Highlights

Please wait a minute...


For Selected: Download Citations EndNote Ris BibTeX Toggle Thumbnails

Select

Progress in the study of fossil orangutans in South China LIAO Wei Acta Anthropologica Sinica    2024, 43 (02): 199-213.   DOI: 10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2024.0016 Abstract （98）   HTML （29）    PDF（pc） （2534KB）（99）       Knowledge map    Save The recent studies of newly discovered Pongo fossils with precise absolute age brackets have deepened our understanding of their taxonomy, teeth size evolution and its relationship with environmental changes in southern China during the Pleistocene period. In the present study, we summarize the representative Pleistocene orangutan fossil-bearing sites in southern China and discuss the latest research progress on orangutan fossils. The orangutan fossil found so far and the chronological results indicate that orangutans first appeared in southern China in the early Early Pleistocene and lasted until the Late Pleistocene. From the results of the current studies, at least two species of orangutans may have existed in southern China during the Pleistocene period. One of them is Pongo weidenreichi that is characterized by its overall larger dental size, a high frequency of lingual cingulum remnants and a low frequency of moderate to heavy wrinkling on its molars. P. weidenreichi survived in southern China from the Early Pleistocene to the Late Pleistocene. The other orangutan species, Pongo devosi, may have first appeared in southern China during the late Middle Pleistocene. Compared with P. weidenreichi, P. devosi is distinguished by its relatively smaller overall dental size, relatively lower frequency of lingual cingulum remnants on its molars, the well-developed lingual pillar and lingual cingulum on its incisors and relatively higher frequency of moderate to heavy wrinkling on its molars. More fossil evidences are needed to confirm the relationship between P. weidenreichi and P. devosi in future study. The teeth size evolution of Pleistocene orangutans shows obvious stages. Metric data of orangutan teeth fossils (>1000) from mainland Southeast Asia sites reveal that the reduction in the size of orangutan teeth fossils occurred mainly from the Early Pleistocene to the Middle Pleistocene. And orangutan teeth fossils remained relatively stable in their sizes from the Middle to Late Pleistocene. The stable carbon isotope data of Early to Late Pleistocene mammalian fossil teeth from mainland Southeast Asia can be used to reconstruct changes in the paleoenvironment and could provide some clues to interpret dental size variation of Pongo assemblages in a broader temporal and environmental context. The carbon isotope data show that dental size reduction in orangutan fossils is closely linked to environmental changes. The dental size changes in orangutans appear to coincide with the expansion of savannah biomes and the contraction of forest habitats from the Middle Pleistocene onward. Table and Figures | Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

Select

Changes of the prehistoric people reflected by their remains from the Wuba cemetery in Gansu Province HE Letian, CHEN Guoke, YANG Yishi Acta Anthropologica Sinica    2024, 43 (02): 247-258.   DOI: 10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2024.0020 Abstract （88）   HTML （25）    PDF（pc） （1989KB）（118）       Knowledge map    Save Located in northwestern China, the Hexi Corridor was an important route for communication between east-west and north-south in prehistoric and historical times. In the context of the rise of transcontinental exchanges, the migration, diffusion, and integration of prehistoric populations in the Hexi Corridor and their relationship with the development of archaeological cultures have been of great interest. However, the lack of human remains has led to an obscure understanding of the origin of Neolithic populations and their relationship to the Bronze Age population in this area. In this study, 14 adult crania excavated from the Wuba cemetery located in the central region of the Hexi Corridor were analyzed for non-metric and metric craniofacial traits. The Wuba population was compared with 30 populations from the Howells database and 26 groups from ancient northern China by principal component analysis and neighbor-joining network analysis. The results show that: 1) the Wuba population belongs to an East Asia taxon, and no individuals with craniofacial features close to those of the western Eurasian group were found; 2) the results of comparison with craniometric data from ancient populations in northern China indicate that the Wuba population has the closest affinity with the late Neolithic population from northeastern Qinghai province. The review and integration of the prehistoric population history in the Hexi Corridor indicate that this region has experienced at least two large-scale population migrations. In the late Neolithic Age, groups from Hehuang Valley spread to the Hexi Corridor on a large scale, bringing wavy cultural diffusion. In the early and middle Bronze Age, the craniofacial morphology of the Hexi population became complex due to increased human mobility, but the population attributes did not change. The large-scale southward migration of nomads from the Eurasian steppes after the Late Bronze Age brought major changes to the craniofacial morphology of the Hexi population, as well as ushering in archaeological cultural changes and shifts in subsistence in the region. Table and Figures | Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

