"Liujiang Man" was discovered in Tongtianyan Cave in Liujiang, Guangxi in the late 1950s. Fossil materials include 1 complete skull, two femurs, hip bones, vertebrae and ribs, and the brain capacity is1.480ml.. Liujiang people obviously have the characteristics of primitive yellow people. Liujiang people should be homo sapiens in the late Paleolithic and early Paleolithic. "Ziyang Man" was discovered in the early 1950s in Monopterus albus Creek, Ziyang, Sichuan. It is mainly composed of well-preserved 1 skull and palate bones, and a triangular bone cone scraped by 1 was also found at the top of the skull. Puding people were discovered in the late 1970s and early 1980s in xinzhai village, Puding County, Guizhou Province. Human fossils include complete mandible, maxilla, teeth and so on. They belong to the elderly, middle-aged people and children respectively. Later, a relatively complete skull fossil was discovered. Tens of thousands of stone products, nearly a thousand bone horns, 10 fire remains and animal fossils have been unearthed in this site. Among them, bone horns are very distinctive cultural relics. The types of bone angle are cone, shovel, fork and so on. The horn is a shovel made of antlers. Zuo Zhenren was discovered in Cailiaoxi, Zuo Zhen Township, Tainan County, Taiwan Province in the early 1970s. Fossil materials include human parietal bones, frontal bones and molars. It is estimated that its age was between 20,000 and 30,000 years ago. Baoshan people were discovered in Tangzigou, Baoshan, Yunnan in the late 1980s. There are two maxillae, 65,438+0 skull and mandible, and three teeth, which belong to four individuals: young, middle-aged and old. The site also unearthed more than 500 stone tools and bones. The site is about 8000 years ago, and its stone tools are all made, and no pottery has been found. Therefore, its culture still belongs to the late Paleolithic Age, which can be regarded as a transitional stage between the Neolithic Age and the Paleolithic Age in southern China. Late Homo sapiens fossils have also been found in southern China, Sihong, Jiangsu, Jiande, Zhejiang, Du 'an, Shuicheng, Tongzi, Chenggong and Lijiang. Fulin site, the first site in Hanyuan, Sichuan, is rich in cultural relics. In the early 1970s, more than 5,000 stone products were unearthed in a small area of 30 square meters. "Fulin Culture" is about 20,000 years ago. More than 300 stone tools have been found in the western suburbs of Tongliang, Sichuan, and the raw materials for making stone tools have to be transported from 20 kilometers away. "Tongliang culture" is about 2500 to 20000 years ago, and its stone tools are simple and rough, which obviously lags behind the level of other stone tools in the same period. This should be a manifestation of the unbalanced development level of paleolithic culture in various regions. "Cat Cave Culture" was discovered in the mid-1970s under the rock buildings in Maoshan, Xingyi County, Guizhou Province. Seven human fossils were unearthed, including bone horn 10 and stone tools 1000. One of the osteotome is distinctive, thin on the top and thick on the bottom, smooth after fine grinding, with sharp cutting edges on the left and top. Maomaodong culture is about 14000 years ago. "Changbin Culture" was discovered in Baxian Cave, Changbin Township, Taitung County, Taiwan in the late 1960s. More than 3,000 stone tools made of various gravels, as well as bone instruments such as bone needles, bone shovels and bone cones were mainly found. These stone tools and bone implements are basically the same as the specimens of late Paleolithic sites in southern provinces. The era of "Changbin Culture" was about five or six thousand years ago. Although it was in the middle and late Neolithic period, its cultural characteristics are all Paleolithic, which should be a manifestation of the unbalanced cultural development in various places. Judging from the consistency of times and cultural connotations, the late Paleolithic culture in southern China is obviously the source of "Changbin culture".
