Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100044, China.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2010 Nov 9;107(45):19201-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1014386107. Epub 2010 Oct 25.
The 2007 discovery of fragmentary human remains (two molars and an anterior mandible) at Zhirendong (Zhiren Cave) in South China provides insight in the processes involved in the establishment of modern humans in eastern Eurasia. The human remains are securely dated by U-series on overlying flowstones and a rich associated faunal sample to the initial Late Pleistocene, >100 kya. As such, they are the oldest modern human fossils in East Asia and predate by >60,000 y the oldest previously known modern human remains in the region. The Zhiren 3 mandible in particular presents derived modern human anterior symphyseal morphology, with a projecting tuber symphyseos, distinct mental fossae, modest lateral tubercles, and a vertical symphysis; it is separate from any known late archaic human mandible. However, it also exhibits a lingual symphyseal morphology and corpus robustness that place it close to later Pleistocene archaic humans. The age and morphology of the Zhiren Cave human remains support a modern human emergence scenario for East Asia involving dispersal with assimilation or populational continuity with gene flow. It also places the Late Pleistocene Asian emergence of modern humans in a pre-Upper Paleolithic context and raises issues concerning the long-term Late Pleistocene coexistence of late archaic and early modern humans across Eurasia.
2007 年在中国南方的震人洞（Zhiren Cave）发现了零碎的人类遗骸（两颗臼齿和一块前下颌骨），为现代人类在东亚的建立过程提供了深入了解。人类遗骸通过覆盖的流纹岩和丰富的相关动物群样本的 U 系列被可靠地定年为更新世晚期，距今>100 万年。因此，它们是东亚最古老的现代人类化石，比该地区已知的最古老的现代人类化石早>60,000 年。特别是震人 3 号下颌骨呈现出衍生的现代人类前联合形态，具有突出的联合结节、明显的颏凹、适度的外侧结节和垂直的联合；它与任何已知的晚期古人类下颌骨都不同。然而，它也表现出舌侧联合形态和 corpus 粗壮，使其接近晚更新世的古人类。震人洞人类遗骸的年龄和形态支持东亚现代人类出现的情景，涉及到扩散、同化或种群连续性与基因流。它还将晚更新世亚洲现代人类的出现置于旧石器时代晚期之前的背景下，并提出了关于晚更新世晚期古人类和早期现代人类在欧亚大陆长期共存的问题。
