Acta Anthropologica Sinica ›› 1988, Vol. 7 ›› Issue (03): 235-238.

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The relationship between Upper Palaeolithic human fossils of China and Japan

Wu Xinzhi   

  • Online:1988-09-15 Published:1988-09-15

Abstract: The author calculated the coefficients of divergence of the Upper Palaeolithic human skulls unearthed from Liujiang and Upper Cave of China as well as Minatogawa of Japan. The resulting figures were presented in the Chinese text ( with English names in parentheses). According to the coefficient of divergene, Liujiang male skull is very close to that of Minatogawa. The degree of closeness between them approximated to that between two female skulls of Upper Cave and that between two female skulls of Minatogawa. Minatogawa Man was more diverse from Upper Cave Man. The data of the stature of humans of these sites also support this impression.
Although U.C. 102 skull has weak artificial deformation its mispresented measuring values can not change the general pattern of the relationships among the skulls involved in the present paper because the changes of the dimensions of UC102 are rather small.
According to the uranium series dating, Liujiang Man lived about 60000 years ago. The ancestors of Minatogawa Man might be closely related to Liujiang Man. In Minatogawa and the Neolithic human skeletons found from the coastal area of south and east parts of China there were evidences of tooth extraction which had not occurred in Liujiang and other Palaeolithic skulls of China. So the habit of tooth extraction in certain parts of Neolithic China might be originated from Okinawa.
The shape of nasal saddle of Minatogawa Man was closer to those of Upper Cave and different from that of Liujiang which was much flatter.

Key words: Liujiang Man; Upper Cave Man; Minatogawa Man; Coefficient of divergence