越来越多古人类学和旧石器时代考古学的发现与研究成果极大地改变了我们对现代人类起源、演化和适应理论问题的看法。中国作为东亚一个幅员辽阔的地理区域,已经成为这项研究的热点地带。来自该地区新的人类化石和石器组合对基于非洲和欧亚大陆西部记录构建的“现代人出自非洲说”（Recent Out-of-Africa）提出了挑战。新的古人类学研究结果表明,早期现代人出现于约100 kaBP的中国南方,可能（至少部分）是由那里的土著居民演化而来。一些古老型智人表现出了与早期古人类镶嵌或过渡性的体质特征,并可能与尼安德特人和丹尼索瓦人杂交混合。同时一些遗址出土的打制石器表现出了早期现代人类技术和行为的复杂性。中国北方的小石片石器主工业和南方的砾石石器主工业贯穿于整个更新世,然而从约40 kaBP开始,石叶技术开始出现在中国北部,紧随其后的是这些地区骨制工具和个人装饰品的出现,这表明,更新世晚期西伯利亚和中亚地区与我国北部可能存在着紧密的文化关系,东北亚地区可能存在着由西北向东南的迁移路线。人类化石和考古学证据表明,中国现代人类起源和适应的过程与机制可能与欧亚大陆西部有所不同。本文对有关中国现代人类起源与演化的考古学研究所取得的新发现和进展进行了总体回顾,从考古学角度阐述了对相关重要学术问题的看法,并为未来的研究提出了方向性建议。

Recent paleoanthropological and Paleolithic archaeological discoveries have drastically altered our theoretical perspectives on modern human origins, evolution and adaptations. China, a vast geographic region in East Asia, has emerged as a hot-spot for such studies. New human fossils and stone tool assemblages have been reported from the area which challenge the “Recent Out-of-Africa” model, based mostly on the African and western Eurasian records. New paleoanthropological research results indicate that early modern humans appeared in South China around 100 kaBP, and might have at least partially evolved from aboriginal populations there. Some archaic Homo sapiens exhibit mosaic or transitional features and possible admixture with Neanderthals and Denisovans. Associated lithic industries exhibit the complexity of early modern human technologies and behaviors. While small flake tools in North China and large pebble tools in South China dominated throughout most of the Pleistocene, beginning from ca. 40 kaBP, a large blade techno-complex appeared at some sites in North China, followed by the emergence of bone tools and personal ornaments in the same area slightly later, indicating possible technological ties with lithic industries in Siberia and Central Asia and possible northwest-to-southeast migrations in northeast Asia during the late Upper Pleistocene. Human fossil remains and archaeological evidence cumulatively suggest that the trajectories of modern human origins and adaptations in China might be different from those of western Eurasia. In this paper, we compile new discoveries and outline progress in research on archaeological studies of the origins and evolution of modern humans in China. We adopt a predominantly archaeological perspective on these critical academic issues, and offer several suggestions for future studies.