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    15 September 1984, Volume 3 Issue 03
    A late miocene gibbon-like primate from Lufeng, Yunnan prorince
    Wu Rukang (Woo Ju-kang), Pan Yuerong
    1984, 3(03):  185-299. 
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    Laccopithecus robustus gen. et sp. nov. from late Miocene formation of Lufeng Ra- mapiihecus site, is described in this paper.
    Tre materials are as follows:
    Holotype:
    PA 876 A fragment of left maxilla with I*, P3-Ms and broken C', right maxilla with I1,I2, P3, M1 and broken C\ P4, M2. All belong to the same individual.
    PA 880 A relatively complete mandible with all teeth except right C,.
    Paratype:PA 878 A fragment of left maxilla with P3 — M1.
    PA 877 An upper tooth row with left M: M3, broken C\ M1 and right I2, C’, M3.
    PA 881 A fragment of left mandible with C―M2.
    PA 879 A relatively complete right mandible with I1- M3.
    In addition, 10 maxillae and mandibles, 8 tooth rows and about 60 isolated teeth, an incomplete skull are also assigned to this genus and species.
    Diagnosis:
    P4 is highly molarised. The canines show marked sexual dimorphism. The upper premolars are relatively large in sue. The upper molars are square in outline. M3 is rather large and its distal fovea enlarged postero-lingually. The mandibular body is rather high. The mandibular symphysis extends backward to the level of the posterior part of P3. Both the superior and inferior tori are well-developed.
    Description:
    Upper dentition
    I1 is broad and spatular with moderate lingual cingulum. I2 is conical and canineform. The male C' is robust, very tall and sharp and has one mesial sulcus on the crown. Canines are strongly dimorphic in height and shape.
    The upper premolars are relatively large and have weak lingual cingula. The upper molars are square in outline. is large with large distal fovea. The upper molars have weak or moderate lingua] cingula. M2 > M3 > M1.
    Lower dentition. The incisors are mosio-distally short and highcrowned. They are similar to those of Dcndropithecus and Micro pith ecus. L has a distal prong and its distal lingual surface is concave. C, shows marked dimorpnism in size and height. P3 is compressed. P4 is highly molarised and its talon is long and broad. The lower molars present weak buccal ein^ula. M3 is longer than the preceding teeth. The connecting line from the protoconid to hypoconulid is practically straight in M3>M2>Mi,
    The mandibular symphysis extends backward to the level of the posterior part of R.
    Laccopithecns robust us of Lufeng is similar to European Pliopithecus in size and some morphological features. On the other hand, it also has features similar to Hylobates and Symphalangus, especially to the former. Therefore it is a link between the known Miocene and Pieistoeene-Recent forms and affords important fossil evidence for the origin of living gibbons.
    Yunnan Province is one of the important habitats of extant gibbons. The discovery at Lufeng seems to indicate that the hylobatids had lived in their hometown of southwest China when Ramapithccus was living in Yunnan.
    New discoveries of human fossil in Tongzi, Guizhou
    Wu Maolin
    1984, 3(03):  195-300. 
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    Four human fossil teeth described in this paper were unearthed by a field team of IVPP including the author in Tongzi, Guizhou in 1983 where previously two human fossil teeth were found.
    The four human teeth consist of upper canine, first premolar and two upper first molars.
    1. PA 872, a left C'. The buecal surface is strongly convex in transversal direction. A cingulum can be seen on the buccal surface. The marginal triangular prominence is delimited on both sides of the buecal surface by a distinct furrow. Its size is , > close to that of the female individual of Peking Man and falls within the range of Neanderthal group.
    2. PA 873, a left P1. It shows a wide cingulum on the base of the crown anddistinct triangular prominence on the disto-buccal surface. The constriction of the neck approximates that of Peking Man. Its size falls within the range of that in Peking Man and is larger than that in Neanderthal group.
    PA 874, a left M1. The base of the crown is surrounded by a wide eingulmn. The paracone is separated from the metacone by a transversal furrow which transgresses the buccal edge and descends to the neck of the buccal surface. Real longitudinal furrow is lacking. The slope of each cusp shows a larger wrinkles on the middle and a smaller one on each side of it. The length and breadth of the tooth fall within the range of the Neanderthal group.
