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Table of Content

    15 June 1999, Volume 18 Issue 02
    A study of stone artifacts found at the Xiaokouzi prehistoric site
    Zhang Senshui
    1999, 18(02):  81-101. 
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    The prehistoric site named Xiaokouzi is situated about 500m north to the Shuidonggou site just outside the Great Wall( Fig. 1) and was found in September of 1963 when we were excavating the Shuidonggou site. We gathered 194 pieces of the stone artifacts, a few of the broken teeth of mammalian fossils and two pieces of Struthis egg on the ground surface which is slightly higher than the Great Wall. The remains above mentioned are distributed within a limited area of about 30m2 .
    The stone artifacts are divided into two groups: Group A is called non-microlithic industrial production which contains 103 specimens of stone artifacts. Most of them are middle and large in size. The tools are made of the flakes and are nicely trimmed in the most cases ( Detail see table 1 in Chinese) . Group B belongs to microlithic industrial production. The stone artifacts include 91 pieces and consist of micro-blades, wedge core and tools which are subdivided into scrapers, pointed tool and awls. The majority o f them is carefully retouched.
    Group A non-microlithic industrial production: The general characters could be shown as follows:
    1. The flakes were produced by both hard and soft hammer percussion.
    2. The cores prepared and flakes are regular in shape. The most important character of the flakes is very small striking platform which makes up 80. 6% of the total flakes.
    3. All raw -materials and blanks used to make tool were strictly selected.
    4. The different types of the artifacts are obviously diverse in size. The majority of the flakes is smaller and makes up 87. 2% of the total flakes. The majority o f the scrapers consists of types of small and middle sizes. These two types constitute 37. 1% and 42. 7% o f the total respectively while most of the pointed tools are large.
    5. The tools are basically manufactured with the flakes and could be divided into scrapers, pointed tools and chopper. All tools, especially convex scrapers and pointed tools are carefully manufactured. Their retouching scars are wide, long , shallow or ladder shape and the edges are regular. According to these characters above mentioned some of them could be trimmed with Mousterian technique.
    6. There are some bifaces and simi-bifaces ( one surface is covered over rather flat retouching scars while other surface is locally trimmed with the wide and shallow scars) , the former makes up 20. 8% and latter occupies 8. 0% of the total of the pointed tools.
    7. The tools retouched on two surfaces with the method not belonging to alternating mode but to regular complex mode are more common and make up 21. 6% of the tool total.The assemblages which are similar to those of the group A were found in the east part o f the Great Bend of the Huanghe River in 1958 and 1959 by the author and the assemblages with characters similar to group A were found in Shanxi Province, Nei Monggol Autonomous Region, Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and Hebei Province since that time. The assemblages tentatively dated to the end of the late paleolithic or slightly later age. In the group A some types such as semilunar scrapers , pointed tools with heart shape, bifaces, flat and ladder scars and some blades etc. are similar to those of the Mousterian and Aurignacian ones in Europe so the author imagines that it looks like a group of people mastering those techniques above mentioned had lived there and made cultural exchange with the local people in the Great Bend of Huang he River at least.
    Group B Microlithic industrial artifacts: The main characters of Group B could be summed up as follows:
    1. The microlithic artifacts are very small and most of them are less than 30mm in length.
    2. The micro blades are the chive-leaf in shape. The ridges on the dorsal surface of the microblades are diversified, except the single longitudinal ridge and two longitudinal parallel ridges. This is the significant finding in this study.
    3. The tools w ere mostly made of flakes and could be divided into scrapers, awls and pointed tool. The end scrapers are very common and make up 75% o f the total scrapers. Most edges of end scrapers are more sharp. The angle of edge is less than 70°in the most cases. This merits attention because no record of this type of artifacts has been presented in Chinese papers studying microlithic artifacts.
    4. Most of the tools were retouched by hammering process while the trimming scars of the end scrapers basically are leaf-like, long, wide and shallow with the trimming scars of nearly parallel, but the trimming scars of 6 end scrapers converge on a point of the edge. On basis of the experiment of making stone artifacts, the convergent trimming scars are similar to those made by pressure method so they could be retouched by this one.
    According to size, type and trimming level of the group B the microlithic industrial production is smaller and more delicate in shape. The tool manufacture technique is nicer than tho se found in layer 8 of the Shuidonggou site and is similar to those found in Neolithic microlithic sites of North China, therefore, group B could be tentatively attributed to Neolithic age while group A is dated to upper paleolithic.
