Shandingdong man

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As Shandingdong people ( Chinese  山顶洞人 , Pinyin Shāndǐngdòngrén , English Upper Cave Men  - "people from the upper cave") are fossils of anatomically modern humans ( Homo sapiens ), which were discovered in northern China in 1933/34.

The finds

The three skulls with the archive number UC 101, UC 102 and UC 103 (UC for "upper cave") were from the Chinese archaeologist Pei Wenzhong in a cave on the mountain top Lónggǔshān龙骨山( "Dragon Bone Mountain") southeast of Beijing discovered , above the Zhoukoudian site, the site of the Peking man ( Homo erectus pekinensis ). All fossils of the "people from the upper cave" discovered before the founding of the PR China (1949) were handed over to American hands in 1941; Their whereabouts are unclear, so only casts are available for renewed analyzes today .

The age of the finds was initially described by Franz Weidenreich as the Young Pleistocene based on animal fossils found at the same time and already dated elsewhere . More recent radiocarbon dating of the strata of the find limits the age of the fossils to a minimum of 10,000 years and a maximum of 24,000 to 29,000 years, since the affiliation of the animal fossils to the homo- fossil stratum is not conclusively established.

Ethnic classification

Whether the anatomical features of the skulls of the Shandingdong people are more likely to be interpreted as forerunners of the Proto-Mongols or refer to later East Asian characteristics was discussed controversially; a 2003 published study puts the skull UC 101 close anatomical similarities to modern European populations, the skull UC 103, however australo- with modern Melanesian populations.

Way of life

A variety of tools and vertebrate bones have been found near the site , suggesting that the Shandingdong people were hunters and fishermen. At the same time, bone needles were also found , from which it is concluded that they could probably also make clothes out of fur. Finds also show that jewelry was made from colorful stone beads, pebbles, animal teeth, fish bones and mussel shells, which was occasionally painted in color. It is reasonable to assume that the Shandingdong people had animistic ideas, because burial sites were also found very close to the place of discovery.

Shandingdong Faunal Community

The fossil Shandingdong fauna community is named after the place where it was found ( 山顶 洞 动物 群 , Shandingdong dongwuqun , English Upper Cave fauna  - "Shandingdong fauna").

See also

literature

  • Wu Xinzhi : "On the racial type of Upper Cave man of Choukoutien." Gu Jizhuidongwu yu Gu Renlei (Chin.) 1960, 2: 141-149.
  • Wu Xinzhi: "Study of the Upper Cave Man of Choukoutien." (chin.) Vertebrata PalAsiatica 1961, 3: 181 211.
  • Jia Lanpo : Zhongguo Dalu Shang de Yuangu Jumin (The Ancient Inhabitants of the Chinese Continent) (Tianjin Renmin Chubanshe), 1978

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Weidenreich : On the earliest representatives of modern mankind recovered on the soil of East Asia. In: Bulletin of the Natural History Society of Beijing. Volume 13, 1939, pp. 161-174
  2. ↑ Upper Cave 101. on the website of Peter Brown
    In Cihai , p. 1451b (Shanghai: Shanghai cishu chubanshe 2002; ISBN 7-5326-0839-5 ), an average value of 18,000 years is reported.
  3. ↑ Deborah L. Cunningham, Richard L. Jantz: The morphometric relationship of Upper Cave 101 and 103 to modern Homo sapiens. In: Journal of Human Evolution. Volume 45, No. 1, 2003, pp. 1-18, doi: 10.1016 / S0047-2484 (03) 00064-2
  4. ↑ China Radio International: Shandingdong people's bone needles and jewelry.