    3. PA 875, a right M1. The crown is rhombic in shape. A cingulum can just be seen on the proximal part of the lingual surface. It is particularly large.
    In sum, from the above description, we can see that the morphological characters of the four teeth are consistent with those of Peking Man, but differ from those of the Neanderthal ^roup. With the exception of PA 874, all of the teeth are close to those of Peking Man in size.
    We attributed the Dongzi specimens to Homo erectus instead of early Homo sapiens as suggested before.
    Human occipital bone and mammalian fossils from Chaoxian, Anhui
    Xu Chunhua, Zhang Yinyun, Chen Caidi, Fang Dusheng
    1984, 3(03):  202-301. 
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    A human occipital bone associated with mammalian fossils was discovered from upper part of eave deposits at Yinshan village (117°52"E, 31°33"N), Chaoxian countyr, Anhui province in 1982. Based on 'faunal dating, the upper part of the deposits seems to be equal to or somewhat later than the layers 1—4 of the Homo erectus site of Zhoa- koudian in geological age. The lack of Megantereon and Trogontherium cuvieri in the upper part suggests that the age of the occipital bone is later tlian that of Home erect站 from Hexian.
    The fossils from the lower part of the deposits are considered to be of Early Pleistocene age. The lists of fossil mammals show a mixture of Palaearctic Realm and Oriental Realm members in this site.
    The occipital bone represents a young woman. Some characteristics, including a weak occipital torus, a depression similar to fossa suprat oralis, a large occipital curvature angle and thinner bone, indicate that the occipital bone probably belongs to early Homo sapiens rather than Homo erectus.
    Estimation of the stature of Liujiang paleolithic man
    Wu Xinzhi, Zhang Zhenbiao, Zhang Jianjiun
    1984, 3(03):  210-211. 
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    The authors made a reconstructed femur based on fragment of femur of paleolithic age found in 1958 from a cave in Liujiang County, Guangxi. The length of this reconstructed bone is 40.6 cm.
    The femur is supposed as belonging to a male individual, whose stature should be 156.69 ± 3.74 cm as calculated witli a formula suggested by Mo Shitai (1983) based on Han skeleton from South China. It is calculated to be 157.0±3.59 em with a formula suggested by wang Yonghao (1979) based on Han skeleton from Sichuan Province. Liujiang man was shorter than the average modern men living in the same area by 6— 7 cm.
    However, the femur was not impossible to belong to a woman. If so, she should be 152 cm tall and was shorter than the average modern women living in the same area by 3 cm.
    Several paleoliths from Qianxian, Shaanxi
    Qin Zhonglang
    1984, 3(03):  212-214. 
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    Several stone artifacts and some mammalian fossils were recovered in 1963 in the sandy gravels under the Malan Loess at Dabeigou. Qianxian in Shaanxi. The age of the stone artifacts seems to be of Upper Pleistocene on the basis of associated fauna, such as Equus prcowalskyi, Corlodon^a antiquitais Mcgaloccros sp.
    There is another specimen made of quartzite, collected from the surface at Longt-au near Dabeigou. It is large, pointed, rouglily flaked alternately, with much of the original cortex left unrptouched on its basal part. The implement is similar to the heavy triangular point from Piagliang. Lantian rather than the biface from Shanugou, Ding- cun. Judging by the technique, it is believed to be of paleolithic.
    Paleoliths discovered in Ziyang man locality B
    Li Xuanmin, Zhang Senshui
    1984, 3(03):  215-304. 
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    During building the foundations for a new highway bridge about 100 m. to the west of Ziyang man locality; 172 artifacts, some mammalian and tree fossils were found in pebble layer about 8 m. from the surface in spring 1981. Though the distance between the new locality bearing the artifacts and the old locality yielding the fossil skull of Ziyang man is so near and they are situated in the same terrace i.e. Ti in the valley of Toujiang river, we call the new locality as "Ziyang man locality B'' for distinction. C14 tests on the tree fossils associated with the artifacts and the mammalian 'fossils giving the date of 37400±300 B. P. (Uper part) (PV-221) and 39300士250。B.P. (Lower part) (PV-160) respectively.