Select

An excavation report of the Dingmo site in Tiandong of Guangxi AI Lan, TIAN Chun, LI Dawei, LI Jinyan, WANG Wei Acta Anthropologica Sinica    2024, 43 (02): 298-313.   DOI: 10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2024.0018 Abstract （54）   HTML （17）    PDF（pc） （7515KB）（121）       Knowledge map    Save The Dingmo site is located in Bubing Basin, Tiandong County, Baise City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, south China. From 2010 to 2011, the Anthropology Museum of Guangxi and the Tiandong County Museum conducted a test-excavation at the Dingmo site, with a total area of 32 m2, and a total of 2108 stone artifacts were excavated and collected during this excavation. Besides, this excavation also yielded a few animal fossils. The Dingmo lithic assemblage consists of ground stone tools and cores, retouched tools, flakes, spilt flakes, chunks fragments and manuports. The majority of the retouched tools were chipped stone tools and the types of them are diverse, including choppers, scrapers, denticulates, notches and the tools’ blanks were mainly cobbles and flakes. Based on our raw material investigation, the utilized cobbles and pebbles at this site were most possibly collected from the nearby Youjiang River, sandstone-dominated. Freehand hard hammer percussion was exclusively used for core reduction, and the cores in this site appear to be simply worked and expedient. No preparations for the cores’ morphology and platforms were found among the core specimens excavated at the site. Additionally, the flakes predominantly exhibit simple morphologies and platform characteristics. The age of the site is dated to 16000~5000 BP cal using AMS 14C method. This finding add new materials for exploring the Paleolithic to Neolithic culture during Terminal Pleistocene-Early Holocene in Bose region. Through the comparative analysis of sites within the basin, the Dingmo site exhibits both distinctions and connections with them. Most crucially, it demonstrates certain technological differences when compared with the Zhongshan Rockshelter, which is also located within the Bubin Basin and shares chronological overlap. This implies the existence of regional technological variations within the basin. Furthermore, in comparison with contemporary sites in South China and the Yungui Plateau, Dingmo site displays both technological affinities and disparities. These observed connections and differences serve as essential reference materials for further discussions on the diversity of lithic technology across regions.This preliminary study provides new clues for investigating the evolution of Late Pleistocene lithic technology in South China and Southeast Asia. Table and Figures | Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）

Select

Research progress and prospect of the ancient dental calculus residue TAO Dawei, ZOU Huilin Acta Anthropologica Sinica    2024, 43 (02): 344-354.   DOI: 10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2023.0055 Abstract （61）   HTML （8）    PDF（pc） （578KB）（77）       Knowledge map    Save Dental calculus is essentially a mineralized or fully mineralized dental plaque, which provides a new avenue for archaeological research due to its characteristics of easy preservation, accessibility and non-pollution. The highly mineralized nature enables itself to be well preserved for a long time, and also provides a good storage medium for various residues trapped in dental calculus. Consequently, extraction and analysis of residues from dental calculus becomes feasible. Since the analysis of dental calculus was used in archaeological research in the 1960s, residue analysis on ancient dental calculus has been carried out for more than 60 years. Along with more analysis methods applied to dental calculus, many important progresses have been made. In summary, the residue analysis on ancient dental calculus focus on the dental calculus attached on the surfaces of human or animal teeth unearthed from archaeological sites. Using multidisciplinary analysis methods such as including plant microfossil, stable isotope, palaeomicrobiology, ancient DNA and so on, various types of residues entrapped in dental calculus are extracted, and the properties, sources, and types of these residues are identified and analyzed, revealing the dietary sources of ancient humans and animals, which can reflect the economic activitieand social conditions. As of December 2022, at least 147 research papers on the residue analysis of ancient dental calculus have been published both domestically and internationally (excluding 12 master's and doctoral theses), including 121 from abroad and 26 from domestically, which indicate that the residue analysis on ancient dental calculus has gradually become an effective way to explore the economic and social conditions. This paper systematically combs the research progress of residue analysis on ancient dental calculus from four aspects: Elaborated dietary construction of human, development and spread of early agriculture, East-West resource exchange and consumption, and utilization of specific resources, and reveals its important value in archaeological research, and looks forward to the application of residue analysis on ancient dental calculus in archaeological research in China. More analytical methods such as organic residues should be applied in ancient dental calculus analysis in China, which can maximize the extraction of residues from ancient dental calculus and help to expanding research fields to animal husbandry by-products, consumption and utilization of specific resources, etc. As a common and easily accessible biological remains, ancient dental calculus might become a routine object in bioarchaeological research, and residue analysis of ancient dental calculus is expected to become a new academic growth point in the field of bioarchaeology in China. Reference | Related Articles | Metrics | Comments（0）