Nanjing Man

{{Human timeline}}

In 1992, Mu Xi-nan (穆西南), Xu Hankui (许汉奎), Mu Daocheng (穆道成), and Zhong Shilan (钟石兰) with the Nanjing Institute of Geology and Paleontology (NIGP) identified Hulu Cave near the Tangshan Subdistrict in Jiangning District, Nanjing (roughly {{cvt|26|km}} east of the city center of Nanjing) as a mammalian fossil bearing site, and organised further excavations with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (IVPP) headquartered in Beijing. In March 1993, local labourer Liu Luhong discovered two partial skull fragments (Nanjing 1 and 2), the first retaining most of the face, and an upper molar (Nanjing 3).

The mammal assemblage indicated Huludong was roughly contemporaneous with the Zhoukoudian cave site near Beijing, home of the Peking Man (the reason why the IVPP had joined the excavations).

Researchers used mass spectrometric U-series dating to identify the age of the skulls. Best estimates date the skull to be at least 580,000 years old. This research, done in 2001 estimates the age of the skulls to be 270,000 years older than previous estimates, executed with the use of different dating methods like electron spin resonance dating and alpha-counting U-series. However, by using mass spectrometric U-series dating, the age for the tooth found on the Nanjing site was estimated to be only 400,000 years old. Researchers proposed that the enamel used to date the tooth may not have the same uranium uptake as the skulls, leading to the discrepancy in estimated age. Another study from 1999 estimated one skull to be at least 500,000 years old, while they date the other skull being between 250,000 and 500,000 years old using TIMS dating.Y.Wang, C. Hai, C. Luo, Y. Xia, J. Wu, J. Chen, [https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007%2FBF02887125.pdf "TIMS U-series ages of speleothems from the Tangshan caves, Nanjing"], Chinese Science Bulletin, 1999. Retrieved 6 September 2017.

Homo erectus occupation of Eastern Asia was an established idea well before the discovery of Homo erectus from Nanjing. Nanjing Man is one of several middle Pleistocene dated Homo erectus fossil finds in eastern China, the most well-known of which is Peking Man.P. Brown, [http://www.peterbrown-palaeoanthropology.net/Brown2001.pdf "Chinese Middle Pleistocene hominids and modern human origins in east Asia."], Human Roots: Africa and Asia in the Middle Pleistocene, 2001. Retrieved 6 September 2017. However dating the Nanjing Man fossils between 580,000 YA and 620,000 YA pushed the estimate for Homo erectus colonisation of eastern Asia almost 270,000 years earlier.{{cite journal |first=DA |last=Etler |url=http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1de8/529b1a78ba4c583b66dacff81fdbb04c3088.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190220015102/http://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/1de8/529b1a78ba4c583b66dacff81fdbb04c3088.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2019-02-20 |title=Homo erectus in East Asia: Human Ancestor or Evolutionary Dead-End? |journal=Athena Review |volume=4|issue=1 |year=1984|s2cid=9153290 }}

The Nanjing Man fossil discovery coincided with the paleoanthropological debate on the population dynamics of modern humans and their relation to other species of the genus Homo. The extended occupation of East Asia by Homo erectus suggested by the dating of the Nanjing fossils supports the hypothesis that Homo erectus lived in Asia before pre-modern Homo sapiens existed. A scientific consensus on the dispersal of Homo sapiens throughout the globe was reached in the early 21st century.{{cite journal|first=C |last=Stringer |title=Human evolution: Out of Ethiopia |journal=Nature |year=2003 |volume=423 |issue=6941 |pages=693–695 |doi=10.1038/423692a|pmid=12802315 |bibcode=2003Natur.423..692S |s2cid=26693109 }} However, the influence of East Asian Homo erectus on modern human ancestry remains unclear.

Morphological features of the Nanjing Man fossils such as cranial capacity and the size of various cranial metrics differ significantly from other Chinese hominins. Despite this, morphometric and morphological features fall well within the range expected for Homo erectus.{{cite journal |author1=X. Wu |author2=R.L Holloway |author3=L.A. Schepartz |author4=S. Xing |title=A new brain endocast of Homo erectus from Hulu Cave, Nanjing, China |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |volume=145 |issue=3 |pages=452–460 |year=2011 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.21527|pmid=21541930 }} A high diversity in cranial morphological features in Chinese Homo erectus has been identified in a number of studies{{Cite journal |last1=Liu |first1=Wu |last2=Zhang |first2=Yinyun |last3=Wu |first3=Xinzhi |date=2005 |title=Middle Pleistocene human cranium from Tangshan (Nanjing), Southeast China: A new reconstruction and comparisons with Homo erectus from Eurasia and Africa |journal=American Journal of Physical Anthropology |language=en |volume=127 |issue=3 |pages=253–262 |doi=10.1002/ajpa.20066|pmid=15584056 |doi-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last1=Zhang |first1=Yinyun 张银运 |last2=Liu |first2=Wu 刘武 |date=2007 |title=Nánjīng 1 hào zhílì rén tóugǔ yǔ Kěnníyǎ KNM2ER 3733 rénlèi tóugǔ huàshí de xíngtài bǐjiào

|script-title=zh:南京 1 号直立人头骨与肯尼亚 KNM2ER 3733人类头骨化石的形态比较 |trans-title=A morphological comparison of two homo erectus crania: Nanjing 1 and KNM2ER 3733 |url=http://www.anthropol.ac.cn/EN/Y2007/V26/I03/237 |journal=Rénlèixué xuébào / Acta Anthropologica Sinica |language=zh |volume=26 |issue=3 |pages=237–248}}

The skull fragments collected at Hulu Cave are currently displayed the Nanjing Homo erectus fossil museum, along with other educational information about Nanjing man and the colonisation of China by Homo erectus.{{Cite web |date=August 14, 2014 |title=Tangshan Homo Erectus Fossil Museum |url=http://www.thenanjinger.com/index.php/city-guide/sport-leisure/museums/item/1201-tangshan-homo-erectus-fossil-museum |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170908201757/http://www.thenanjinger.com/index.php/city-guide/sport-leisure/museums/item/1201-tangshan-homo-erectus-fossil-museum |archive-date=2017-09-08 |access-date=6 September 2017 |website=The Najinger}}

{{Reflist}}

• [http://humanorigins.si.edu/evidence/human-evolution-timeline-interactive Human Timeline (Interactive)] – Smithsonian, National Museum of Natural History (August 2016).

{{Human_Evolution}}

{{Prehistoric technology}}

{{Taxonbar|from=Q977192}}

Category:Homo erectus

Category:History of Nanjing

Category:Prehistoric China