Fernández-Jalvo Yolanda, Andrews Peter, Tong HaoWen
Museo Nacional de Ciencias Naturales (CSIC), José Gutiérrez Abascal, 2, 28906, Madrid, Spain.
Natural History Museum, Cromwell Road, London, SW7-5BD, UK.
J Hum Evol. 2015 Jun;83:1-14. doi: 10.1016/j.jhevol.2015.03.010. Epub 2015 Apr 27.
Tianyuan Cave is an Upper Palaeolithic site, 6 km from the core area of the Zhoukoudian Site Complex. Tianyuandong (or Tianyuan Cave) yielded one ancient (though not the earliest) fossil skeleton of Homo sapiens in China (42-39 ka cal BP). Together with the human skeleton, abundant animal remains were found, but no stone tools were recovered. The animal fossil remains are extremely fragmentary, in contrast to human skeletal elements that are, for the most part, complete. We undertook a taphonomic study to investigate the circumstances of preservation of the human skeleton in Tianyuan Cave, and in course of this we considered four hypotheses: funerary ritual, cannibalism, carnivore activity or natural death. Taphonomic results characterize the role of human action in the site and how these agents acted in the past. Because of disturbance of the human skeleton during its initial excavation, it is not known if it was in a grave cut or if there was any funerary ritual. No evidence was found for cannibalism or carnivore activity in relation to the human skeleton, suggesting natural death as the most reasonable possibility.
田园洞是一处旧石器时代晚期遗址，距离周口店遗址群核心区域6公里。田园洞出土了中国境内一具古老（但并非最早期）的智人化石骨架（距今42,000 - 39,000年校正年代）。除人类骨骼外，还发现了丰富的动物遗骸，但未发现石器。与大部分完整的人类骨骼元素相比，动物化石遗骸极为破碎。我们进行了埋藏学研究，以调查田园洞人类骨骼的保存情况，在此过程中我们考虑了四种假说：丧葬仪式、同类相食、食肉动物活动或自然死亡。埋藏学研究结果表明了人类行为在该遗址中的作用以及这些因素在过去的作用方式。由于人类骨骼在最初发掘时受到扰动，因此不清楚它是否处于墓穴中，或者是否存在任何丧葬仪式。未发现与人类骨骼相关的同类相食或食肉动物活动的证据，这表明自然死亡是最合理的可能性。
