对陈家窝子,公王岭蓝田猿人的分类及地质时代问题的探讨

Discussion on the Taxonomy and Geologic Age of Homo erectus lantianensis from Chenjiawo and Gongwangling

The discovery of Homo erectus lantianensis was an important event in paleoanthropology in the 1960 's (in association with the hominid fossils were two mammalian assemblages). But there are still some questions which have been talked and discussed after the publication of a series of papers on the study of the fossil specimens of Lantian. About the human fossils, the mandible from Chenjiawo shows more advanced characteristics, but the cranium from Gongwangling, more primitive. The features of the mammalian faunas associated with these hominids are different from each other in many important respects, which was chiefly caused by the different paleocnvironment and paleoclimate conditions in different geologic periods rather than by the geographical segregating in the same time. The fossil-bearing bed of Gongwangling is much lower than that of Chenjiawo. And the paleomagnetic date of the Gongwangling, 1.10-1,15 myr, is much older than that, 0.6-0.65 myr, of Chenjiawo 's. So, it is necessary and possible to divide Homo erectus lantianensis into two subspecies: Homo erectus lantianensis Woo, 1963 and Homo erectus gongwanglingensis (subsp. nov.). The former is characteristics by the mandible from Chenjiawo, which, according to the law of priority, still retains the original name; the latter, by the cranium from Gongwangling, which is a new subspecies namc proposed by the author of this paper.