Early Pleistocene hominid teeth recovered in Mohui cave in Bubing Basin, Guangxi,South China

Since the 1950s, researchers who examine the issue of human beginnings often turn to Africa where there is a picture of human origins and evolution based on African hominid fossils with ages that are constantly revised to be older and older. However, there are many other unsolved problems about early human origins and evolution that may be solved by looking outside Africa. Over seventy years ago, Asia was described as a dispersal center of the earliest human industry, and a key arena for huma…     

A complete human pelvis from the Middle Pleistocene of Spain.

The Middle Pleistocene site of Sima de los Huesos in Sierra de Atapuerca, Spain, has yielded around 2,500 fossils from at least 33 different hominid individuals. These have been dated at more than 200,000 years ago and have been classified as ancestors of Neanderthals. An almost complete human male pelvis (labelled Pelvis 1) has been found, which we associate with two fragmentary femora. Pelvis 1 is robust and very broad with a very long superior pubic ramus, marked iliac flare, and a long femoral neck. This pattern is probably the primitive condition from which modern humans departed. A modern human newborn would pass through the birth canal of Pelvis 1 and this would be even larger in a female individual. We estimate the body mass of this individual at 95 kg or more. Using the cranial capacities of three specimens from Sima de los Huesos, the encephalization quotients are substantially smaller than in Neanderthals and modern humans.     

Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash,Ethiopia

The origin of anatomically modern Homo sapiens and the fate of Neanderthals have been fundamental questions in human evolutionary studies for over a century. A key barrier to the resolution of these questions has been the lack of substantial and accurately dated African hominid fossils from between 100,000 and 300,000 years ago. Here we describe fossilized hominid crania from Herto, Middle Awash, Ethiopia, that fill this gap and provide crucial evidence on the location, timing and contextual circumstances of the emergence of Homo sapiens. Radioisotopically dated to between 160,000 and 154,000 years ago, these new fossils predate classic Neanderthals and lack their derived features. The Herto hominids are morphologically and chronologically intermediate between archaic African fossils and later anatomically modern Late Pleistocene humans. They therefore represent the probable immediate ancestors of anatomically modern humans. Their anatomy and antiquity constitute strong evidence of modern-human emergence in Africa.     

New hominid skull material from the late Miocene of Macedonia in northern Greece

Miocene hominoid material is very scarce and has previously only been reported as cranial fragments in the Old World. Here we describe a new specimen of Ouranopithecus macedoniensis, which consists of the right part of the face of an adult male with a portion of the frontal bone, a portion of the left part of the face and the maxilla with complete dentition except the right third molar. The characters of this specimen are not congruent with those of Sivapithecus and the pongids, but are more primitive and plesiomorphic for the recent hominid clade (Gorilla, Pan and Homo). The dental characters differ morphologically and metrically from those of the recent great apes and fit better with Australopithecus afarensis. Ouranopithecus now seems the best candidate forerunner of the Plio-pleistocene Homininae (Australopithecus and Homo). This specimen was discovered in September 1989, in the late Miocene deposits of central Macedonia (G.K., L. de B. and G.B.), and prepared by G.K. in Thessaloniki and G. Mouchelin in Poitiers. It comes from the new locality of Xirochori in the red sandstone of the Nea Messimbria formation. The fossil is the property of the University of Thessaloniki, Greece (catalogue number XIR-1).     

New material of the earliest hominid from the Upper Miocene of Chad

Discoveries in Chad by the Mission Paleoanthropologique Franco-Tchadienne have substantially changed our understanding of early human evolution in Africa. In particular, the TM 266 locality in the Toros-Menalla fossiliferous area yielded a nearly complete cranium (TM 266-01-60-1), a mandible, and several isolated teeth assigned to Sahelanthropus tchadensis and biochronologically dated to the late Miocene epoch (about 7 million years ago). Despite the relative completeness of the TM 266 cranium, there has been some controversy about its morphology and its status in the hominid clade. Here we describe new dental and mandibular specimens from three Toros-Menalla (Chad) fossiliferous localities (TM 247, TM 266 and TM 292) of the same age. This new material, including a lower canine consistent with a non-honing C/P3 complex, post-canine teeth with primitive root morphology and intermediate radial enamel thickness, is attributed to S. tchadensis. It expands the hypodigm of the species and provides additional anatomical characters that confirm the morphological differences between S. tchadensis and African apes. S. tchadensis presents several key derived features consistent with its position in the hominid clade close to the last common ancestor of chimpanzees and humans.     

