains, support archaic human regional continuity and provide a background to the subsequent archaic-to-modern human transition in the region.

Revolutionary Fossils, Ancient Biomolecules, and Reflections in Ethics and Decolonization: Paleoanthropology in 2019

“…Related to the timing and complexity of the dispersal of H. sapiens out of Africa, and the emergence and evolution of various human‐like forms across Eurasia, excavations at the site of Hualongdong in present‐day China have yielded Middle Pleistocene hominin fossil remains dated to between 331,000 and 275,000 years old (Wu et al. 2019). Using a combination of qualitative comparisons and quantitative measurements, the authors describe this collection of fossils, which includes a fragmentary cranium (HLD 6), as morphologically consistent with previous finds from East Asia during this period, such as Dali and Hexian.…”

New advances in the study of prehistoric human activity on the Tibetan Plateau

“…为Initial Upper Paleolithic(IUP); 在阿尔泰山地区的通 天洞和内蒙古东部的金斯太遗址 [37,38] [39] , 并且距今5万年以后可能还有现代人的加入 [40] . 因此推 断, 在中更新世, 东亚地区可能广泛分布着丹尼索瓦 人 [41] , 东亚北部可能有少量尼安德特人分布, 而在晚更 新世晚期, 东亚北部地区可能同时分布着丹尼索瓦 个齿根以及第三臼齿缺失或未萌发等特征, 均在中国 境内已知古人类化石中有较高的出现频率 [4,42~46] , 其中 臼齿含3个齿根及第三臼齿缺失现象也只在现代亚洲 人群中有较高的出现频率 [42,47,48] . 这一方面暗示中国已 知部分中更新世早期智人化石可能就是丹尼索瓦人, 或者是有待认定的其他古人类成员 [49] ; 另一方面从形 态学上揭示了青藏高原古人类与东亚地区其他古人类 存在密切的联系或基因交流, 丹尼索瓦人或有待认定 的其他古人类成员等对现代亚洲人群有较大比例的遗 传贡献.…”

A review of Denisovans

“…(3) 金牛山(~160 ka); (4) 丁村54100地点(200~160 ka); (5) 大荔(300~205或250~100 ka) [34,35] ; (6) 灵井 (125~105 ka) [36] ; (7) 巢县(200~160、~212或360~310 ka); (8) 兴隆洞(154~116 ka); (9) 长阳(~195 ka); (10) 华龙洞(331~275 ka) [37] ; (11) 桐梓 (240~172 ka) [38] ; (12) 盘县大洞(300~130 ka); (13) 马坝(300~130 ka); (14) 澎湖1(<500 ka) [39,40] . 底图来源www.naturalearthdata.com网站 Figure 1 Archaeological sites with fossils of archaic humans [19,20,23,28] or early modern human [6,9,21,29−31] dated to 300-100 ka.…”

“…4 of Zhoukoudian; (3) Jinniushan (~160 ka); (4) Loc. 54100 of Dingcun (200-160 ka); (5) Dali (300-250 or 250-100 ka) [34,35] ; (6) Lingjing (125-105 ka) [36] ; (7) Chaoxian (200-160, 212 or 360-310 ka); (8) Xinglong cave (154-116 ka); (9) Changyang (~195 ka); (10) Hualong cave (331-275 ka) [37] ; (11) Tongzi (240-172 ka) [38] ; (12) Panxian Dadong (300-130 ka); (13) Mabe (30-130 ka); (14) Penghu 1 (< 500 ka) [39,40] . The base map was downloaded from www.naturalearthdata.com 图 2 出土于丹尼索瓦洞的丹人化石(a)~(d) [19,41] 和出土于白石崖溶洞的丹人化石(e) [23] Figure 2 Denisovan fossils from Denisova cave (a−d) [19,41] and the Xiahe Denisovan mandible from Baiyshiya karst cave (e) [ (a)).…”

“…而所 发现的人骨化石则因个体较小 [44] 或超过碳十四测年上 限 [49] 等原因, 也均未获得准确年代. 此外, 研究者基于 基因序列差异为部分化石计算了遗传学年代 [18,22,45] , 但 [37,53,54] . [42,43] , 得益于古DNA测序技术的革新与发 展, 其高覆盖度(30倍覆盖度)的核基因组信息也被获 取 [18] , 为探索丹人与同期其他古老型人类以及早期现 代人之间的关系提供了更多的遗传学证据.…”