Late Homo sapiens sites in northern China are also widely distributed. In the early 1920s, a baby's incisor fossil was found in Sarawusu, Wushen Banner, Inner Mongolia, which was called "Hetao Man". Since 1950s, the site of Salawusu has been excavated many times, and more than 20 pieces of human parietal bone, occipital bone, frontal bone, mandible, scapula and humerus have been found, as well as a large number of stone products and animal fossils. The age of Hetao people is between 50 thousand and 3500 years ago. In the early 1960s, 1 human occipital fossils and more than 1.500 stone products were unearthed in Zhiyu, Shuo County, Shanxi Province, including a pointed flint arrow made of thin feldspar, which provided material evidence for the initial use of bows and arrows. A graupel-shaped small stone knife made of translucent crystal was also found in Zhiyu site, which is a composite tool with a short handle embedded in a bone wooden handle. Wild horses and wild donkeys are the most abundant animal fossils found in Zhiyu site. It can be seen that the hunting economy at that time tended to be specialized, focusing on catching one or two animals, and the hunting level also improved a lot. "Zhi Yu Ren" is about 2800 years ago. In the mid-1980s, Xuetian people were discovered in Xuetian Village, Wuchang County, Heilongjiang Province. There are 1 fossils of human parietal bone and femur, two bones and three stone products, and a large number of animal fossils such as mammoths, bison, hairy rhinoceros and deer, which are about 24,000 years ago. The "Harbin people" about 22,000 years ago were discovered in Yanjiagang, southwest of Harbin, Heilongjiang Province in the early 1980s. In addition to the discovery of human fossils, stone tools and bone products, Yanjiagang also discovered the ruins of ancient camps composed of more than 500 pieces of various mammalian bones, which are quite distinctive in Paleolithic culture. "Qianyang Man" was discovered in Donggou County, Liaoning Province in the early 1980s. Fossils of skull, mandible, femur and teeth dating from about 18000 years ago have been unearthed from the site of Qianyang Cave. In the early 1980s, rich ancient cultural remains were discovered in Xianren Cave in Xiaogushan, Haicheng, Liaoning Province. The lower layer belongs to the late Paleolithic culture, and human teeth and femur fossils have been found. The stone tools found were quite rough and irregular, which was related to people's emphasis on making bones and angles at that time. The bone needle made by "Xiaogushan people" is very fine, shorter and slightly thicker than that made by cavemen, and the eye of the needle is dug and sharp as a mountain. Besides some spicules, a ground bone cone, a javelin head and a harpoon made of angular fragments were also found. The harpoon is 84 mm long and has two rows of asymmetrical barbs, which is the physical evidence of the fishing and hunting economy at that time. Perforated animal teeth and perforated clam shells are decorations of Xiaogushan people. These conditions are similar to those of the famous Neanderthals. In the early 1970s, the cultural remains of the late Paleolithic period were discovered in the pigeon cave beside the Daling River in Kazuo County, Liaoning Province. There are thick cultural relics in the cave, including parietal bone fragments, temporal bone fragments, patella and 1 child molar fossils. There are burnt bones, charcoal, burnt clods and stone tools in the ash layer half a meter thick. There are more than 300 stone products in the "pigeon cave culture", including 260 stone tools, and the ratio of finished products to exquisite stone tools exceeds that of Peking man. Stone tools tend to be stable, with the largest number of scrapers. Generally, they are finely polished, with symmetrical edges and sharp edges, among which the scraper with single convex edge is the most excellent. There are more than 20 kinds of mammal fossils found in pigeon cave, including rock sheep, hairy rhinoceros and other animals, indicating that the climate was relatively cold at that time. The pigeon cave culture is about 40,000-50,000 years ago. Many late Paleolithic cultural sites have been discovered in northern China, such as Xiaonanhai in Anyang, Henan Province, Hutouliang in Yangyuan, Hebei Province, Xia Chuan in Qinshui, Dayao Village in Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, and 18 Huma Station in Heilongjiang Province.