Carbonate dissolution and deep-water paleoceanography of the South China Sea since the Middle Pleistocene

Based on the data of oxygen isotope, micropaleontology and paleomagnetism, we set up the detailed chronology of Core 17957-2 from the southern South China Sea and discuss the change of carbonate dissolution over the last 800 ka. Down-core variation of carbonate content records the “Pacific-type” cycle of higher glacial values and lower interglacial values, though the core lies above the modern lysocline. Carbonate dissolution indices indicate that several severe dissolution of CaCO₃happened during the transition from interglacial to glacial stages. Spectral analyses of these indices show that the carbonate dissolution periodicities are mainly made up of 500 ka and 100 ka. Compared with the cycles of carbonate dissolution of the Indian Ocean, the long-term (500-ka) periodicity reflects the characteristic of the deep-water circulation of the oceans.     

Middle Pleistocene mammalian fauna of Shanyangzhai cave in Qinhuangdao area,China and its zoogeographical significance

The mammalian fauna with clear characteristics of transitional region has been found in the Shanyangzhai cave of the Qin-huangdao area where the three Chinese zoogeographical regions (the Northeast region, the North region and the Mengxin region) join. Abundant fossils mainly are small mammals. The fauna includes typical species derived from three zoogeographical regions and can be compared with the middle Pleistocene faunas found in both the Zhoukoudian (the North region) and the Jinniushan (the Northeast ...     

澜沧江中游云县景东地区哺乳动物的初步研究

澜沦江中游云县、景东地区,经考察共有哺乳动物58种,隶属8目26科50属,该地区哺乳动物区系组成特点是:东洋界种类占绝对优势,有42种,占种数的72.4％,占北界仅2种,占3.4％,广布于两界的14种,占24.1％;华南区的种类明显多于西南区的种类,有11种;食肉目及啮齿目动物种类多,共35种,占60.4％,其中食肉目19种,占32.8％,啮齿日16种,占27.6％;灵长目种类也较多,有黑长臂猿等6种;树栖种类繁多,有26种,近于总种数之半.该地区哺乳动物垂直分布较明显,可分为三个带:河谷低山带,海拔800～1500米,主要有棕果蝠、帚尾豪猪等兽类;中山带,海拔1500～2400米,常见有白尾鼹和猕猴等种类;高山带、海拔2400米以上,生活有黑长臂猿、水鹿等种类。对鼠类作了数量统计,发现黄胸鼠和小家鼠是该地区鼠类的优势种。兽类资源丰富,共有52种。     

贵州省盘县中三叠世羊圈幻龙新材料的研究

详细描述产自贵州省盘县新民乡羊圈村中三叠统关岭组上段的一件近于完整的羊圈幻龙新标本,并补充完善该种头后骨骼学信息。厘定后的羊圈幻龙的鉴定特征为:4个前颌骨獠齿后面跟着一个小的前颌骨齿;5~6个小的上颌骨齿后面跟着一对上颌骨獠齿;腕骨4块;间锁骨没有后突;荐椎4块;存在多指(趾)式。新标本的头后骨骼首次呈现一些原认为仅出现在幻龙属姊妹群——鸥龙属的一些特征,如间锁骨没有后突,腕骨4块,荐椎4块及存在多指(趾)式。这些特征的发现为深入认识和区分幻龙属和鸥龙属之间性状的异同提供了重要的信息。另外,新标本与羊圈幻龙模式标本,以及相同地点、相同地层层位产出的小吻幻龙模式标本IVPP V 14294在体型、齿式和头骨骨骼模式等高度一致,且与幻龙属其他种明显不同,因此认为它们系同物异名。鉴于N.rostellatus后出,应予弃用。     

