Late Middle Pleistocene hominin teeth from Panxian Dadong, South China

Liu, Wu; Schepartz, Lynne A.; Xing, Song; Miller-Antonio, Sari; Wu, Xiujie; Trinkaus, Erik; Martinón‐Torres, María

doi:10.1016/j.jhevol.2012.10.012

Cited by 64 publications

(71 citation statements)

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“…Marked differences were reported for the internal tooth crown morphology of Chinese and Indonesian Middle Pleistocene humans, possibly suggesting that distinct groups may have populated continental and (pen)insular Asia (Liu et al, ; Liu, Clarke, & Xing, ; Liu, Xing, & Wu, ; Xing, ; Xing et al, ). In particular, complex occlusal crown surface and enamel–dentine junction morphology (represented by additive traits like interconnected ridges, bifurcated essential crests, and accessory ridges and cusps) is found in the Chinese dental assemblages across the Middle Pleistocene, including the earliest specimens from Zhoukoudian (Xing, Martinón‐Torres, & Bermúdez de Castro, ), the mid‐Middle Pleistocene teeth from Chaoxian, Hexian, and Yiyuan (Bailey & Liu, ; Liu et al, ; Xing et al, , ), and the late Middle to early Late Pleistocene material from Panxian Dadong and Xujiayao (Liu et al, , ; Xing et al, ). These findings revealed characteristic patterns for the populations that inhabited East Asia during the Middle Pleistocene period, like highly crenulated enamel‐dentine junction (EDJ) and its imprint on the roof of the pulp cavity (Xing et al, , ), and highlighted a combination of primitive and derived features that cannot be organized along a temporal scale (Liu et al, ).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…On the other hand, craniodental evidence is still insufficient to resolve the taxonomic and phylogenetic identity of late Middle Pleistocene hominins and how they relate to modern Homo sapiens . Except for a retention of primitive traits, like large and robust roots, and a trend toward root number reduction (Liu et al, , ; Xing et al, , ), the morphological diversity and phylogenetic implications of the root‐canal structure of these hominin populations are still unclear; comparative study is needed to fully reveal the root and canal structure for the Chinese materials from this period.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Comparative observations on the premolar root and pulp canal configurations of Middle Pleistocene Homo in China

Pan

Zanolli

2019

American J Phys Anthropol

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Objectives: The aim of this study is to explore the root and root canal morphology of Homo fossil occupying China during the Middle Pleistocene period. Human occupation and evolutionary dynamics in East Asia during the Middle Pleistocene period is one of the most intriguing issues in paleoanthropology, with the coexistence of multiple lineages and regional morphs suggesting a complex population interaction scenario. Although premolar root and canal morphology has certain phylogenetic, taxonomic, and functional implications, its morphological diversity, possible evolutionary trend and characteristics regarding Middle Pleistocene hominins inhabiting East Asia are still insufficiently understood; where these populations fits within the Homo lineage (with respect to root and pulp canal structure) needs to be explored.Materials and methods: Using microtomography, we directly observed and assessed the nonmetric variability of root and canal forms in maxillary and mandibular premolars of Chinese Middle Pleistocene Homo (N = 19), and compared our observed variations with Eurasian Early Pleistocene specimens from the Asia continent (N = 1) and Java (N = 2), as well as with Neanderthals (N = 28) and recent modern humans (N = 67).Results: A total number of nine types of root-canal forms were recorded. As a whole, the Chinese Middle Pleistocene record shows an evolutionary trend toward a modern human-like condition (a reduction of root/canal number and a simplification of root surface structure). We documented primitive signals like high percentage of Tomes' root in lower premolars. A considerable occurrence of incompletely separated root branches and bifid root and canal apices, representing evolutionary transformation from multi-root to single-root condition was also noticed. The results were compared with previous publications on Early and Middle Pleistocene Homo in East Africa, North Africa, and Eurasia.Conclusion: This work provides new original data, incorporates the latest human fossil discoveries and suggests that analyzing the variation of premolar root structural organization, notably integrating together root/canal form and number, could possibly contribute to taxonomic and phylogenetic assessments. The mid-Middle Pleistocene populations, or "classic" Homo erectus, in our study show closer affinity to Early and Middle Pleistocene hominins in Eurasia, than to East African early Homo, which supports the suggestion that at least some of the Early Pleistocene hominin groups in Eurasia contribute to the later population; on the other hand, it is still difficult to clearly trace the evolutionary fate of those late Middle Pleistocene populations (roughly assigned as archaic Homo sapiens through a craniodental perspective). More comparable materials from the Early to Middle Pleistocene period as well as precise chronological framework is needed to further explore the evolutionary trends of archaic hominins in the Asian continent before the arrival of modern humans.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Comparative observations on the premolar root and pulp canal configurations of Middle Pleistocene Homo in China

Pan

Zanolli

2019

American J Phys Anthropol

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“…The Xujiayao 14 mandibular ramus is wide and gonially everted, and it has an open mandibular foramen and a laterally placed mandibular notch crest. The same pattern holds for other, late Middle and early Late Pleistocene archaic human remains from eastern Asia (14,(26)(27)(28). What emerges from these East Asian later Pleistocene archaic humans, therefore, is a complex mix of features, many of them generally ancestral for Homo and a few features that occur frequently in the Neandertals but need not be diagnostic of them.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 73%

“…Indeed, many of the features so used are generally ancestral for later Homo (if poorly documented other than among the Neandertals), of unknown phylogenetic polarity, of uncertain primacy in morphological integration, and/or isolated features in otherwise non-Neandertal remains. The Xujiayao 15 labyrinthine morhology, and other features documented for eastern Eurasian and the earlier Pleistocene Homo (e.g., 16,19,20,28,36,39,42,53), suggest that many of the purported "Neandertal" features were widespread during the Pleistocene, albeit often occurring in higher frequencies among the Neandertals.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 90%

Temporal labyrinths of eastern Eurasian Pleistocene humans

Crevecœur

Liu

et al. 2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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One of the morphological features that has been identified as uniquely derived for the western Eurasian Neandertals concerns the relative sizes and positions of their semicircular canals. In particular, they exhibit a relatively small anterior canal, a relatively larger lateral one, and a more inferior position of the posterior one relative to the lateral one. These discussions have not included full paleontological data on eastern Eurasian Pleistocene human temporal labyrinths, which have the potential to provide a broader context for assessing Pleistocene Homo trait polarities. We present the temporal labyrinths of four eastern Eurasian Pleistocene Homo, one each of Early (Lantian 1), Middle (Hexian 1), and Late (Xujiayao 15) Pleistocene archaic humans and one early modern human (Liujiang 1). The labyrinths of the two earlier specimens and the most recent one conform to the proportions seen among western early and recent modern humans, reinforcing the modern human pattern as generally ancestral for the genus Homo. The labyrinth of Xujiayao 15 is in the middle of the Neandertal variation and separate from the other samples. This eastern Eurasian labyrinthine dichotomy occurs in the context of none of the distinctive Neandertal external temporal or other cranial features. As such, it raises questions regarding possible cranial and postcranial morphological correlates of Homo labyrinthine variation, the use of individual "Neandertal" features for documenting population affinities, and the nature of late archaic human variation across Eurasia.cranium | China | petrous | cochlea

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“…From the site 43 mammal species were found, most of them belong to an Ailuropoda-Stegodon faunal assemblage. The excavations also yielded four hominin teeth (Liu et al, 2013) and lots of stone and bone artifacts. The stone artifacts were made of limestone, basalt and chert.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%