The representative of late Homo sapiens was Neanderthals. ① The cave site is located at the top of Gulong Mountain in Zhoukoudian, Beijing, and is divided into four parts: the entrance, the upper room, the lower room and the lower room. The mouth of the cave is 4 meters high and 5 meters wide. The upper room is the living room, with a width of 8m from north to south and a length of14m from east to west. There is a pile of ashes in the middle of stalagmite field. Children's skulls, spicules, decorations and some stone tools were found at the entrance to the cave and in the room above. The lower chamber is slightly lower than the western half of the cave and separated from the upper chamber by a vertical cliff. Three complete human skulls and some bone fossils were found in the lower room, belonging to three people, including young women, middle-aged women and elderly men. Hematite powder is scattered around human bones, and there are many decorations. Deep in the lower chamber, there are many undisturbed animal bones. There are only 25 stone tools found in the site, which may be related to the large use of wood and bone horns by cavemen. Apart from some bone implements and worn mandibles, the most representative tools in cave culture are 1 spicule and 1 carved antlers. The residual length of bone needle is 82 mm, the maximum diameter is 3.3 mm, the needle body is round, the tip is sharp, the whole body is smooth, and it is obviously scraped. Deer bone stick is made of red antlers. The cutting surface and trunk are scraped and polished, and patterns are carved on the basis of polishing. Some experts speculate that this is an original work of art or a symbol of power. Ornaments include 1 diamond pebble, 3 perforated jellyfish shells, 1 perforated supraorbital bone of Siniperca chuatsi, 125 perforated animal teeth, 7 diamond beads and 4 carved bone tubes. Many are decorated with red perforations and dyed with hematite. Because of long-term wear and tear, holes and edges of decorations. The appearance of decorations shows that people at that time already had the concept of loving beauty. These decorations may also be souvenirs of hunters. Every time I catch someone, I pull out a beast's tooth and put it on my body to show my courage. This should be the bud of the heroic concept. The burial of Neanderthals shows that there was an initial religious consciousness at birth, and that people's thinking has developed, so there will be certain burial customs. Sprinkling hematite powder around the body is not a random behavior, but a measure with special significance. The burial custom also shows that people are more closely related than before, and it is likely that the clan system has sprouted in this period.
Although the late Paleolithic period in which the late Homo sapiens lived was only 20,000 to 30,000 years, which was far less than the early and middle paleolithic period, the progress of human society was accelerated as never before. During this period, people not only continued to use the traditional knocking technology to make acoustic instruments, but also widely used technologies such as polishing, drilling and digging holes, and used these new technologies to make bones, horns and decorations. In recent years, the remains of Paleolithic primitive human life have been discovered in Jingzhou Town, Jiangling, Hubei Province. In the middle of the Paleolithic site in this place, five circular stone circles surrounded by gravel and stone products, about 4 meters in diameter, were found, and some finely processed and regular sharp tools and chopping tools were scattered in the circles. This discovery gives people a preliminary glimpse of primitive human life in the Paleolithic China Plain. In the late Paleolithic period, the cultural development in various regions became complicated and formed different cultural traditions, thus laying the foundation for the emergence of regional culture in the Neolithic period. The progress of labor technology, the development of production activities, the appearance of decorations and the germination of funeral customs all reflect that people's abstract thinking has developed to a certain level at that time, which indicates that the ignorance period of ancient human beings is coming to an end and a new era is coming.
After more than half a year's rescue archaeological excavation in Huanglong Cave, Yunxi County, Hubei Province, Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology found five ancient human tooth fossils, as well as more than 20 stone products, bone products and a large number of animal fossils. The discovery of a large number of cultural relics confirms that Huanglongdong ancient human site belongs to the late Pleistocene, 94,000 years ago, and it is the earliest site of late Homo sapiens (also known as modern Homo sapiens, that is, anatomically modern humans) in China and East Asia. The discovery of this site fills the missing position in the evolution from early Homo sapiens to late Homo sapiens in East Asia. It is of great significance to study the continuous evolution of human beings in China and East Asia and the origin of modern people in China and East Asia. Xinhua News Agency (photo by Wu)
One of the five ancient human teeth fossils unearthed from Huanglongdong site in Yunxi County, Hubei Province-the left maxillary lateral incisor fossil (photo taken in 265438+February 2004).
Xinhuanet Wuhan 65438+1October 10 (Reporter Liao Jun) Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology found five ancient human tooth fossils, as well as more than 20 stone products, bone products and a large number of animal fossils during the rescue archaeological excavation in Huanglongdong, Yunxi County. The discovery of a large number of cultural relics confirms that Huanglongdong ancient human site belongs to the late Pleistocene, 94,000 years ago, and it is the earliest site of late Homo sapiens in China and East Asia.
