Sex and age-at-death of the Yahuai Cave Man from the Late Pleistocene of Guangxi

doi:10.16359/j.1000-3193/AAS.2025.0034

Abstract

Abstract:

Obtaining accurate information about an individual’s sex and age at death constitutes the cornerstone of biological anthropological research. The estimation of adult sex from skeletal samples relies on two types of characteristics: those associated with functional differences between the sexes, and those manifested as variations in the size and shape of bones and teeth. Most methods for age estimation are based on the assessment of osteological degenerative changes. The identification of sex and age in human fossils often sparks controversy due to their evolutionary traits and preservation limitations, particularly when the hip bone is unavailable.

This study utilized visual observation, measurement, and micro-CT scanning to examine the Late Pleistocene crania, mandible, and teeth (YH1) excavated from the Yahuai Cave site in Guangxi, southern China. Regarding non-metric characteristics, the cranial and mandibular morphology indicates that Yahuai 1 is more likely to be female. However, certain robusticity-related features are more pronounced in YH1 compared to most recent-modern females in East Asia. The sexual dimorphism observed in late Pleistocene human skulls differs from that of modern humans, as evidenced by cranio-facial metric features. Comparisons with late Pleistocene human skulls from East and Southeast Asia reveal that YH1 shows no obvious sexual dimorphism in craniometric characteristics. When compared with recent populations from the same region, YH1 is found to be larger in size, and exhibits similarity to recent female samples after size calibration. YH1 has a medium-sized mandible overall and a high corpus robusticity index, which is comparable to that of late Pleistocene and Neolithic females.

In terms of age-at-death estimation, YH1 displayed a low degree of synostosis in the cranial sutures, and no age-associated features were observed. Moreover, by comparing with two Neolithic populations from South China, the relationship between dental wear and age estimation was adjusted. Collectively, these findings suggest that YH1 was not elderly, but rather a young adult aged between 30 and 40 years.

Key words: Yahuai Cave Man, sex, age-at-death, cranium, dental wear

CLC Number:

K871

HE Letian, XIE Guangmao, LIN Qiang, LI Dawei, WU Xiujie. Sex and age-at-death of the Yahuai Cave Man from the Late Pleistocene of Guangxi[J]. Acta Anthropologica Sinica, 2025, 44(03): 389-403.

Figures/Tables 8

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	性别Gender	颅长g-op	颅宽eu-eu	颅高ba-b	最小额宽ft-ft	最大额宽co-co	额弦n-b	顶弦b-l	颧宽zy-zy	上面高n-sd
山顶洞101 (UC101)	男 M	204.0	143.0	136.0	107.0	143.0	115.5	120.8	143.0	77.0
Wadjak-1	男 M	200.0	151.0	137.0	97.0	/	115.0	117.0	144.0	66.0
柳江人Liujiang	男 M	189.3	142.2	134.8	95.2	/	117.2	119.2	136.0	67.9
Minatogawa I	男 M	182.0	148.0	134.0	89.0	/	115.0	117.0	144.0	63.0
平均值Mean		193.8	146.1	135.5	97.1	143.0	115.7	118.5	141.8	68.5
Moh Khiew Cave	女 F	/	/	/	/	118.0	/	/	/	67.0
Niah Cave	女 F	175.0	145.0	/	/	/	/	/	/	/
山顶洞103 (UC103)	女 F	184.0	131.0	143.0	101.0	137.0	107.0	120.0	131.0	68.5
Hang Cho Cave	女 F	192.0	138.0	135.0	100.0	112.0	130.0	117.0	128.0	61.0
平均值Mean	女 F	190.0	143.0	136.5	98.0	130.6	116.5	118.5	138. 3	67.4
娅怀洞Yahuai		188.9	145.5	141.2	109.0	130.0	118.0	122.9	146.4	62.0

