从化石记录看古人类起源和演化

古人类的起源及演化是一个极其复杂而远未解决的问题，目前掌握的重要化石材料包括：距今约5600万年的灵长类，约1700万年的人猿超科代表，620万年(?)-440万年的人科动物，以及约350万年(?)-200万年的古人类和人造石器等。中国是世界上古人类及与之演化相关的化石发现最多的国家之一，先后找到已知最早的高级灵长类——约4500万年前的曙猿化石，人猿超科的早期代表——l400万年和800万年前的古猿化石，240万年-200万年前的人造石器，200万年前的能人(?)化石，170万年前的直立人及28万年-20万年前的智人化石等。拟从迄今的化石记录人手勾勒出古人类起源及演化的大致轮廓。     

周口店第四纪地质与环境变迁研究进展与展望

本文综述了周口店地区80多年来在第四纪地质、古人类、考古及环境研究方面的成果和重要进展,简要地展望了今后的工作。在过去的80多年中,在周口店发现了丰富的直立人、早期智人和晚期智人化石以及大量的旧石器;建立了较为完整的第四纪地层层序;发现了早更新世的古冰楔,并命名为太平山冰缘期;第1地点记录了中更新世三次明显的气候冷暖波动。今后应注意早更新世新地点寻找,人类的进化及"北京人"的社会行为研究,环境标志及环境事件的细致研究,生物-气候事件的对比研究,建立周口店的生物-气候事件地层序列。      

骨化学分析在古人类食物结构演化研究中的应用

古人类食物结构演化的研究,是探索人类起源和进化的重要组成部分。骨化学分析是探索古人类食物结构的主要方法,也是最为有效的方法。在概述骨化学分析原理的基础上,详细介绍了如何运用该方法了解古人类（南方古猿、人属、尼安德特人、欧洲现代人）的食物结构,并通过与现代黑猩猩的食物结构比较,揭示了从猿至人食物结构的演化过程,探讨了古人类食物结构的演变对人类进化的深刻影响。此外,提出了目前研究中尚存的2个重要问题及已有的解决方法。之后,评述了我国古人类食物结构的研究现状,并展望了古人类食物结构研究的前景。     

Early Human Evolution in the Western Palaearctic: Ecological Scenarios

This review presents the themes of a special issue dealing with environmental scenarios of human evolution during the Early Pleistocene (2.6–0.78 Ma; MIS 103-MIS 19) and early Middle Pleistocene (0.78–0.47 Ma; MIS 19-base of MIS 12) within the western Palaearctic. This period is one of dramatic changes in the climates and the distribution of Palaearctic biota. These changes have played their role in generating adaptive and phyletic patterns within the human ancestry, involving several species such as Homo habilis, “Homo georgicus”, Homo erectus, Homo antecessor and Homo heidelbergensis. In the archaeological record, these species include the Oldowan (Mode 1) and Acheulian (Mode 2) lithic technologies. Taphonomic considerations of palaeoecological research in hominin-bearing sites are provided and evaluated. Syntheses are provided for north Africa, western Asia, the Mediterranean Basin, Britain, and continental Europe. Palaeoenvironmental reconstructions based on multidisciplinary data are given for Ain Boucherit, Ain Hanech and El-Kherba in Algeria, Dmanisi in Georgia, Atapuerca, Cueva Negra, and the Orce Basin in Spain, Monte Poggiolo and Pirro Nord in Italy, Pont-de-Lavaud in France, and Mauer in Germany. The state of the art with the Out of Africa 1 dispersal model is reviewed. A source-sink dynamics model for Palaeolithic Europe is described to explain the morphological disparity of H. heidelbergensis (we will sometimes use the informal name “Heidelbergs”) and early Neanderthals. Other aspects debated here are the selective value of habitat mosaics including reconstructions based on mammal and avian databases, and the role of geological instability combined with topographic complexity. This review is completed by addressing the question of whether the appearance of evolutionary trends within hominins is concentrated in regions of highest worldwide biological diversity (biodiversity hotspots). It is concluded that the keys for the activation of evolutionary change in hominins may have been geological instabilities, and a shifting physiographical heterogeneity combined with high biodiversity and ecological interaction.     

鄂西-三峡地区的古人类资源及相关研究进展

自20世纪50年代发现长阳人化石以来,迄今在鄂西-三峡地区已经发现了至少10处古人类化石地点,时代跨越了整个更新世时期,尤其以更新世中、晚期人类化石最为丰富。除人类化石外,在这一地区还发现了大量的古人类制作的石器、骨器、艺术品、装饰品等人类活动遗存,以及与古人类伴生的动物化石。近年的野外发掘及实验室研究证明鄂西-三峡地区更新世中期以来一直是古人类生存与繁衍昌盛的区域,该地区丰富的古人类资源对研究与中国古人类演化有关的一系列关键学术问题具有非常重要的价值。     

A renaissance in studies of ancient life

In the Origin of Species, published a century‐and‐a‐half ago, Darwin was mystified by the lack of a ‘pre‐Cambrian’ fossil record, the existence of which he regarded as pivotal to his theory of evolution. For the next 100 years, this ‘missing’ fossil record—unknown and thought unknowable'stood out as arguably the single greatest blemish to Darwin's theory. Beginning in the 1950s, the answer to Darwin's problem began to be unearthed, a Precambrian record of flourishing communities of microscopic organisms now known to extend to 3500 million years ago. During recent years, studies of such ancient microbes have markedly increased, spurred by an influx of new workers and, especially, by the introduction of new analytical techniques, three of which are featured here: confocal laser scanning microscopy, and Raman‐spectral and fluorescence‐spectral imagery. Used together, these techniques provide evidence of the three‐dimensional form, cellular anatomy, and molecular structure of rock‐embedded microscopic fossils and of the minerals in which they are entombed that is unavailable by any other means.     

Gibraltar woman and Neanderthal Man

Forbes' Quarry, on the Rock of Gibraltar, yielded a human skull in 1848, one of the earliest Neanderthal skeletal remains known to science. Fragments of a second Gibraltar skull, that of a child, were described from Devil's Tower rock shelter in 1928 and have recently been reconstructed and reinterpreted to emphasize the distinction of Homo neanderthalensis from H. sapiens . Neanderthal skeletal remains are confined to Europe, the Middle East and central Asia, their most recent occurrence arguably a refugium in southern Iberia. The race seemingly became extinct about 30 000 years Before Present, for reasons as yet unknown, but a programme of excavations in Gorham's and Vanguard caves on Gibraltar is in progress to elucidate palaeoenvironmental and behavioural changes as some of the last Neanderthals were succeeded stratigraphically by anatomically modern humans with an Upper Palaeolithic culture.     

A Fresh Look at Dickinsonia： Removing It from Vendobionta

The Ediacaran Dickinsonia is well-known for being the only fossil to be assigned to many phyla, ranging from lichens, Cnidaria, Piatyheiminthes, Annelida, and a phylum of its own to a nonmetazoan kingdom. A new specimen from the Ediacaran fine-grained sandstone on the Winter Coast of the White Sea in northern Russia, which has an age of -555 million years ago, preserved convincing internal anatomies of definite animals, comparable with meridionai canals of extant ctenophores （comb jellies）. Additionally, we reconsidered Dickinsonia as a biradiaily symmetrical animal rather than a bilateral one as previously thought. The animal nature of Dickinsonia is, thus, well established and its affinities are most probably allied to ctenophores. This research is not only removing Dickinsonia from Vendobionta, but also bringing the fossil record of ctenophores forward to 20 million years before the Cambrian ＂explosion＂.     

The new 14C chronology for the Palaeolithic site of La Ferrassie,France: the disappearance of Neanderthals and the arrival of Homo sapiens in France

The grand abri at La Ferrassie (France) has been a key site for Palaeolithic research since the early part of the 20th century. It became the eponymous site for one variant of Middle Palaeolithic stone tools, and its sequence was used to define stages of the Aurignacian, an early phase of the Upper Palaeolithic. Several Neanderthal remains, including two relatively intact skeletons, make it one of the most important sites for the study of Neanderthal morphology and one of the more important data sets when discussing the Neanderthal treatment of the dead. However, the site has remained essentially undated. Our goal here is to provide a robust chronological framework of the La Ferrassie sequence to be used for broad regional models about human behaviour during the late Middle to Upper Palaeolithic periods. To achieve this goal, we used a combination of modern excavation methods, extensive geoarchaeological analyses, and radiocarbon dating. If we accept that Neanderthals were responsible for the Châtelperronian, then our results suggest an overlap of ca. 1600 years with the newly arrived Homo sapiens found elsewhere in France.     