Huanglong Cave is located in a remote mountainous area at the junction of Hubei and Shaanxi. From June to August, 2004, the Hubei Provincial Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology conducted a rescue excavation of Huanglong Cave, and successively found three ancient human tooth fossils and a number of important associated fauna fossils. At the end of that year, in the follow-up excavation in the same place, two ancient human tooth fossils were unearthed, and more than 20 stone products, bone products and a large number of animal fossils were newly discovered. Among them, stone products and bone products are mostly second-hand appliances. Some small animal fossils, such as Indian fake vampire bats, may be seen in ancient cultural sites in China for the first time.
Wu, an associate researcher at Hubei Institute of Cultural Relics and Archaeology who participated in the excavation, told the reporter that the characteristics of five ancient human tooth fossils unearthed at Huanglongdong site are closely related to modern people in China and belong to late Homo sapiens. Based on the comprehensive observation of the fossilization degree of human fossils, the characteristics of associated fauna, the unearthed stratigraphic structure and the relative height of caves, the Huanglongdong ancient human site should belong to the late Pleistocene, 94,000 years ago. At present, Huanglongdong ancient human site can be considered as the earliest site of late Homo sapiens in China and East Asia.
Late homo sapiens is also called modern homo sapiens, that is, anatomically modern people. Wu told reporters that Africa is considered by some anthropologists as the birthplace of modern people all over the world, because some sites of late Homo sapiens were discovered in South Africa and other regions about1200,000 years ago. Although there are many fossils of ancient humans in China and East Asia, including Homo erectus and early Homo sapiens, there are few fossils of late Homo sapiens at an earlier stage. This scarcity has become an obstacle to the theory of human sustainable evolution in China and East Asia. Therefore, the discovery of ancient human fossils between 4-65438+ 10,000 years in China or East Asia is considered to be the basis for solving the origin of modern people in China or East Asia. He said that the discovery of Huanglongdong ancient human site filled the gap in the evolution from early Homo sapiens to late Homo sapiens in East Asia, and it was of great significance to study the continuous evolution of human beings in China and East Asia and the origin of modern people in China and East Asia. Except for some primitive characters, the symbols of late Homo sapiens are basically close to modern humans. Late Homo sapiens fossils are not only widely distributed in Asia, Africa and Europe, but also found in Australia and America. The late stage of Homo sapiens (about 50,000 years ago to 6,543.8+0,000 years ago) is the formation period of the four major races (yellow, white, black and brown) in the world today. The earliest fossils of late Homo sapiens in the world were found in the French village of Kroma. Homo sapiens is usually called the late Homo sapiens in Europe. Farmers in Kroma are considered to be the direct ancestors of white people (Europa). Homo sapiens lives by fishing and hunting. He can make a fire by friction, make exquisite stone tools and bones, and engage in painting and artistic activities. Many places in the world have a large number of human cultural remains in this period. Archaeologically, it belongs to the late Paleolithic period. Late Homo sapiens fossils from China were only found in Zhoukoudian Cave in Beijing and Dagouwan in Uxin Banner, Inner Mongolia, before 1949. After the founding of New China, more than 30 late Homo sapiens fossils were unearthed. Among the late Homo sapiens fossils found in China, Liujiang in Guangxi and the caverns in Zhoukoudian in Beijing are the most representative. Liujiang fossils include a relatively complete skull (missing mandible) and some bodies. Compared with modern humans, the skull is more primitive and has the basic characteristics of primitive yellow people (Mongolian people), such as flat face, low and wide nasal bone, shovel-shaped upper teeth and tongue. Liujiang people lived about 67000 years ago. Liujiang people are the earliest late Homo sapiens discovered in China and even in East Asia, and they are probably the ancestors of modern yellow people. As for Hetao people, a fossil of a child's incisor was found for the first time at the Salawusu River in Wushen Banner, Inner Mongolia 1922, and a fossil of parietal bone and femur was found at the same place 1956. Hetao people are undoubtedly late Homo sapiens, because their characteristics are close to those of modern people, but they retain some original characteristics. According to the