    Almost all flakes are produced by direct hammering method and the tools include choppers, scrapers and a few points. The choppers are the main type in this assemblage. In this industry two characters should be emphasised: 1) Most artifacts are very large and crude; 2) The tools are usually retouched on the ventral surface or on two surfaces. Compared with other paleolithic cultures known in southern China, the artifacts found from the pebble layer of Ziyang man locality B are closely related to those of Tonglian Culture.
    On the basis of new materials discovered in Ziyang man locality B, we propose that the Terrace I represented by pebble layer in the valley of Tuojiang river should be physiograghically called "Ziyang Stage,7 and its age is geologically dated as the late stage of upper Pleistocene while the artifacts gathered from pebble layer belong to upper paleolithic age.
    New materials of paleouths from Mujiaqiao site in Lijiang Naxi national autonomous county, Yunnan province
    Wei Qi, Huang Weiwen, Zhang Xingyong
    1984, 3(03):  225-306. 
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    On the eve of Spring Festival in 1984, some stone implements were discovered at Mujiaqiao site near Tianxin village in Lijiang Naxi National Autonomous County, Yunnan Province. The site is about 11 kilometres southeast 28° of Lijiang County (Lat. 26。47'03" N, Long. 100°16'52" E).
    The deposits of the site mainly consist of three layers stratigraphieally in descending order as follows: the silt-clay, sand-gravel and clay. The fauna collected in sandgravel includes the following tpyes: Stegodon sp., Elephantoids,Rfti?k>c€ros sp., Cervus nippon, Axis yunnanensis, Bubalug bubalus, Bibos gaurus etc., Judging by the mammals unearthed, the site is suggested to be of Late Pleistocene.
    The artifacts discovered are such types as the core, flake (sometimes bearing traces of use), scraper, chopper and stone ball. A great part of the Mujiaqiao paleoliths are covered by a erust of the sand-gravel on their surfaces. This indicates that though they were collected from the surface of the site, they are probably originated in the sandgravel bed.
    It is of great interest that the artifacts are rare, and most of them are stone balls. Stone ball often presents in the paleolithic industry of North China, but it first appears in South China now. This probably suggests the more intimate relation of tEe paleolithic culture in North and South China.
    Discovery of paleolithic artifacts at Angangxi of Jijihaer, Heilongjiang
    Huang Weiwen, Zhang Zhenhong, Liao Zhendi, Yu Hairning, Chu Benjun, Gao Zhencao
    1984, 3(03):  234-308. 
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    The materials described in this paper eame from Daxingtuin leoality. (47°2' N, 123°53'E) near Angangxi of Jijihaer, Heilongjiang Province in Northeast China. This locality had been investigated in 1981 and 1982. The collection includes^stone artifacts^ burned bones, ash from cooking fire and mammal fossils. All of them were unearthed from the river-lake deposit of Late Pleistocene. Above Pleistocene layer, tifeie are river and lake deposits as well as aeolian dune in succession of strata within the Holocene. The lake deposit consists of black subsand soil which yielded microliths, polished tools, pot- terys, bone and horn artifacts as well as ornaments all of Neolithic Age. This layer was dated to be 7500—4800 B. P. by C".
    The mammal fossils associated with paleoliths included Lepus sp., Ochotona dau- ricaf Citelh^s ef. mongolici^s, Cricetulus cf. griseus} Mierotus epiratticeps, Equus prze- ualskyi, ^Equus sp., Bison (P.) exiquns and fBos sp., totaling 9 species. They were common members of ^Mammuthus-Coelodonta Fauna" of Northeast China of Late Pleistocene. Among them, Equus przewalskyi, Bison (P.) exiguns and Bos sp. are extinct species. Artemisia, Chenopodiaceae, Humulus, Gramineae, Compositae and Betulaceae were also identified by spore-pollen analysis in the same layer. The. fauna and 'flora mentioned above represent an environment mainly of steppe under dry-cold climade.
