Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Early Homo and associated artefacts from Asia

  • Letter
  • Published:

From Nature

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Abstract

THE site of Longgupo Cave was discovered in 1984 and excavated in 1985–1988 by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (Beijing) and the Chongqing National Museum (Sichuan Province). Important finds include very archaic hominid dental fragments, Gigantopithecus teeth and primitive stone tools. Palaeomagnetic analysis and the presence of Ailuropoda microta (pygmy giant panda) suggested that the hominid-bearing levels dated to the earliest Pleistocene1. In 1992, joint Chinese–American–Canadian geochronological research corroborated the age using electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis. We report here that the hominid dentition and stone tools from Longgupo Cave are comparable in age and morphology with early representives of the genus Homo (H. habilis and H. ergaster) and the Oldowan technology in East Africa. The Longgupo dentition is demonstr-ably more primitive than that seen in Asian Homo erectus. Long-gupo's diverse and well preserved Plio-Pleistocene fauna of 116 species provide a sensitive contextual base for interpreting the early arrival of the genus Homoin Asia.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Huang, W. et al. Wushan Hominid Site (Ocean, Beijing, 1991).

    Google Scholar 

  2. Wang, L. & Ouyang, L. Vertebr. PalAsiatica 20, 255–263 (1982).

    Google Scholar 

  3. Huang, W. Vertebr. PalAsiatica 31, 191–207 (1993).

    Google Scholar 

  4. Zheng, S. & Li, C. Vertebr. PalAsiatica 24, 81–109 (1986).

    Google Scholar 

  5. Zheng, S. Quaternary Rodents of Sichuan-Guizhou Area, China (Beijing, 1993).

    Google Scholar 

  6. Matthew, W. D. & Granger, W. Bull. Am. Mus. nat. Hist. 48, 563–598 (1923).

    Google Scholar 

  7. Colbert, E. D. & Hooijer, D. A. Bull. Am. Mus. nat. Hist. 102, 1–134 (1953).

    Google Scholar 

  8. Cande, S. C. & Kent, D. V. J. Geophys. Res. 97, 13917–13951 (1992).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  9. McDougall, I., Brown, F. H., Cerling, T. E. & Hillhouse, J. W. Geophys. Res. Lett. 19, 2349–2352 (1992).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. Grün, R., Schwarcz, H. P. & Zymela, S. Can. J. Earth Sci. 24, 1022–1037 (1987).

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  11. Schwarcz, H. P., Grün, R. G. & Tobias, P. V. J. hum. Evol. 26, 175–181 (1994).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. Weidenreich, F. Paleontol. Sinica D1, 1–180 (text); 1–121 (atlas) (1937).

    Google Scholar 

  13. Rightmire, G. P. The Evolution of Homo erectus (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1990).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  14. Wood, B. Koobi Fora Research Project IV: Hominid Cranial Remains (Clarendon, Oxford, 1991).

    Google Scholar 

  15. Tobias, P. V. Olduvai Gorge IV: The Skulls, Endocasts and Teeth of Homo habilis (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1991).

    Google Scholar 

  16. Brown, B. & Walker, A. in The Nariokotome Homo erectus Skeleton (eds Walker, A. & Leakey, R.) 161–192 (Harvard Univ. Press, Cambridge, MA, 1993).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  17. Woo, J. K. Paleontol. Sinica D11, 1–94 (1962).

    Google Scholar 

  18. Zhang Yingun Am. J. phys. Anthropol. 59, 21–32 (1982).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  19. Wang, J., Chen, S., Luo, H. & Zhong, Y. Acta Anthrop. Sin. 8, 172–176 (1989).

    Google Scholar 

  20. Ciochon, R. et al. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A (in the press).

  21. Gao, J. Vertebr. PalAsiatica 13, 81–88 (1975).

    Google Scholar 

  22. Leakey, M. D. Olduvai Gorge III: Excavations in Beds I and II, 1960–1963 (Cambridge Univ. Press, 1971).

    Google Scholar 

  23. Harris, J. W. K. Afr. archaeol. Rev. 1, 3–31 (1983).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  24. Clarke, R. J. World Archaeol. 21, 1–12 (1988).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  25. Swisher, C. C. et al. Science 263, 1118–1121 (1994).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  26. Wood, B. in Species, Species Concepts, and Primate Evolution (eds Kimbel, W. & Martin, L. B.) 485–522 (Plenum, New York, 1993).

    Book  Google Scholar 

  27. Wood, B. Nature 355, 783–790 (1992).

    Article  ADS  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. Clarke, R. J. J. hum. Evol. 19, 699–736 (1990).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  29. Howell, F. C. in Origin of Anatomically Modern Humans (eds Nitecki, M. H. & Nitecki, D. V.) 253–319 (Plenum, New York, 1994).

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Academia Sinica, Beijing, 100044, China

    Huang Wanpo & Gu Yumin

  2. Departments of Anthropology and Pediatric Dentistry, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, 52242, USA

    Russell Ciochon

  3. Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, 01003, USA

    Roy Larick

  4. Chongqing Museum of Natural History, 72 Loquat Hill Park Street, Chongqing, Sichuan, 630013, China

    Fang Qiren

  5. Department of Geology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, L85 4M1, Canada

    Henry Schwarcz & William Rink

  6. Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, T2N 1N4, Canada

    Charles Yonge

  7. National Museum of Natural History, Post Office Box 9517, 2300, RA Leiden, The Netherlands

    John de Vos

Authors
  1. Huang Wanpo
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Russell Ciochon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Gu Yumin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Roy Larick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Fang Qiren
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Henry Schwarcz
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  7. Charles Yonge
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  8. John de Vos
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  9. William Rink
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Wanpo, H., Ciochon, R., Yumin, G. et al. Early Homo and associated artefacts from Asia. Nature 378, 275–278 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/378275a0

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/378275a0

  • Springer Nature Limited

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation