贵州赫章发现早更新世哺乳动物化石

New Discovered Early Pleistocene Mammal Fossils and Bone Artifact in Hezhang of Guizhou Plateau

贵州毕节赫章县松林坡乡踏土村黑寨组采石场发现更新世哺乳动物化石。重点研究了具有时代鉴别意义的貘化石。貘上颌牙齿及下颌骨尺寸的大小比较发现,它与华南早更新世的山原貘最接近,其地质时代应该为早更新世。赫章松林坡黑寨采石场是贵州境内目前发现的第二个早更新世化石点。此外,地层中出土的一件动物骨片,其形状及片疤分布特点疑似经人工加工的骨制品,提示贵州毕节地区早期人类活动的可能性。

Pleistocene mammal fossils were recently discovered in a quarry site near the Heizhai village of Songlinpo, Hezhang County in western Guizhou Province. The fossil site （26°50.438′N 104°53.950′E, 1717m altitude） is a limestone cave deposit site （Fig.1-3）. The morphological measurements of fossil tapirs, one maxillae with two premolars and one mandibular fragment （Fig.4, 5; Tab.1, 2）, indicate its attribution to Tapirus sanyuanensis that lived during Early Pleistocene in south China. Its premolar size is evidently larger than late Miocene Tapirus yunnanensis from Zhaotong, Yunnan, and is smaller than Tapirus sinensis and Megatapirus augustus that lived in the middle and late Pleistocene. It is very special that one fossil bone fragment looks particularly like a bone artifact with modified point and multiple scars impling human activity （Fig.6）. Up to now there is no fossil human evidence of Early Pleistocene discovered in Guizhou Province. This new evidence will provide helpful information for future fieldwork in Yunnan-Guizhou Plateau.