The Liujiang men () are among the earliest

modern human Early modern human (EMH) or anatomically modern human (AMH) are terms used to distinguish ''Homo sapiens'' (the only extant Hominina species) that are anatomically consistent with the range of phenotypes seen in contemporary humans from extin ...

s (''

Homo sapiens Humans (''Homo sapiens'') are the most abundant and widespread species of primate, characterized by bipedalism and exceptional cognitive skills due to a large and complex brain. This has enabled the development of advanced tools, culture, ...

'') found in

East Asia East Asia is the eastern region of Asia, which is defined in both Geography, geographical and culture, ethno-cultural terms. The modern State (polity), states of East Asia include China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, and Taiwan. ...

. Their remains were discovered in the Tongtianyan Cave (通天岩) in

Liujiang Liujiang District (; Standard Zhuang: ) is under the administration of Liuzhou, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China, located on the southwest bank of the Liu River. It covers a land area of and had a population of 562,351 . The southernmost co ...

, Guangxi, China. The remains were excavated in 1958. The remains consist of a well-preserved adult cranium, a right innominate (hip bone), complete sacrum, multiple

vertebra The spinal column, a defining synapomorphy shared by nearly all vertebrates, Hagfish are believed to have secondarily lost their spinal column is a moderately flexible series of vertebrae (singular vertebra), each constituting a characteristi ...

e, and two femoral fragments. All remains are believed to belong to one individual. Very little is known about the specimen due to a lack of academic sources published within the United States. There seems to be a discrepancy in determining accurate dates of the specimen due to the unknown stratigraphic context in which the remains were found. The Liujiang sample was found to have craniometric and morphological similarities to modern day East Asian and Southeast Asian peoples (historically known as "Mongoloid" characteristics), which is quite surprising and suggesting that these features are thus quite old, dating back to early humans, while some argue that this may support an independent origin for East/Southeast Asians within East Asia (multiregional model). The remains are dated to the Late Pleistocene, to at least 68,000 years ago, but more likely to approximately 111-139 bp. High rates of variability yielded by various dating techniques carried out by different researchers place the most widely accepted range of dates with 68,000 BP as a minimum, but does not rule out dates as old as 159,000 BP. Any date prior to 50,000 years ago is surprising, as it would seem to predate the "recent dispersal" scenario of

coastal migration In the context of the recent African origin of modern humans, the Southern Dispersal scenario (also the coastal migration or great coastal migration hypothesis) refers to the early migration along the southern coast of Asia, from the Arabian Pen ...

Out of Africa II In paleoanthropology, the recent African origin of modern humans, also called the "Out of Africa" theory (OOA), recent single-origin hypothesis (RSOH), replacement hypothesis, or recent African origin model (RAO), is the dominant model of the ...

"). The remains have been considered in the context of a possible early dispersal which left Africa before 100,000 years ago, but which was extinct (or "retracted back to Africa") before the arrival of the "recent dispersal" wave.

Morphology

Regional population variation in sexual dimorphism hypothesis

Most scholars have interpreted the cranium of the specimen as male, but have encountered difficulties reaching a consensus in the sex of the pelvis. Scholar Karen Rosenburg argues that this difficulty is indicative of regional variation in the degree of sexual dimorphism consistent with modern populations. The degree of morphology variation consistent with modern populations suggest that the fossils may not be as old as previously thought.

Cranium (1567 cc)

The cranium of the Liujiang specimen is one of the most complete to be found in China. The cranium was found filled with a stone matrix. The matrix filling the brain was scanned using computed tomography (CT) and turned into a reconstructed 3D image of the brain. The shape of the brain shares many similarities with modern East Asians including a rounded shape, wide frontal lobes, and enlarged brain height. One major difference between the Liujiang specimen and modern Chinese populations was the enlarged occipital lobes found on the Liujiang specimen. The common features between the Liujiang specimen and modern humans along with the cranial capacity of the skull (1567 cc) places the specimen within the range of modern humans.

References

{{reflist Archaeology of China Upper Paleolithic Homo sapiens fossils Liuzhou History of Guangxi