    The stone artifacts, totaling 68, mainly made of jasper, agate and. chert, which came from the gravel bed of old river nearby. They contain cores, flakes and tools. The methods of direct percussion by mobil hammer and bipolar were used in flaking and toolmaking, Besides, indirect percussion and pressure, were also used on rare occasion. The striking platform can be classified to three kin(fe: corkex, unfaceted and faceted. The blades are dominant among flakes and a lot of them were knocked on one or .two ends in order to insert into wood, bone or antler as the edge of a knife. The tools consist of scrapers, burins and a piece oT chopper. The scrapers and burins are various in types, including single side scraper, double side scraper, multiside scraper, backed scraper, end scraper, nosed end scraper, burin on break, 4>urin on retouched edge, di- hedrajd -burin, burin double on trueation and burin-seraper.
    The dimensions of Angangxi artilacts are very small. On the technical style, the Angangxi assemblage very like those of North China's small-tools tradition represented by Pekinig Man Culture. It sugg^sta that Angangxi assemblage is a developed culture of this tradition towards the northeast of Asia.
    Dynamic typology of Yangyuan core and analysis of its technological ideas
    Gai Pei
    1984, 3(03):  244-252. 
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    Although the wedge-shaped core has been regarded as an indicator of transcontinental cultural connections about half a century, studies on this kind of microblade cores have been limited to its static morphology. This has resulted in a lot of problems in the understanding of the nature of the cores and of using them for regional comparison of Paleolithic cultures. Trying to clear some of these problems, it is intented to apply the dynamic typology to a study of the microblade cores from Hutouliang Upper Paleolithic site, Yangyuan county, Hebei Province, North China. Such a study focuses on the identification of the technological chain of the manufacturing process of the cores. It is considered that the dynamic typology of micro-cores will throw more light on their classification.
    79 pieces of spalls, core preforms and cores, made of silicalite, are examined for the study.
    The characteristics of Yan^yuan core are:
    1) There is a fluted surface in the front of the core; One of the lateral surface of the core is convex and the opposite surface is flat, so that the core is D-shaped in cross section ;
    2) The platform is flat or beveled to the convex lateral surface of the core;3) With the removal of the microblades the core's shape alters from oval to waterdrop-like.
    4) A distinct technological chain of manufacturing process of Yangyuan core is reconstructed and two sub-types of Yangyuan core are subdivided. The technological process is described below
    Phase 1
    Manufacture of oval core preforms for the two sub-types ;
    Phase 2
    Retouching the edges of the core preform for the sub-type 2, or making a stop notch on the upper edge of the core preform for the sub-type 1;
    Phase 3
    Forming the platform of the core by removing the spall (s) which stop (s) at the notch or the upper edge for the stub-type 1, or rejuvenatiog the platform in the process of microblade production for the sub-type 2;
    Phase 4
    Removing the mieroblades. In the ease of the sub-type 2 of Yangyuan core the alteration of the position of the core fixed for producing the microblades occurs, and the change of the shape of the cores takes place gradually.
    The technological mechanism of microblade production and the construction ideas of the core manufacture are traced and discussed on the observations of Yangyuan core. It is fascinating that the Yangyuan core finds its counterpart as Togeshita mie- roblade core from Hokkaido, Japan. The interesting relation between them will be dealt with in a forthcoming paper.
    Note on the classification of the platform of the flake
    Li Yanxian
    1984, 3(03):  253-258. 
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    The present article deals with main types of platforms of flakes so 'far found in Chinese Paleolithic- industries. Two nearly neglected types of platforms are presented. The cutting platform is similar to the null platform but more cutting and its adjacent dorsal sura fee bears usually flake scars rather than the cortex. This type can be observed on typical bipolar flakes known in the Sinanthropus industry. The searred platform resembles the plain platform except for having some little scars.
    The study on uranium-series dating of fossil bones and an absolute age sequence for the main paleolithic sites of north China
    Chen Tiemei, Yuan Sixun, Gao Shijun
    1984, 3(03):  259-269. 