Age of the fossil Dali Man in north-central China deduced from chronostratigraphy of the loess–paleosol sequence

Dali Man, an archaic type of early Homo sapiens, is of great significance to the origin of Homo sapiens. Achievements have been made during the past decades in the understanding of the fossil human skull as well as the accompanying mammalian fossils and stone artifacts. However, the absolute age of the fossil Dali Man still remains unclear. Based on the magnetic susceptibility of loess sediments and the relationship of terracing process with climatic condition, we correlated the loess sequence and the subjacent terrace alluvium at the Dali Man site with the well-studied loess–paleosol sequence at Luochuan in the central part of the Chinese Loess Plateau. The correlation indicates that the loess–paleosol sequence at the Dali Man site extends down to the paleosol S2, and the underlying fluvial deposits correspond to the loess L3. Because the Dali Man skull appears in the basal gravel layer of the terrace, and because the deposition of the terrace gravels would occur during the transition from S3 paleosol formation to L3 loess accumulation, the age of the fossil Dali Man is inferred to be ca 270 ka, which is equivalent to the age of the boundary between the loess L3 and paleosol S3 on the magnetic susceptibility time series of the Luochuan loess–paleosol sequence.     

Glaciation and ~ 770 Ma Ediacara (?) Fossils from the Lesser Karatau Microcontinent,Kazakhstan

The Cambrian explosion, c. 530–515 Ma heralded the arrival of a diverse assembly of multicellular life including the first hard-shelled organisms. Fossils found in Cambrian strata represent the ancestors of most modern animal phyla. In contrast to the apparent explosiveness seen in the Cambrian fossil record, studies of molecular biology hint that the diversification observed in Cambrian strata was rooted in ancestry extending back into the Ediacaran (635–542 Ma). Fossil evidence for this mostly cryptic phase of evolution is derived from the soft-bodied fossils of the Ediacaran biota found throughout the world and bilaterian embryos found in the Doushantuo lagerstätte in South China. The first appearance of Ediacara fauna is thought to have followed the last of the ~ 750–635 Ma Neoproterozoic glacial episodes by 20–30 million years. In this paper, we present evidence for the oldest discovery of the ‘Ediacara’ discoidal fossils Nimbia occlusa and Aspidella terranovica (?) that predate the early Cryogenian glaciations by more than fifty million years. There is considerable disagreement over the significance of discoidal Ediacaran fossils, but our findings may support earlier suggestions that metazoan life has roots extending deeper into the Proterozoic Eon. We also confirm the presence of a Late Cryogenian (e.g. “Marinoan”) glaciation on the Lesser Karatau microcontinent including dropstones and striated clasts within the glacial strata.     

Coastal curios? An analysis of ex situ beach finds for mapping new Palaeolithic sites at Happisburgh,UK

Recent archaeological discoveries from exposures of the Cromer Forest-bed Formation at Happisburgh, UK, have radically changed interpretations of the nature and timing of early hominin occupation of northern latitudes, but this in situ archaeology is only one part of the picture. Surface finds of Pleistocene mammalian remains have been found along this coastline for centuries, with stone tools adding to this record over the past 7 years. The ex situ nature of these finds, however, means they are often seen as limited in the information they can provide. This work contributes to a growing body of research from a range of landscape and environmental contexts that seeks to demonstrate the value and importance of these ex situ assemblages. Here the focus is on Palaeolithic flint artefacts and Pleistocene mammalian remains recovered by a group of local collectors through systematic, GPS-recorded beach collection from 2013 to 2017, and their use in developing a methodology for working with ex situ Palaeolithic finds in coastal locations. The results demonstrate significant patterning that identifies unexplored exposures both onshore and offshore, considerably expanding the known extent of deposits and facilitating new insights into the wider archaeological landscape associated with the earliest occupation of northern Europe.     

