Zhiren Cave () is a
karstic
Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...
cave in the Mulan Mountains that overlooks the Hejiang River in
Chongzuo
Chongzuo (; za, Cungzcoj) is a prefecture-level city in the south of Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region near the Sino-Vietnamese border. It is home to one of China's largest Zhuang populations.
Geography and climate
Chongzuo is located in sou ...
,
Guangxi
Guangxi (; ; alternately romanized as Kwanghsi; ; za, Gvangjsih, italics=yes), officially the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region (GZAR), is an autonomous region of the People's Republic of China, located in South China and bordering Vietnam ...
, 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 withi ...
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 speleot ...
, 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
''Elephas'' is one of two surviving genera in the family of elephants, Elephantidae, with one surviving species, the Asian elephant, ''Elephas maximus''.
Several extinct species have been identified as belonging to the genus, extending bac ...
'', ''
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'', ''
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 bone ...
(''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 Extinction, extinct species or subspecies of archaic humans who lived in Eurasia until about 40,000 years ag ...
stone tools or tooth pendants) associated with the fossils.
See also
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Fuyan Cave
References
Citations
Bibliography
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Archaeological sites in China
Caves of Guangxi
Limestone caves
Paleoanthropological sites
Chongzuo
{{PRChina-archaeology-stub