中国古人类牙齿尺寸演化特点及东亚直立人的系统地位

对中国境内不同时代人类牙齿测量数据的发析显示，中国古人类牙齿尺寸的总体演化趋势与世界其它地区人类一致，呈缩小变化，其中一个表现特点是中国直立人与早期智人在牙齿尺寸上不差别不大，但作者根据对中国古人类化石形态特征，生存年代等方面的综合分析认为中国直立人在化石形态，生存年代等方面均与智人有明显的不同，取消直立人，将其并入智人意见的证据还是不够充分的，目前仍宜将直立人与智人作为人属内两个不同的种来看待，

THE CHANGES OF TOOTH SIZE OF CHINESE AND THE SYSTEMATIC STATUS OF HOMO ERECTUS IN EAST ASIA

The purpose of this paper is to study the evolution of Homo erectus by means of the analyses of dental metrics of the people of China in different time periods. The general trend of tooth reduction was found from Homo erectus to modern Chinese. From the time periods of Homo erectus till early Homo sapiens of China, there was no obvious change of tooth size. From the stage of late Homo sapiens in late Pleistocene, the tooth size of human in China decreased sharply. After that, the speed of tooth size reduction went down and came to the tooth size ranges of modern Chinese gradually. Compared with the tooth sizes of late Pleistocene and Holocene Europeans, the patterns of tooth size reduction in Chinese humans are quite different. The main differences include earlier appearance of sharp tooth size reduction, high variations of the speed of tooth size reduction and smaller scope of overall dental reduction. The author believes that according to the currently hold evidence, the tooth sizes and their change patterns of Chinese humans, especially the similarities between Homo erectus and early Homo sapiens in tooth sizes, are the example of the mosaic of human evolution. The Homo erectus of China differs from early Homo sapiens of China obviously in fossil morphology and living periods. The evidence for the proposal of canceling Homo erectus and putting Homo erectus into Homo sapiens is not enough. At present, it is better to treat Homo erectus and Homo sapiens as two species within the genus of Homo . The evolutionary relationship between the two species is the course of phyletic gradualism. One of the important characteristics in the course is the existence of transition forms and the mosaic of evolution. The overall stages of human evolution in China is obvious. Some overlapping phenomena between Homo erectus and early Homo sapiens are reflection of the mosaic evolution and continuity in evolution in human evolution of China.