	性别Gender	颅长g-op	颅宽eu-eu	颅高ba-b	最小额宽ft-ft	最大额宽co-co	额弦n-b	顶弦b-l	颧宽zy-zy	上面高n-sd
山顶洞101 (UC101)	男 M	204.0	143.0	136.0	107.0	143.0	115.5	120.8	143.0	77.0
Wadjak-1	男 M	200.0	151.0	137.0	97.0	/	115.0	117.0	144.0	66.0
柳江人Liujiang	男 M	189.3	142.2	134.8	95.2	/	117.2	119.2	136.0	67.9
Minatogawa I	男 M	182.0	148.0	134.0	89.0	/	115.0	117.0	144.0	63.0
平均值Mean		193.8	146.1	135.5	97.1	143.0	115.7	118.5	141.8	68.5
Moh Khiew Cave	女 F	/	/	/	/	118.0	/	/	/	67.0
Niah Cave	女 F	175.0	145.0	/	/	/	/	/	/	/
山顶洞103 (UC103)	女 F	184.0	131.0	143.0	101.0	137.0	107.0	120.0	131.0	68.5
Hang Cho Cave	女 F	192.0	138.0	135.0	100.0	112.0	130.0	117.0	128.0	61.0
平均值Mean	女 F	190.0	143.0	136.5	98.0	130.6	116.5	118.5	138. 3	67.4
娅怀洞Yahuai		188.9	145.5	141.2	109.0	130.0	118.0	122.9	146.4	62.0

	山顶洞 UC101	山顶洞UC108	山顶洞UC104	新石器时代Neo 1	新石器时代Neo 2	娅怀洞1号YH1
性别Sex	男 Male	男 Male	女 Female	男 Male	女 Female
下颌体长Length of body (mm)	90.7	/	78.7	77.2	74.2	(75)
下颌角间宽Bigonial breadth (mm)	116.0	/	100.0	104.6	100.0	(105)
下颌骨弧Arc of body (mm)	228.0	/	192.0	200.3	190.4	(183.7)
下颌体高（M₁/M₂）Corpus height at M₁/M₂ (mm)	33.6	30.8	26.2	32.0	29.2	32.7
下颌体高（颏孔处）Corpus height at mental foramen (mm)	35.0	31.3	29.9	32.9	30.1	32.8
下颌体厚（M₁/M₂）Corpus thickness at M₁/M₂ (mm)	13.6	12.4	15.0	15.5	14.6	15.7
下颌体厚（颏孔）Corpus thickness at mental foramen (mm)	12.0	11.3	12.3	13.8	12.7	13.1
粗壮指数（M₁/M₂）Corpus robusticity index at M₁/M₂	40.5	40.3	57.3	48.4	50.0	48.0
粗壮指数（颏孔）Corpus robusticity index at mental foramen	34.3	35.8	41.1	42.0	42.2	39.7

	山顶洞 UC101	山顶洞UC108	山顶洞UC104	新石器时代Neo 1	新石器时代Neo 2	娅怀洞1号YH1
性别Sex	男 Male	男 Male	女 Female	男 Male	女 Female
下颌体长Length of body (mm)	90.7	/	78.7	77.2	74.2	(75)
下颌角间宽Bigonial breadth (mm)	116.0	/	100.0	104.6	100.0	(105)
下颌骨弧Arc of body (mm)	228.0	/	192.0	200.3	190.4	(183.7)
下颌体高（M₁/M₂）Corpus height at M₁/M₂ (mm)	33.6	30.8	26.2	32.0	29.2	32.7
下颌体高（颏孔处）Corpus height at mental foramen (mm)	35.0	31.3	29.9	32.9	30.1	32.8
下颌体厚（M₁/M₂）Corpus thickness at M₁/M₂ (mm)	13.6	12.4	15.0	15.5	14.6	15.7
下颌体厚（颏孔）Corpus thickness at mental foramen (mm)	12.0	11.3	12.3	13.8	12.7	13.1
粗壮指数（M₁/M₂）Corpus robusticity index at M₁/M₂	40.5	40.3	57.3	48.4	50.0	48.0
粗壮指数（颏孔）Corpus robusticity index at mental foramen	34.3	35.8	41.1	42.0	42.2	39.7