南京直立人研究的新进展

New Advance in Research of Homo Erectus of Tangshan, Nanjing

简单地介绍了“南京直立人 (猿人 )综合研究专家组”近二年来的部份研究成果 ,如南京汤山葫芦洞内的地层可以分为 4段 ;洞内的哺乳动物群可以分为时代不同的大洞动物群和小洞动物群 ;南京直立人的一号头骨与二号头骨层位不同 ,特征也不一 ;铀系测年也证明小洞的地层其年代在距今 6 0万年～ 5 0万年间 ,大洞的地层年代在距今 2 4万年～ 10万年间 ,大洞被堆石堆砾石层封闭的时间应在 13万年～ 10万年间。从而补充和纠正了前人研究中的不足和错误。

The strata of Hulu cave in Tangshan can be divided into four different members:The first member is found in a small cave inside Hulu cave, 130 cm to 110cm in thickness and consists of red-brown clays, whose bottom rests discordantly on Ordovician limestone and top is overlain directly by the calcareous plate. The middle part of this member contains abundant mammal fauna inclusive of Ursus arctos Linnaeus. Ursus thibetanus Cuvier. Panthera tigiris, Panthera pardus, Nyctereutes sinensis, Vulpes sp., Hyaena sinensis, Arctonyx collanis, Sus lydekkeri, Megaloceros pachyosteus, Bubalus sp., Dicerorhinus mercki, Eqnus sp., Stegodon sp., Cervidae and some spore-pollen. The No.1 fossil hominid cranium is also found in this bed. The second member is exposed between the small and big caves, 6m in thickness and consists chiefly of unfossiliferous yellow-brown sand, silt clay and a layer of conglomerate composed of limestone gravels and calcified silt clay with many mammal fossils difficult to collect. One thing worthy of note is that the discovery of No.2 fossil hominid cranium is found(Fig.1). The third member is composed of dark or red brown silt clay in a thickness of 200 cm to 150 cm, and rich in fossils such as Rbinolophus fesrunequinum, Myotis sp., Cricetinus varians, Microtus oeconmus, Apodenus cf. Sylvaticus, Ursus arctos, Ursus thibetanus, Cuon cf. Alpinus, Arctonyx collasis, Sus lydekkeri, Hyena sinensis, Dicerorhinus mercki, Pseudaxis grayi, Elaphodus cephaloplus, Capreolus sp., Bubalus cf. Teilhardi. It is worth noticing that the number of fossils decreases rapidly towards the eastern and western parts of the big cave. The fourth member is a gravel bed consisting of Ordovician limestone and silt clay, and ranges from about 15 cm in thickness to the absence in the middle part in a short distance (about 18m) at the south of the big cave. This member also yields a few mammal fossils. However, quite a lot of geologists consider that the gravel beds in the fourth member correspond to the clay beds of the first member, as they did not find the second member or figure that the second member is equivalent to the first one. According to the characteristics and age of fossils, the mammal fauna from Hulu cave can be divided into two different faunal groups, the small and big cave faunas respectively. The former is assigned to the Early Middle Pleistocene(about 500 000aBP) and the latter is attributed to the Late middle Pleistocene (about 120 000aBP). It is concluded that the small cave fauna is assigned to 350 000aBP by the Uranium-series age in the literature. Besides, the No.1 fossil hominid cranium is considered to be similar with the No.2 fossil hominid cranium according to the stratigraphic position and fossil characteristics recorded in the literature. In fact, this point of view is also incorrect, because the No.1 cranium was found in the first member and No.2 cranium occurred in the second member. Meanwhile, No.1 cranium is similar with Peking Man and No.2 cranium is something between Peking Man (belonging to home erectus) and Dali Man (Early Home sapiens). Based on the Uranium-series dating (by TIMS in the US and Australia respectively), the calcareous plate of the first member is dated from 590 000aBP to 529 000aBP; the bottom of the stalagmite near the top of the second member is dated to 460 000aBP; the calcareous plate of the third member is dated to be 239 000aBP; the bottom of the stone bamboo at the top of the fourth member is dated to be 103 000aBP; Therefore, the small cave fauna, No.2 carnium and the big cave fauna are 600 000 to 500 000aBP, 500 000 to 400 000aBP and 240 000 to 100 000aBP respectively.