LANTIAN
(Chenjiawo and Gongwangling)
Lo CATION
Two fossil sites near the county capital of Lantian,
Shensi Province, China. Chenjiawo is some 10 km NW
of Lantian; Gongwangling is 15 km E of the town.
DISCOVERY
Excavations of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology
and Paleoanthropology (IVPP), Beijing, July, 1963
(Chenjiawo), and May/October, 1964 (Gongwangling).MATERIAL
Mandible with complete dentition except for R P3 and
congenitally missing M3s (Lantian 1: Chenjiawo);
damaged calvaria with some facial elements (Lantian 2:
Gongwangling).DATING AND STRATIGRAPHIC CONTEXT
The Gongwangling cranium occurs in sediments of
reversed polarity, while the Chenjiawo mandible ap-
parently came from a slightly higher level, with nor-
mal polarity (Wu and Olsen, 1985, and references
therein). One interpretation places the cranium at the
end of the Matuyama Chron (ca. 0.9-0.8 Ma), or per-
haps earlier, ca. 1.1-1.2 Ma by correlation to the local
standard sequence; and the mandible in the lower part
of the Brunhes Chron, ca. 0.6 Ma (see Wu and Olsen,
1985). However, An and Ho (1989) suggest that the
strata containing the two fossils bracket the Jaramillo
subchron at ca. 1.0 ma.ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
There are no stone tools directly associated with ei-
ther fossil, but a few lithics from nearby deposits said
to be stratigraphically equivalent include a handaxe
(Schick and Dong, 1993).PREVIOUS DESCRIPTIONS AND ANALYSES
The mandible was made the type of the species
Sinanthopus lantianensis by Woo (1964), who later
placed the cranium in the same species to complete
the skull of “Lantian Man” (e.g., Woo, 1965). Most
subsequent authors have preferred the designation
Homo erectus (e.g., Aigner and Laughlin, 1973; Wu
and Olsen, 1985). Holloway (2000) quotes a cranial
capacity for the Gongwangling specimen of 780 ml.MORPHOLOGY
Partial mandible (Chenjiawo) and crushed cranium
(Gongwangling).Chenjiawo (Ll)
Damaged and reconstructed mandibular corpora, with
both L and R sides present around to anterior alveolar
regions of both M3s. On the L is preserved a dam-
aged and heavily worn LM1, root of 11, anterior root
of M3, and alveoli for roots of LC-P2 and M2. On
the R is root of 11, anterior root of M3, and alveoli for
roots of P1 and 2 and M1 and 2. It appears L12
was lost antemortern, with subsequent remodeling of424