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    The establishment of an absolute time scale for human evolution is of great importance to anthropology and archaeology. Thus the possibiUty of dating fossilized vertebrate bones by uranium-series method is quite attractive^ as 1) fossil bones are frequently associated with paleolithic sites and 2) the time range immediately beyond the 14C limit which spans from 40 thousand years to about 300 thousand years still remains inaccessible to most radiometric techniques.
    The uranium-series dating is based on the assumption that the post-mortem U-uptake by buried bones is relatively rapid and reaches some saturation level after a time much shorter than the age of bones. Thus the restoration of the equilibrium between U and its daughter nuclei is determined by the decay-growth process only. But this is not always valid. In many eases U migrates continuously in (or out) of the bone after fossili- zation. Thiis leads to the necessity to measure both 230Th age and 231Pa age Tor every sam- ple, and the concordance between these two ages will be the proof of the validity of the closed-system assumption.
    α-spectrosecpie technique of 213Pa/255U activity ratio and 231Pa age measurement is described. The validity of this technique is tested on the RKM-5 fossil coral sample which has been wildly measured as an international cross-check sample by many ura- nium-series dating laboratories.
    A trinal regression formula of estimation age with both the degree of tooth attrition and the tooth index
    Wei Boyuan, Feng Jiajun
    1984, 3(03):  270-276. 
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    The materials investigated were 97 maxillary first permanent molars of South Chinese.
    The authors have studied the relationship among the degree of tooth attrition, the tooth index and the age of 97 M1. A trinal regression formula with two variables, the degree of tooth attrition and the tooth index, was obtained. The values of the correlation coelfieient and the standard estimation error show that the trinal regression formula is better than the dual regression formula for estimating age.
    Distribution of nine blood group systems and ABH secretion in the Dong nationality
    Yuan Yida, Jin Feng, Du Ruofu, Long Yongquan, Cai Ruilin
    1984, 3(03):  277-284. 
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    A total number of 201 unrelated individuals of the Dong nationality in Guangxi are examined for the distribution of ABO, MNSs, Rhesus. Duffy, Kidd, P, Diego, Lewis and Xg blood group systems and ability of ABH secretion. The results show that the gene frequencies fo r (0.63), m(0.63), Fy* (0.97), Jk*(0,46) and CDe(0.75) are rather high. On the contrary, low gene frequencies of q(0.17), Pi(0.13) and Le*(0.32) and very low gene frequency of S(0.01) are observed. Xga gene Trequency (0.37) is as low as that of the Han and Uygur nationalities. Among the individuals of Le(a+) phenotype, only eight ABH sec refers are found, who secret either A or B substance but no H substance.
    The genetic distances between Dong and five other nationalities show that the Dong nationality is genetically closest to Zhuang nationality, and also close to Han, Mongol and Korean nationalities, but has the largetst distance with Uygur nationality.
    The distribution of the phosphoglucomutase-1 (PGM1) subtypes in several Chinese nationalities
    Chen Liangzhong, Yan Yongshan
    1984, 3(03):  285-289. 
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    The 10 phenotypes of phosphoglucomutase-1 (PGMa) were determined from hair roots in the population sample of Han and six Chinese minorities, i.e., Miao, Tujia, Sala, Tu, Daur and Hoche by isoelectric foeusing technics. The frequencies observed for the four alleles in Han population are: PGM;+ = 0.6415, PGM;- = 0.1463, PGM;十=0.1273, PGMJ- = 0.0849. And that of the minorities varies: the gene frequencies of 14- range from 0.7288 in Tujia (Hunan prov.) to 0.5250 in Tu (Qinghai prov.) ; 1— ranges from 0.2143 in Miao (Hunan prov.) to 0.0254 in Tujia; 2+ ranges from 0.2000 in Tu to 0.0556 in Miao; and 2— ranges from 0.1450 in Tu to 0.0798 in Daur (Heilongjiang prov.). The rare variants (8-al) were 'found to be as high as 12.5% in Miao, 4.84%, 3.13% and 0.93% in Tujia. Sala and Han respectively, but none was detected from the northeast minorities Daur and Hoche as well as Tu from the northwest. These results were also compared with that of the other races in the world.