characteristics of human fossils and the nature of associated mammals, Hetao people are later than Dali people and Dingcun people, but earlier than cavemen. The fossil of Ziyang people in Sichuan is a mature female skull and a complete bony hard palate, dating from 39,000 to 36,000 years ago. There are three different individuals between men and women, including three relatively complete skulls. Sadly, the previously discovered Neanderthal fossils, together with Beijingers, were lost from Americans. There are only some models made before the loss. The symbols of Neanderthals are very similar to those of modern China, American Indians and Arctic Eskimos. Therefore, cavemen are not only the ancestors of northerners in modern China, but also the distant ancestors of Indians and Eskimos. Neanderthals lived about 2-/kloc-0,000,000 years ago. The human fossil pierced in Puding, Guizhou Province is a relatively complete girl's brain. The skull characteristics of the people who pierced the hole are close to those of Ziyang people, but more similar to those of modern southerners. If the person who pierced the hole is indeed a late Homo sapiens, it is the most progressive representative of ancient humans in China. In addition, there are fossils of late Homo sapiens from Laibin, Lipu, Tubo, Lijiang, Xichou, Mengzi, Huanglong, Shandong Xintai, Shaanxi Zhiyu, Jiangsu Sihong, Liaoning Jianping, Jilin Yushu and Taiwan Province Zuo Zhen. There are two concepts: people. At present, there is not much controversy in academic circles that anthropology originated in Africa about 7 million to 5 million years ago. There are two hypotheses about the origin of Homo sapiens in academic circles. Homo sapiens is the last stage of human evolution, and the appearance of Homo sapiens in the later stage has been basically consistent with that of modern people. At present, many scientists support the theory of African origin, that is, Africa is the hometown of modern people; There are also a few scientists who support "multi-regional evolution theory", that is, modern people originated in Europe, Asia and Africa.
1987, American scientists Wallace and Wilson led two laboratories to detect the genetic material deoxyribonucleic acid in cell mitochondria, and found that the ancestor of modern people can be traced back to a woman who lived in Africa about150 thousand years ago. After that, some modern humans began to migrate from the African continent to other continents in the world, and at the same time evolved from cave-dwelling humans to real modern humans. This view has become the "focus" of international academic debate.
In an article published in the journal Science on the 7th, three researchers from Cambridge University analyzed the geographical location of modern human migration from the African continent to other continents in the world and the corresponding population genes. It was found that there was little genetic variation between Ethiopians (an East African country) and Ethiopians. On the route of modern human migration from African continent to other continents in the world, the characteristics of gene diversity are not obvious, and there are no large number of gene interruptions. This further proves the modern theory of African origin.
Modern people, that is, the latest stage in the history of human evolution-late Homo sapiens. The origin of late Homo sapiens has been controversial in academic circles, and it can't be said that this problem has been solved until today. If we compare the skulls of typical Neanderthals in western Europe with those of farmers in Kroma, or the skulls of Dali people with those of Neanderthals, we will find that the differences between them are very obvious. The typical Nepalese head is long and low, with protruding sides. The occipital bone at the back of the head is like an overhanging bulge, and the frontal bone leans backward, which looks very flat, and the brow ridge bone is very thick. But a farmer in Kroma has a high head, a round occipital bone behind his chest, vertical sides of his skull and vertical forehead, which looks very high. There is no thick brow ridge on the orbit. The difference in face shape is also obvious. Nepal's face protrudes forward, its nose is big, its chin is big, and it has no chin. Farmers in Kroma have flat faces, narrow noses and prominent chins, just like us modern people.
/kloc-in the 0/9th century, most human evolutionary scholars did not regard Neanderthals as the direct ancestors of modern people, because the physical characteristics of Neanderthals were too similar to "apes". At that time, the view was that other fossil humans other than farmers in Kroma, such as Chinese ape-man, Javanese ape-man and Neanderthal, were regarded as the sideline of extinction. But in the 1920s, the academic circles basically recognized Nigerians as the direct ancestors of modern people.
