Zhiren Cave () is a
karstic cave in the Mulan Mountains that overlooks the Hejiang River in
Chongzuo,
Guangxi, China. Zhiren Cave is an early
Late Pleistocene
The Late Pleistocene is an unofficial age in the international geologic timescale in chronostratigraphy, also known as Upper Pleistocene from a stratigraphic perspective. It is intended to be the fourth division of the Pleistocene Epoch within ...
site that has yielded the fossil remains of possibly
anatomically modern humans with some mixed
archaic human features.
Fossils
The fossil remains were discovered by Chinese paleontologists in 2007. The fossils were covered by a continuous layer of
flowstone
Flowstones are sheetlike deposits of calcite or other carbonate minerals, formed where water flows down the walls or along the floors of a cave. They are typically found in "solution caves", in limestone, where they are the most common speleothe ...
, a layer that was initially dated to around 113,000 to 100,000
BP. A more thorough re-dating was later undertaken, and gives an estimated date of around 116,000 to 106,000 BP.
Some of the large mammal remains discovered at Zhiren Cave include those from ''
Pongo pygmaeus'', ''Elephas kiangnanensis'', ''
Elephas maximus'', ''
Megatapirus augustus'', ''Rhinoceros sinensis'', ''Megalovis guangxiensis'',
Cervus unicolor
The sambar (''Rusa unicolor'') is a large deer native to the Indian subcontinent and Southeast Asia that is listed as a vulnerable species on the IUCN Red List since 2008. Populations have declined substantially due to severe hunting, local ins ...
, ''
Ursus thibetanus
The Asian black bear (''Ursus thibetanus''), also known as the Asiatic black bear, moon bear and white-chested bear, is a medium-sized bear species native to Asia that is largely adapted to an arboreal lifestyle. It lives in the Himalayas, sou ...
'', ''
Arctonyx collaris'' and ''
Panthera pardus''. Around 25% of the large mammal species discovered at the site are now extinct.
Three pieces of hominin remains were identified: two upper molars (''Zhiren 1'' and ''Zhiren 2'') and an anterior
mandible
In anatomy, the mandible, lower jaw or jawbone is the largest, strongest and lowest bone in the human facial skeleton. It forms the lower jaw and holds the lower teeth in place. The mandible sits beneath the maxilla. It is the only movable bon ...
(''Zhiren 3''). The fossils are believed to have belonged to at least two different individuals, as ''Zhiren 1'' and ''Zhiren 3'' are unlikely to have come from the same individual.
When compared to Late Pleistocene fossils from western Eurasia, ''Zhiren 1'' and ''Zhiren 2'' are smaller and would be classified as modern; however, the comparative context is lacking in East Asian Late Pleistocene fossils. Zhiren 2 shows evidence for dental winging in its lower incisors, a feature that has only been found in ''Homo sapiens''.
''Zhiren 3'' contains a mix of archaic and modern human features. The most significant aspect of ''Zhiren 3'' is that it has a distinctively modern human chin. Coupled with the dating, ''Zhiren 3'' could possibly represent the earliest modern human fossil in East Asia. However, many were skeptical of this conclusion, since this would significantly push back the general consensus on the dating of
human migration out of Africa.
Peter Bellwood also cites the lack of archaeological finds (such as
Neanderthal
Neanderthals (, also ''Homo neanderthalensis'' and erroneously ''Homo sapiens neanderthalensis''), also written as Neandertals, are an extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ago. While ...
stone tools or tooth pendants) associated with the fossils.
See also
*
Fuyan Cave
References
Citations
Bibliography
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
Archaeological sites in China
Caves of Guangxi
Limestone caves
Paleoanthropological sites
Chongzuo
{{PRChina-archaeology-stub