中国早期智人牙齿化石

中国目前较为可靠的早期智人牙齿材料应包括在巢县、许家窑、长阳、周口店新洞和桐梓发现的人类牙齿化石,代表一类与早期组早期智人相当或十分相近的古人类。丁村人类牙齿化石可能是代表晚期组早期智人也可能是代表解剖学上的现代智人。就牙齿材料而言,尚无充分的证据能表明在中国曾同时存在过两种类型的早期智人。

THE DENTAL REMAINS OF EARLY HOMO SAPIENS FOUND IN CHINA

The dental remains which were believed to be of early Homo sapiens were found at several sites in China: Chaoxian, Xujiayao, Changyang, New Cave of ZKD, Tongzi and Dingcun. Unfortunately, these remains have never been systematically compared with each other. So it is not surprising that the teeth of Tongzi were recently recon-sidered to be of Homo erectus rather than of early Homo sapiens. Furthermore, the work on Xujiayao teeth led to an open question of two types of early Homo sapiens coexisted in China. In this paper, all the human teeth from the sites mentioned above are compared, the dental characters of early Homo sapiens are summarized, and the coexistance of two types of early Homo sapiens is discussed. The sites, except Dingcun, yielded 23 teeth in total. As a whole, these teeth resem-ble those of Homo erectus in nonmetric characters. The measurements of these teeth show that the canines and posterior teeth are hardly distinguished from those of Homo erectus while the incisors tend to be broader. The dental remains of Chaoxian, Xujiayao, Changyang, New Cave of ZKD and Tongzi, taken together, should represent a group of early Homo sapiens, equivalent to or closely related to the early group of this grade. It is also suggested by their dating. As to the three teeth of Dingcun, their reliable dating is still awaited. The inci- sors and molar appear to be modern. However, the molar presents some additional characters which are common to the late group of early Homo sapiens. Conservatively speaking, the Dingcnn teeth might represent either the late group of early Homo sapiens or the anatomically modern Homo sapiens. By morphological "dating", the teeth of Dingcun are much younger than those of Xujiayao in age. The view that two types of early Homo sapiens coexisted in China can not be supported by the dental remains so far discovered.