Catastrophe theory
In 1930s, the skull of Borhan discovered in 1932 and the skull of Swanscombe discovered in 1935 made some scholars think that late Homo sapiens appeared before Neanderthals, so Neanderthals should be a branch of evolution. These two skulls show a round skull and a high skull top. Although today we all admit that the characteristics of Homo erectus on these two skulls are still obvious, at that time, a theory called "Anthropocene" was formed, which believed that the late Homo sapiens represented by these two skulls had appeared about 200,000 years ago. However, it was suppressed by Nigerians, because Nigerians were more physically adapted to the harsh ice age climate, while the later Homo sapiens, who were more physically advanced, only lived in some warmer regions of Asia and gradually developed more advanced technology and culture. About 37,000 years ago, they returned to Europe to replace and destroy Nigerians.
Single-line evolution theory
The "catastrophe theory" was very popular from the mid-1930s to the 1950s. In 1950s, with the perfection of absolute age determination technology in academic circles, fossil specimens from Tabang, Shihur and Kafz in Israel were originally thought to be around the same time, which can be traced back to the transition from Nigerians to Homo sapiens. On the other hand, Franois Boulder, a French archaeologist, pointed out that he found that at least four different Nepalese tribal groups existed in southwest France at the same time, and their distribution was somewhat similar to that of later nationalities. The late type of French Moster culture is very similar to Chadel's Peron culture in the late Paleolithic period. Therefore, even if there is no transition type from Neanderthals to late Homo sapiens in Europe, everyone agrees that the typical Neanderthals in Europe evolved locally to late Homo sapiens. American paleoanthropologist Wolff even pointed out that modern Europeans still retain the characteristics left by Nigerians, such as prominent nasal bones and obvious brow ridges. Therefore, the single-line evolution theory outweighs the catastrophe theory.
The New Foundation of Catastrophe Theory
In the 1980s, based on the following points, the theory of catastrophic substitution rose again:
(1) Archaeologists may have misunderstood more progressive aspects of Nepalese behavior, such as "flowers buried with the grave" and "cave bear sacrifice". Apart from the simplest burial custom of Nigerians, there is actually no etiquette. Nigerian technology is very simple and conservative, lacking evidence of flexible thinking. Neanderthals were not clever hunters, but only took meat from wild animals at best, so the behavioral differences between Neanderthals and late Homo sapiens showed that their genetic relationship was weak.
But this view is somewhat biased in the face of new discoveries. In the mid-1980s, when we excavated some sites of Moster culture in Western Europe, we found evidence that Nigerians specialized in hunting some large animals. These evidences show that some scholars believe that Nigerians are mentally retarded and unable to hunt large animals, which is not entirely correct.
(2) According to the evidence of human mitochondrial DNA, Allen Wilson, an American physical anthropologist and University of California, Berkeley, thinks that all modern people have a female distant ancestor who lived about 300,000 ~ 654.38+0.5 million years ago. If the molecular biology calculation is correct, this great-grandmother should go to South Africa. Her descendants spread gradually and then spread all over the world.
(3) The new dating technology not only failed to solve the problem of the origin of modern people, but made the problem more complicated. For example, a complete Nepalese skeleton was unearthed at the site of St. Cesar in western France. The skull shows the characteristics of typical Nepalese people, and the fossil dating is 35,000 ~ 33,000 years ago. However, many late Homo sapiens fossils dating back to 30,000 years have been found in other places in western France. In terms of the speed of evolution, it is impossible for human beings to complete the evolution from Neanderthals to modern humans in just two or three thousand years.
Where is the answer to the question of the origin of modern people? There is no conclusion yet. 70,000 ~ 80,000 years ago, there really appeared a completely modern human being in Africa. It seems that they spread through gene exchange rather than population migration.
Moreover, there is no alternative evolutionary evidence for the origin of modern people in East Asia, whether it is fossil records or cultural characteristics. The continuous evolution of the region seems more convincing. In other words, in East Asia and China, modern humans evolved from local Homo erectus to late Homo sapiens.
Recently, the relationship between Nigerians and modern people has made new progress. The test of Nepalese bones by American scholars with DNA method proves that Nepalis and late Homo sapiens did not evolve in a straight line, but were replaced by inlays.