A multivariate examination of the Hexian calvaria

Abstract

The Homo erectus calvaria from Hexian, Anhui province, China is an important component of the fossil sample from East Asia. This specimen is the most complete Chinese H. erectus cranium found outside Zhoukoudian. Previous work has shown that the fossil crania from Zhoukoudian exhibit a unique metric pattern not seen in specimens from Africa or Indonesia. Multivariate statistics that assess the statistical significance of distances have not been used to compare the Hexian cranium to other relevant fossils, and this has hampered our appreciation of the pattern and magnitude of variation in the Chinese fossil record. This study involves the use of Mahalanobis distances to examine the variation present in a large sample of Homo erectus crania. Two separate examinations utilizing up to 7 measurements on 15 crania were performed to maximize the number of available specimens. Random expectation statistics were then used to test for significance between these fossils. Our results highlight clear metric dissimilarities between the Hexian calvaria and the fossils from Zhoukoudian. These metric patterns also separate Hexian from Zhoukoudian V, a skull with which it shares some more modern non-metric features. Our results indicate a greater degree of variation in the human fossil sample from China than has previously been recognized.

Middle Pleistocene Hominin Teeth from Longtan Cave, Hexian, China

“…Instead, some researchers in support of the regional continuity of the morphologies of the Chinese fossil record [5] , [7] , [8] were inclined to emphasize the similarities of the Hexian and Zhoukoudian V skulls, particularly in relation with some advanced features that, according to them, were not detected on the skulls recovered from the lower layers of Zhoukoudian Locality 1. Nevertheless, recent multivariate analyses on cranial metrical variation in East Asia during the Early and the mid-Middle Pleistocene periods pointed out that the Hexian skull was clearly differentiated from the specimens found in Zhoukoudian Locality 1, including skull V [9] . In the present study, we have also revealed several metrical and morphological differences when comparing the teeth from Hexian and Zhoukoudian Locality 1.…”

Advanced dental reduction in Javanese Homo erectus

“…Recent studies of cranial morphology strongly suggest that Javanese H. erectus during and after the late Early Pleistocene formed a continuously evolving population lineage that was effectively independent of the H. erectus populations of northern China (Antón, 2002;Baba et al, 2003;Durband et al, 2005). If crown size reduction was a continuing trend in later Javanese H. erectus during the Middle/Late Pleistocene, like in those cases recognized in various regional groups of archaic Homo in Africa, Europe, and China (Zhang, 1991;Bermúdez de Castro and Nicolas, 1995;Bräuer and Schúltz, 1996;Kaifu et al, 2005b), it is likely that Javanese H. erectus was not ancestral to Australian Aborigines.…”

A mandible from the Middle Pleistocene Hexian site and its significance in relation to the variability of Asian Homo erectus

“…Hominin fossils, including a left mandibular corpus (PA 831), found at the Hexian site in Eastern China, have been dated to 412 ± 25 ka (Grün et al, ) (see Hexian site and discovery of the hominin mandible section for more details). The fossil assemblage from Hexian also includes a skull and isolated teeth that have been systematically described and compared (Durband, Kidder, & Jantz, ; Huang, Fang, & Ye, ; Wu, Schepartz, Falk, & Liu, ; Xing et al, ). Apart from very preliminary descriptions and comparisons (Huang et al, ; Huang, Fang, & Ye ; Wu & Dong, ), the Hexian mandible's morphology and evolutionary context within the East Asian Middle Pleistocene has not been studied.…”