Hominin evolution and diversity: a comparison of earlier-Middle and later-Middle Pleistocene hominin fossil variation in China

Abstract

Historical views of Asia as an evolutionary ‘backwater’ are associated with the idea that Homo erectus experienced long periods of stasis and ultimately went extinct. However, recent discoveries of well-dated Middle Pleistocene hominin fossils in China have considerably challenged these ideas and provide sufficient data to propose a testable model that explains the patterning of variation in Middle Pleistocene China, and why it changed over time. A series of hominin fossil studies comparing earlier-Middle and later-Middle Pleistocene groups confirm that the expressions of certain traits shift around 300 ka. Fossils from the later Middle Pleistocene are more variable with a mix of archaic traits as well as ones that are common in Western Eurasian early Homo sapiens and Neanderthals. The period around 300 ka appears to have been a critical turning point for later-Middle Pleistocene morphological changes in China. It coincides with a phase of climatic instability in the Northern Hemisphere between Marine Isotope Stages 12 and 10 that would have led to changes in gene flow patterning, and regional population survival/extinction. This localized and testable model can be used for future explorations of hominin evolution in later Pleistocene eastern Eurasia. This article is part of the theme issue ‘The impact of Chinese palaeontology on evolutionary research’.

Foundation and Frontier – Centenary Path of Dental Anthropology in China

“…Teeth Xiahe are similar to Penghu (Fig. 6 k) due to the complex morphology of the crown,such as protostylid at EDJ level of lower M2 and the robust roots [Chen et al, 2019;Liu et al, 2022].…”

“…6 d) [Song et al, 2019]. Some believe that these mosaic features are the result of continuous evolution, and diversity is the consequence of interactions of populations and complex natural environments [Liu et al, 2019;Liu, Wu, 2022]. With new discoveries of Denisovan's mandible (Fig.…”

“…Ni Xijun comments that the connection between the mandible of Xiahe and the Denisovans of Altai is not clear, because among the six collagen sequences extracted from Xiahe mandible for systematic analysis, only one locus of Single Amino Acid Polymorphism (SAP) is consistent with the Denisovans, and this locus became key evidence to support the connection, but there is another locus in the Xiahe mandible that is not present in Denisovans [Ni, 2022]. According to Liu Wu, Xiahe mandible and teeth do not have morphological expressions that distinguish them from other Middle Pleistocene hominins in China [Liu, Wu, 2022]. Teeth Xiahe are similar to Penghu (Fig.…”

“…6 l) [Ji et al, 2021;Shao et al, 2021;Ni et al, 2021], and he proposed a hypothesis of multi-directional "shuttle dispersal model" for the evolution of Homo by phylogenetic and biogeographic analyses, which present the Jinjiushan, Hualongdong, Dali, Xiahe, and Homo Longi belong to a monophyletic group and have been separated with Homo sapiens around 948.73ka. Liu Wu propose that, it may be a proper way to treat the late Middle Pleistocene hominin fossils with combined or mosaic morphological features as uncleared taxa before totally understand their morphological diversities [Liu, Wu, 2022].…”

Восстановление внешнего облика гоминин второй половины среднего плейстоцена с территории Китая (Хуалундун, Цзиньнюшань, Дали, Харбин) / Facial Reconstruction of Hominins of the Second Half of the Middle Pleistocene Period from China

“…В работе были использованы подробные описания и измерения черепов, проведенные китайскими и западными антропологами (Wu et al 2019;Wu et al 2021;Wu et al 2023;Ji et al 2021;Schwartz, Tattersall 2003). Абрисы в анфас и профиль выполнены по фотографиям и 3D-моделям во фронтальной и латеральной нормах из соответствующих работ (Wu et al 2019;Liu et al 2019;Wu 1988;Schwartz, Tattersall 2003;Wu 1981;Wu 2020;Ji et al 2021;Chen at al. 2019;Chang et al 2015).…”