Climate change and human occupation in the northernmost Chilean Altiplano over the last ca. 11 500 cal. a BP

This interdisciplinary study represents an approximation towards understanding how regional human cultural systems may have been affected by climate change in the northernmost Chilean Altiplano (>3600 m) over the last ca. 11 500 cal a BP. We compare the archaeological record from Hakenasa cave with the lake record from Lago Chungará sediment cores, located 50 km to the south. By integrating both of these archives in conjunction with regional palaeoclimate and archaeological data, we provide new evidence for the role of changing environmental and climatic conditions in human settlement patterns. The first human occupation of the entire Altiplano occurs at Hakenasa and is dated to 9980 ± 40 ¹⁴C a BP (11 265–11 619 cal. a BP), and took place under wetter regional climate conditions. An archaeologically sterile deposit occurs at Hakenasa between 7870 and 6890 cal. a BP. Constituted by sands and gravels, these sediments are interpreted as a flood event. This time period is synchronous with alternating short dry and wet events recorded in the Lake Chungará sedimentary sequence. Human activity resumes and increases in importance at Hakenasa by ca. 6000 cal. a BP. This corresponds to wetter conditions indicated by the Chungará record. Even though the lake record indicates intense volcanic activity over the last 6000 cal. a BP, this had little or no impact on the human population present at Hakenasa. This study shows that even in this extreme environment human settlement patterns do not always respond in a linear fashion to environmental change. Copyright © 2008 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Breakthroughs in the biodiversity, biogeography, biostratigraphy, and basin analysis of the Beaufort group

Over the past decade researchers working on the rocks of the Beaufort Group in the main Karoo Basin of South Africa have vastly increased our understanding of this important Permo-Triassic sequence. Many new fossil forms have been discovered, allowing for breakthroughs into the biodiversity, biogeography and biostratigraphy of the group. Taxonomic and phylogenetic advances are many and varied, and cover most of the vertebrate taxa, but with emphasis placed on the temnospondyl amphibians, archosauriforms and non-mammalian synapsids, in particular the anomodontia. Biostratigraphic breakthroughs have centered on the Middle Permian Eodicynodon and Tapinocephalus assemblage zones, the Late Permian Dicynodon Assemblage Zone, and the Triassic Lystrosaurus and Cynognathus assemblage zones. Correlation of these biozones with better dated sequences in Europe, Russia and China has allowed for many chronostratigraphic refinements, which are in turn vital for sequence stratigraphical analysis of the basin fill. Based on fossil data, both the lower (Ecca–Beaufort) and upper (Beaufort–Molteno) contacts of the group have been proved to be highly diachronous. The refined chronostratigraphic framework has also allowed for a better analysis of the basin evolution through time, particularly in terms of the correlation of external stimuli that affect basin sedimentation patterns.     

New archaeo‐stratigraphic data for the TD6 level in relation to Homo antecessor (Lower Pleistocene) at the site of Atapuerca,north‐central Spain

The sediments of the TD6 level of Gran Dolina Cave at Sierra de Atapuerca, Burgos, Spain, consist of a series of mud flows with angular clasts. The TD6 deposit has two parts: an upper part, known as the Aurora stratum, which yields Homo antecessor remains, and a lower part with rather homogeneous sediment. The excavation of TD6 level did not reveal a sequence of diachronic occupations. Instead, the contextual and stratigraphic studies permitted us to describe and delimit the micro‐units forming the TD6 deposit. The study of the distribution of archaeological remains based on vertical archaeological profiles, using an archaeo‐stratigraphic method, allowed us to document the occurrence of a series of archaeological levels within the apparent homogeneous deposit. Variations in the density of archaeological remains along the archaeo‐stratigraphic levels permitted us to define two occupational cycles in TD6. These cycles seemingly show increased activities through time, culminating in the Aurora level with the presence of cannibalized Homo antecessor remains. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.     

The hunt for Precambrian fossils: An abbreviated genealogy of the science

In 1859, in his great work On the Origin of Species, Darwin repeatedly raised what he regarded to be the most serious problem facing his theory of evolution – the lack of fossils predating the rise of shelly invertebrates that marks the beginning of the Cambrian Period of geological time (550 Ma), an “inexplicable” absence that could be “truly urged as a valid argument” against his all-embracing synthesis. This missing early fossil record posed a major dilemma, for Darwin's theory demanded firm linkage from the less advanced to the more evolved, from primitive microbes to protozoans to the rich faunas of the basal Phanerozoic for which no fossil evidence was known. For more than 100 years, the history of Precambrian life stood out as one of the greatest unsolved problems in natural science. In recent decades, however, understanding of life's early evolution has changed markedly as the documented fossil record has been extended seven-fold to some 3500 Ma, an age more than three-quarters that of the planet. This long-sought solution to Darwin's dilemma was set in motion by a small vanguard of workers who blazed the trail in the 1950s and 1960s, just as their course was charted by a few prescient pioneers of the previous century. All workers today, including the 28 participants in the recently held World Summit on Ancient Microscopic Fossils, have roots that can be traced to the pathfinders of a half-century ago.     

