Acta Anthropologica Sinica ›› 1984, Vol. 3 ›› Issue (03): 202-301.

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Human occipital bone and mammalian fossils from Chaoxian, Anhui

Xu Chunhua, Zhang Yinyun, Chen Caidi, Fang Dusheng   

  • Online:1984-09-15 Published:1984-09-15

Abstract: 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.

Key words: Human occipital bone; Mammalian fossils; Early Pleistocene; Middle Pleistocene; Chaoxian