    Incremental markings of enamel and ontogeny of Lufengpithecus Lufengensis
    Zhao Lingxia, Ouyang Lian, Lu Qingwu
    1999, 18(02):  102-108. 
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    The enamel microstructure of 4 permanent teeth of Lufengpithecus lufengensis was observed with SEM. Perikymata were clearly shown on the entire crown surface, and the density of perikymata showed a gradual increase towards the cervix. Perikymata counts were 172 for I1 , 151 for I2 , 128 for I1 , 161 for low er canine, and crown formation time was estimated respectively as 3. 8, 3. 4, 3. 0 and 3. 6 years based on a 7-days-periodicity of perikymata.
    Compared with fossil hominids, modern humans and apes, crown formation time of Lufengpithecus lufengensis is nearer to that of Australopithecus afarensis and Australopithecus africanus, and longer than that of Australopithecus robustus and Australopithecus boisei. The pattern of compactness of perikymata is similar to that of modern humans, and different from that of apes. This study support the suggestion that Lufengpithecus lufengensis may be a member of the early hominid evolving to australopithecines.
    Analysis of the consanguinity among She ethnic groups from Fujian, Jiangxi and Zhejiang provinces by DNA polymorphism
    Guo Junming, Zhang Wenfeng, Zhong Weiqun, Ye Jinhua, Miao Chunhua, Lai Riyong, Zhong Fuyu, Huang Gonghua
    1999, 18(02):  109-114. 
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    In order to analyse the consanguinity among She ethnic groups from Fujian, Jiangxi, and Zhejiang provinces, the variable number of tandem repeat ( VNTR) sequences of apolipoprotein B ( apoB) gene and D17S30 locus have been studied by polymerase chain reaction ( PCR) . The results showed that six alleles of a poB VNTR and five alleles o f D17S30 VNTR were shared by She ethnic groups from those three provinces. It can be used as a part of the base for further investigating their consanguinity. The method used to detect the DNA polymorphism has practical value in studying the origin and change of different ethnic groups and their consanguinity.
    Two-sex age-specific survival rates and their difference at older ages in China
    Gan Jianping, Chen Nianyou
    1999, 18(02):  115-124. 
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    The original data of age and sex-specific constitution of population from the four censuses of China after smoothed by moving mean are ultilized to analyse the change of two-sex age-specific survival rates and their difference during intercensal periods and age- specific sex ratios of each census at older ages. The results show that the trend of rapid decline of two-sex survival rate with age levels off and even rises at older ages over 90. At old ages male age-specific survival rate is lower than that of female, but at the advanced ages over 90 this difference lessens and then turns to enlarge reversely. The results imply that although male average life expectancy is shorter than that of female, genetic life-span of male is not shorter than that of female.
    The comparative research of elemental concentrations in the human hair from the Tujia nation and Yao nation by the use of cluster analysis
    Yang Ruoming, Wang Zhenying
    1999, 18(02):  125-132. 
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    In this paper, the concentrations of five trace elements and two common elments existing in the hair of young people from the Tujia Nation and Yao Nation were determined by inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer ( ICP-AES). A Data matrix of concentration of elements existing in the hair from two nationalities is evaluated comprehensively by using cluster analysis with satisfactory results which shows that there is considerable difference between these notionalities.
    Study on the shoulder joint of adult Taihang mountains macaca mulatta ( M. mulattatche liensis)
    Xue Deming, Zhang Wenxue, Xin Bingqian, Guo Mei, Qu Wenyuan
    1999, 18(02):  133-141. 
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    Variables of the shoulder joint on adult Taihang mountains M. mulatta have been measured and calculated. The allometric analysis was made. Comparison and cluster analysis among Henan ( M. mulatta tcheliensis) , Sichuan ( M. mulatta Lasiotis) , Yunnan ( M. mulatta mulatta) , Hubei and Hunan ( M. mulatta Littoralis) provinces in China w ere made. The scapula of Taihang mountains M. mulatta is shorter than that of the monkeys of the same species living in other regions of China. Index of the insertion of deltoideus muscle is higher, the claviculo-humeral index and the brachial index are lower. The results show that morphology of the shoulder joint of Taihang mountains M. mulatta is more suitable to locomotion on the ground than that of the others. Movement of Taihang mountains M. mulatta on the ground is more frequent than that of the others and that in trees is less.