Li T, Etler D A
Hubei Institute of Archeology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China.
Nature. 1992 Jun 4;357(6377):404-7. doi: 10.1038/357404a0.
Two fossil human crania have been found in Middle Pleistocene terrace deposits of the Han River in Yun county (Yunxian), Hubei province, China (Figs 1 and 2). These damaged but relatively complete adult specimens show a mixture of features associated both with Homo erectus and with 'archaic H. sapiens'. The Yunxian crania (Figs 3 and 4), although crushed and distorted to varying degrees, are unusual in having major elements of the basicranium, palate, face and cranial vault preserved together. The specimens reveal many details of facial and basicranial anatomy rarely seen in hominid crania of comparable antiquity. Moreover, they are the most complete crania of such great age discovered on the Asian mainland. They consequently throw new light on Middle Pleistocene hominid diversity and the relationships among regionally disparate Middle Pleistocene hominids.
在中国湖北省郧县（郧县）汉江的中更新世阶地沉积物中发现了两个化石人类颅骨（图1和图2）。这些受损但相对完整的成年标本呈现出与直立人和“古老智人”相关的混合特征。郧县颅骨（图3和图4）虽然有不同程度的挤压和变形，但不同寻常的是，颅底、腭、面部和颅顶的主要部分被一起保存了下来。这些标本揭示了在相当古老的人类颅骨中很少见到的面部和颅底解剖结构的许多细节。此外，它们是在亚洲大陆发现的如此古老且最完整的颅骨。因此，它们为中更新世人类的多样性以及区域上不同的中更新世人类之间的关系提供了新的线索。
