Maba Man () is a pre-modern

hominin The Hominini (hominins) form a taxonomic tribe of the subfamily Homininae (hominines). They comprise two extant genera: ''Homo'' (humans) and '' Pan'' (chimpanzees and bonobos), and in standard usage exclude the genus '' Gorilla'' ( gorillas) ...

whose remains were discovered in 1958 in caves near the town called Maba, near Shaoguan city in the northern part of

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

province,

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

.''Wu R. K.'' et ''Pang R.-C.'' Fossil human skull of early Paleoanthropic stage found at Mapa, Shaoquan, Kwantung Province. Vertebrata PalAsiatica, 1959, t.3, №1, pp.176-182.

Characteristics

Farmers found the Maba cranium in 1958 near a Chinese village named Maba. Maba Man was labeled an intermediate in form between ''

Homo erectus ''Homo erectus'' ( ) is an extinction, extinct species of Homo, archaic human from the Pleistocene, spanning nearly 2 million years. It is the first human species to evolve a humanlike body plan and human gait, gait, to early expansions of h ...

'' and '' H. sapiens''; the remains are referred by many authorities to archaic ''H. sapiens'' or to an Asian extension of '' H. heidelbergensis''. As the scientists did more research on the Maba cranium, they found that the fossils consisted of a skull cap and parts of the right upper face, with parts of the nose also still attached. The scientists saw a connection with ''Homo erectus'' because the brow ridges were pronounced, forming an arch over each eye, and the bones of the brain-case were low and thick. Even so, the brain was apparently larger than that of H. erectus, though precise measurement of cranial capacity is not possible, as the skull's base is incomplete. Showing not only characteristics of ''H. erectus,'' archaic ''H. sapiens'' and ''H. heidelbergensis,'' Maba 1 (museum number PA 84) also exhibits traits representing modern humans and

Neanderthal Neanderthals ( ; ''Homo neanderthalensis'' or sometimes ''H. sapiens neanderthalensis'') are an extinction, extinct group of archaic humans who inhabited Europe and Western and Central Asia during the Middle Pleistocene, Middle to Late Plei ...

s. If the reconstruction of the skull is accurate, the upper face morphology of the Maba 1 is similar to Neanderthals with a prominent nose and thick

parietal bone The parietal bones ( ) are two bones in the skull which, when joined at a fibrous joint known as a cranial suture, form the sides and roof of the neurocranium. In humans, each bone is roughly quadrilateral in form, and has two surfaces, four bord ...

at the bregma. The vertical frontal squama and thin vault is similar to modern humans. Although we don't have a precise measurement of cranial capacity, 1300 cc is the estimated cranial capacity assigned to Maba 1. This is in a range similar to modern humans and Neanderthals' cranial capacities. The almost completely fused main cranial sutures, less pronounced muscular crests, and the rough external surface of the skull indicate the possibility of Maba 1 being a middle-aged male. Postero-lateral to the right frontal tubercle, Maba 1's extracranial surface exhibits a 14 mm long crescent scar. On the intracranial surface roughly at the same position, a hump about the same size exists. One feature that is worth mentioning is the inferior lateral orbital margin of Maba 1. While most of the other Pleistocene Chinese hominid specimens have a rounded margin, Maba 1 has a sharp one. Dating of the Maba 1 human fossil is problematic. It could possibly go back to the

Middle Pleistocene The Chibanian, more widely known as the Middle Pleistocene (its previous informal name), is an Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale or a Stage (stratigraphy), stage in chronostratigraphy, being a division of the Pleistocen ...

, the Middle-Late Pleistocene transition, and

Late Pleistocene The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial Age (geology), age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as the Upper Pleistocene from a Stratigraphy, stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division ...

, roughly between 300 and 130 ka. The uncertainty of the dating is due to the fact that the original

stratigraphic section A stratigraphic section is a sequence of layers of rocks in the order they were deposited. It is based on the principle of original horizontality, which states that layers of sediment are originally deposited horizontally under the action of ...

is in a deep and narrow crevice the age of which can't be established with certainty. Current chronological data comes from a South Branch Cave 30 meters away from where the cranium was found using mass-spectrometric U-series, and a

vertebrate Vertebrates () are animals with a vertebral column (backbone or spine), and a cranium, or skull. The vertebral column surrounds and protects the spinal cord, while the cranium protects the brain. The vertebrates make up the subphylum Vertebra ...

tooth using

uranium Uranium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Ura ...

methods.

Technology

In 1984, the research team re-entered the cave where the Maba Man had been found and cleared through the pile of animal fossils at the entry. These had been moved there in 1958, contemporary with the discovery of Maba Man. Two

stone tool Stone tools have been used throughout human history but are most closely associated with prehistoric cultures and in particular those of the Stone Age. Stone tools may be made of either ground stone or knapped stone, the latter fashioned by a ...

s (KP84001 and KP84002) were revealed. The Lion Cave (Shiziyan) has four roughly-defined strata. KP84001 and KP84002 were found in the second stratum. They were made of gravel. The bulb of percussions of both stone tools are mostly blurry. The hypothesis is that the gravel used for the stone tools came from the nearby river bank and bench where the lithology belongs to quartzite. KP84001 is a chopper with a remaining part about 15.82 cm long, 8.64 cm wide. The sharp edge of it is 2.31 cm. KP84002 has a diameter of 9.41 cm, and is 4.73 cm thick.

Associated fauna

A total of 8 orders of animal fossils were found in the Lion Cave. The list includes '' Macaca'' sp., '' Rhinopithecus tingianus'', '' Pongo'' sp., '' Rattus rattus'', '' Hystrix'' sp., '' Hystrix subcristata'', '' Cuon javanicus'', '' Ailuropoda melanoleuca fovealis'', '' Ursus thibetanus'', '' Arctonyx collaris'', '' Paguma larvata'', '' Viberra zibetha expectata'', '' Crocuta ultima'', '' Felis'' sp., '' Panthera tigris'', '' Stegodon orientalis'', '' Palaeoloxodon namadicus'', '' Megatapirus augustus'', '' Rhinoceros sinensis'', ''

Tapirus ''Tapirus'' is a genus of tapir which contains the living tapir species. The Malayan tapir is usually included in ''Tapirus'' as well, although some authorities have moved it into its own genus, ''Acrocodia''. Extant species The Kabomani tapir ...

'' sp., '' Sus scrofa'', '' Sus'' sp., '' Muntiacus muntjak'', '' Cervus unicolor'', '' Hydropotes'' sp., '' Bubalus'' sp., '' Testudo tungia'', '' Parasilurus asotus'', '' Pelteobagrus fulvidraco'', '' Unio'' sp., '' Corbicula'' sp., along with Caprinae indent, Trionychidae indet,

Cyprinidae Cyprinidae is a family of freshwater fish commonly called the carp or minnow family, including the carps, the true minnows, and their relatives the barbs and barbels, among others. Cyprinidae is the largest and most diverse fish family, and t ...

indet,

Gastropoda Gastropods (), commonly known as slugs and snails, belong to a large Taxonomy (biology), taxonomic class of invertebrates within the phylum Mollusca called Gastropoda (). This class comprises snails and slugs from saltwater, freshwater, and fro ...

, a small number of bird keel bones and snake spine bones.

References

{{reflist Homo fossils History of Shaoguan 1958 archaeological discoveries