Late Pleistocene archaic human crania from Xuchang, China

Zhan-Yang Li; Xiu-Jie Wu; Li-Ping Zhou; Wu Liu; Xing Gao; Xiao-Mei Nian; Erik Trinkaus

doi:10.1126/science.aal2482

Late Pleistocene archaic human crania from Xuchang, China

Science. 2017 Mar 3;355(6328):969-972. doi: 10.1126/science.aal2482.

Authors

Zhan-Yang Li^{1

2}, Xiu-Jie Wu³, Li-Ping Zhou⁴, Wu Liu¹, Xing Gao^{1

5}, Xiao-Mei Nian^{4

6}, Erik Trinkaus⁷

Affiliations

¹ Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China.
² Henan Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Zhengzhou 450000, China.
³ Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China. [email protected] [email protected].
⁴ Laboratory for Earth Surface Processes, Department of Geography, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China.
⁵ University of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Estuarine and Coastal Research, East China Normal University, 3663 North Zhongshan Road, Shanghai 200062, China.
⁷ Department of Anthropology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA. [email protected] [email protected].

PMID: 28254945
DOI: 10.1126/science.aal2482

Abstract

Two early Late Pleistocene (~105,000- to 125,000-year-old) crania from Lingjing, Xuchang, China, exhibit a morphological mosaic with differences from and similarities to their western contemporaries. They share pan-Old World trends in encephalization and in supraorbital, neurocranial vault, and nuchal gracilization. They reflect eastern Eurasian ancestry in having low, sagittally flat, and inferiorly broad neurocrania. They share occipital (suprainiac and nuchal torus) and temporal labyrinthine (semicircular canal) morphology with the Neandertals. This morphological combination reflects Pleistocene human evolutionary patterns in general biology, as well as both regional continuity and interregional population dynamics.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Animals
Biological Evolution*
China
Fossils / anatomy & histology*
Humans
Neanderthals / anatomy & histology
Occipital Bone / anatomy & histology
Semicircular Canals / anatomy & histology
Skull / anatomy & histology*