许家窑遗址1977年出土的人类化石

<正> 1976年,在许家窑遗址发掘获得9件人类化石、大量的哺乳动物化石和石器。这些遗骸和遗物已由贾兰坡教授等进行了研究和报道(1979)。1977年7—9月,我们对许家窑遗址又作了进一步发掘,共获得人类化石8件及大量的石器和骨器,还有丰富的哺乳动物化石。本文仅对1977年发现的人类化石报告如下:

HUMAN FOSSILS DISCOVERED AT XUJIAYAO SITE IN 1977

The excavation was carried on by the author and other members of IVPP in 1977.Alot of mammalian fossils,a great number of stone artifacts,some bone implements and8 pieces of human remains were found in this excavation.The present article dealswith only the human fossils.The material includes five fragments of parietal bone,an occipital bone,a piece ofright mandible ramus and an isolate upper molar.The characters of the fossils may be summarized as follows:1)The parietal and occipital bones are rather thick.They are almost twice asthick as those of modern man.2)The greater flatness of the Xujiayao Man parietal restricte to the two longi-tudinal margins while the transverse ones are even more curved than in modern man.3)The ramifications of the middle meningeal artery do not show so simple asthose of Peking Man,but ramifications of Xujiayao Man are simpler than those ofmodern man.Peking Man's vessels are thicker than that of Xujiayao Man.Thesame as Maba Man,the posterior branch is larger than the anterior branch. 4)The occipital torus is rather prominent,but is not so pronounced as that ofPeking Man.The occipital angle is 116° which precedes the maximum value of PekingMan(106°)and falls whithin the range of Neanderthal Group.5)The cerebral fossae are much larger than the cerebellar ones.The distancebetween the cruciate eminence and the occipital torus(inion)is 16.5mm.It is smallerthan that of Peking Man's figure.It falls whithin the upper range of NeanderthalGroup.6)The mandible ramus is lower and wider.The angle of the mandible is smallerthan that of modern man.The posterior border is more straight.7)The length and breadth of the tooth are very closed to that of Peking Man'steeth.From the evidences mentioned above,the position of the Xujiayao Man in theevolutionnary scheme may be assigned as a form of Homo sapiens neanderthalensis.However,the Xujiayao Man is different from the Maba Man and ChangyangMan.The robustness of the Xujiayao Man's skulls is much larger than that of theMaba Man.The length and breadth of the tooth are larger than those of the Chang-yang Man.It is possible,therefore,that the Xujiayao Man belongs to another Nean-derthal type.