A fellow Swede is the reference for humanity

There is (or should be) an archived specimen, a reference copy if you like, for all living and fossil species that have been described scientifically. These physical specimens, so‐called name‐bearing type specimens, are housed at museums or academic institutes around the world for researchers to study and perhaps compare with their own material. But what about our own species, Homo sapiens?     

U–Th ages constraining the Neanderthal footprint at Vârtop Cave,Romania

Early human footprints are rare in the fossil record. A survey of the literature reveals very few well documented and dated cases. Here, we report the first clear Homo neanderthalensis footprint. It was found in Vârtop Cave, Romania. The individual stepped into calcareous mud that later hardened. The 22 cm long print suggests a body height of ∼1.46 m; a gap of 1.6 cm marks the separation of big and second toes. The date of the footprint is constrained by three coeval dates of ∼62 kyr on sub-samples from the basal layer of a nearby stalagmite that grew on top of the layer of calc-tufa covering the footprint. The lower constraint is a poorly constrained uranium (U)–thorium (Th) isochron date of ∼97 kyr on the calc-tufa layer in which the footprint is embedded. Thus, the Vârtop Cave individual lived in Romania sometime before 62 kyr, long before the appearance of Homo sapiens in Central and Eastern Europe, the earliest records of which date from only ∼35 kyr. To our knowledge, this is the first recognised and dated Homo neanderthalensis footprint.     

Bovid mortality profiles in paleoecological context falsify hypotheses of endurance running–hunting and passive scavenging by early Pleistocene hominins

The world’s first archaeological traces from 2.6 million years ago (Ma) at Gona, in Ethiopia, include sharp-edged cutting tools and cut-marked animal bones, which indicate consumption of skeletal muscle by early hominin butchers. From that point, evidence of hominin meat-eating becomes increasingly more common throughout the Pleistocene archaeological record. Thus, the substantive debate about hominin meat-eating now centers on mode(s) of carcass resource acquisition. Two prominent hypotheses suggest, alternatively, (1) that early Homo hunted ungulate prey by running them to physiological failure and then dispatching them, or (2) that early Homo was relegated to passively scavenging carcass residues abandoned by carnivore predators. Various paleontologically testable predictions can be formulated for both hypotheses. Here we test four predictions concerning age-frequency distributions for bovids that contributed carcass remains to the 1.8 Ma. old FLK 22 Zinjanthropus (FLK Zinj, Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania) fauna, which zooarchaeological and taphonomic data indicate was formed predominantly by early Homo. In all but one case, the bovid mortality data from FLK Zinj violate test predictions of the endurance running-hunting and passive scavenging hypotheses. When combined with other taphonomic data, these results falsify both hypotheses, and lead to the hypothesis that early Homo operated successfully as an ambush predator.     

A Scincomorpha lizard from the Campanian of Patagonia

The terrestrial lizard fossil record of Gondwana is very scarce. Few lizards, from mostly fragmentary fossils, have been identified in Madagascar, Tanzania, Morocco, South Africa, India and South America. Among the South American specimens there are basal Squamata forms (Olindalacerta and Tijubina) and a possible iguanid (Pristiguana) form Brazil. In Argentina gondwanian terrestrial lizards are represented by a putative iguanid and a small, poorly preserved dentary. This last specimen, recovered from the Anacleto Formation (Neuquén Group, Río Colorado Subgroup) in vicinity of the locality of Cinco Saltos (Río Negro Province), is here described formally. Comparisons with extant lizards indicate more affinity of the fossil with the Scincomorpha (non Scincophidia) than with any other group of lizards. This finding suggests that lizards were probably better represented and more diverse in the Mesozoic of South America than previously thought, although the fossil record is, at the moment, much poorer than in Laurasia.