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Further geological and palaeoanthropological investigations at the Maludong hominin site, Yunnan Province, Southwest China |
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| Authors: | XuePing Ji Darren Curnoe ZhenDe Bao Andy I R Herries David Fink YunSheng Zhu John Hellstrom Yun Luo Paul S C Tacon |
| Institution: | 1. Yunnan Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology, Kunming, 650118, China 2. School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences, University of New South Wales, Sydney, 2052, Australia 3. Mengzi Institute of Cultural Relics, Mengzi, 661100, China 4. Archaeomagnetism Laboratory, Archaeology Program, School of Historical and European Studies, La Trobe University, Melbourne, 3086, Australia 5. Institute for Environmental Research, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, Sydney, 2001, Australia 6. Honghe Prefectural Institute of Cultural Relics, Mengzi, 661100, China 7. School of Earth Sciences, University of Melbourne, Melbourne, 3010, Australia 8. Place, Evolution and Rock Art Heritage Unit, School of Humanities, Gold Coast Campus, Griffith University, Gold Coast, 4222, Australia |
| Abstract: | Three-dimensional mapping and section work undertaken by us in 2008 have identified 11 stratigraphic units at Maludong site. AMS radiocarbon dating of charcoal established an accurate and internally consistent age profile for the sequence of 17.8±0.2 ka to 13.2±0.1 ka. Archaeomagnetic analysis showed changes in externally derived pedogenically enhanced material consistent with a warming in climate between the cold period of Henrich Event 1 and the Bølling-Allerød interstadial. Human remains recovered during the 1989 excavation were derived from a deposit dating to this interstadial, or between 14.3±0.3 ka and 13.5±0.1 ka. Anthropogenic features, including burnt rocks, baked sediment and thick charcoal and ash layers, were identified and examined through archaeomagnetic analysis. Two monkey fossils are described here, one of them being reassigned from Macaca robustus to M. aff. M. assamensis. They confirm the young age of the site and also show signs of anthropogenic alteration in the form of burning. Additional human cranial remains are reported for the first time and new data are provided for some specimens described previously. A range of new features is identified that strengthen the affinities of the Maludong remains to archaic humans. The presence of this globally unique mosaic of archaic and modern features raises important questions about human evolutionary history in East Asia during the Late Upper Pleistocene. |
| Keywords: | human evolution Upper Pleistocene Southwest China archaic morphology dating |
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