Key Laboratory of Evolutionary Systematics of Vertebrates, Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China.
Am J Phys Anthropol. 2011 Jul;145(3):452-60. doi: 10.1002/ajpa.21527. Epub 2011 May 3.
A new brain endocast of Homo erectus from Hulu Cave, Tangshan, Nanjing is described and compared with a broad sample of endocasts of H. erectus, Neanderthals, and recent modern humans. The Nanjing 1 endocast is reconstructed based on two portions of endocranial casts taken from the original fossil fragments. The fossil was discovered in 1993, near Nanjing, South China and is dated to ∼ 0.58-0.62 Ma. The cranial capacity is ∼ 876 cc, as determined by endocast water displacement. There are some common features of Nanjing 1 and other H. erectus endocasts that differentiate them from the Neanderthals and modern humans in our sample. These include small cranial capacity, low height dimensions, simple middle meningeal vessel patterns, a high degree of cerebral-over-cerebellar lobe overhang, elongated and quite separated cerebellar lobes, and a narrow, low, short and flat frontal region. Some features are found to vary among H. erectus, Neanderthals and modern humans, such as the lateral Sylvian fissure position and the venous sinus and petalial patterns. The Nanjing 1 endocast has unique, large, superior frontal convolutions, and strongly protruding Broca's caps. In contrast to other Chinese H. erectus from Hexian and Zhoukoudian, Nanjing 1 lacks strong posterior projection of the occipital lobes. Bivariate and principal component analyses indicate that the small volume and shape of Nanjing 1 is most similar to KNM-WT 15000, KNM-ER 3883, Sangiran 2 and Hexian, illustrating the combination of narrow, low, and short frontal lobes with wide posterior lobes.
描述了来自南京葫芦洞的直立人新脑颅模型，并与广泛的直立人、尼安德特人和现代人类的脑颅模型样本进行了比较。南京 1 号脑颅模型是根据从原始化石碎片中获取的两个脑颅内部铸型重建的。该化石于 1993 年在中国南方南京附近被发现，年代约为 0.58-0.62 百万年前。脑容量通过脑颅内部铸型的注水位移确定为 876 立方厘米。南京 1 号脑颅模型与其他直立人脑颅模型有一些共同特征，这些特征使它们与我们样本中的尼安德特人和现代人类有所区别。这些特征包括较小的脑容量、较低的高度尺寸、简单的脑膜中动脉模式、较高的大脑相对于小脑叶的悬垂度、拉长且相当分离的小脑叶，以及狭窄、低矮、短而平坦的额区。一些特征在直立人、尼安德特人和现代人类中存在差异，例如外侧西尔维安裂位置以及静脉窦和瓣叶模式。南京 1 号脑颅模型具有独特的、大的、额上回，以及强烈突出的布罗卡氏区。与来自和县和周口店的其他中国直立人不同，南京 1 号脑颅模型的枕叶没有强烈的后突。双变量和主成分分析表明，南京 1 号脑颅模型的小体积和形状与 KNM-WT 15000、KNM-ER 3883、 Sangiran 2 和和县最为相似，说明其具有狭窄、低矮和短的额叶与宽阔的后叶相结合的特征。