New views on age of the Salawusu Formation of Late Pleistocene in northern China

The Salawusu Formation in the Salawusu River basin of Inner Mongolia is a typical sequence of the Upper Pleistocene in northern China. However, there have been some different views about the division and age of stratigraphic facies since the establishment of the Salawusu Formation. According to the stratigraphic subdivision and dating of the Dishaogouwan section, it is thought that the fluviolacustrine-aeolian sand sequence from the Dishaogouwan section can be compared with loess, deep-sea deposit records and climatic fluctuations of glacial period. The Salawusu Formation of fluviolacustrine facies was formed in the last interglacial period from 140 to 70 ka BP, roughly corresponding to the fifth stage of deep-sea oxygen isotope, and developed in the same period as the palaeosol S1 on the Loess Plateau; the aeolian sand of the Chengchuan Formation was formed in the last glacial period from 70 to 10 ka BP, constituting the heteropic geological body along with the Malan Loess on the Loess Plateau; the fluviolacustrine deposit and black soil of the Dagouwan Formation and the Dishaogouwan Formation was formed in the Holocene warm period from 9 700 to 3 000 a BP, or developed in the same period as the plaeosol B1 on the Loess Plateau.     

Stratigraphic,chronological and behavioural contexts of Pleistocene Homo sapiens from Middle Awash,Ethiopia

Clarifying the geographic, environmental and behavioural contexts in which the emergence of anatomically modern Homo sapiens occurred has proved difficult, particularly because Africa lacked adequate geochronological, palaeontological and archaeological evidence. The discovery of anatomically modern Homo sapiens fossils at Herto, Ethiopia, changes this. Here we report on stratigraphically associated Late Middle Pleistocene artefacts and fossils from fluvial and lake margin sandstones of the Upper Herto Member of the Bouri Formation, Middle Awash, Afar Rift, Ethiopia. The fossils and artefacts are dated between 160,000 and 154,000 years ago by precise age determinations using the 40Ar/39Ar method. The archaeological assemblages contain elements of both Acheulean and Middle Stone Age technocomplexes. Associated faunal remains indicate repeated, systematic butchery of hippopotamus carcasses. Contemporary adult and juvenile Homo sapiens fossil crania manifest bone modifications indicative of deliberate mortuary practices.     

Upper Pleistocene human scapula from Salawusu, Inner Mongolia, China

The fossil tooth found in Salawusu Valley, Inner Mongolia is the first Paleolithic human fossil found in China and even in East Asia[1, 2]. The Paleolithic arti- facts recognized in Salawusu as well as those in Shui- donggou represent the earliest Paleoli…     

New discovery of fossil cycad-like plants from the Middle Jurassic of West Liaoning,China

The Cycadales are one of the most ancient lineages of seed plants, with a fossil record that extends over 250 mil- lion years. Cycads are believed to have originated from the Late Palaeozoic, and reached its maximum diversity and distribution during the Mesozoic; however, their evo- lutionary history has remained relatively poorly under- stood[1―4]. This largely results from the lack of anatomi- cally well preserved fossil evidence and reproductive re- mains. In recent years, more researche…     

中国眼子菜属一新种

近年来在四川、黑龙江和新疆等省、自治区发现眼子菜属一个新种，该新种因具异枝异叶，被命名为异枝眼子菜（新种）；其果具相同的背腹脊（棱）各一条；嘴小，背曲如钩；被片果时变厚硬而绿色；鲜果球形，干后果皮的在皮细胞呈多角形，而不同于属内其他种类。且生态变异幅度大，生丛密杂草之空隙中者，无浮泛叶，正常开花结果；生近岸波动之浅水中者，则通常不分枝。