LIUJIANG (Liukiang)
LOCATION
Tungtienyen (Tongtianyan) Cave, some 16 km E of
Liuchow, Liujiang District, Guanxi Province, China.DISCOVERY
Farm workers, September 1958.MATERIAL
Cranium (PA.89; G-6-1) and some associated post-
cranial elements.DATING AND STRATIGRAPHIC CONTEXT
Most of the cave infX was destroyed prior to scientific
intervention (Woo, 1959), but the hominid was
reportedly found in association with a Stegodon/
Ailuropoda fauna at first considered to be of Middle
Pleistocene age but rapidly revised by Woo (1959) to a
Late Pleistocene date. U-series dating (Yuan et al.,
1986) suggested that the human remains are more than
67 Ka and maybe as much as 101-227 Ka old, consis-
tent with radocarbon dating at more than 40 Ka (Yuan
et al., 1986). These ancient dates conflict, however, with
those for other early modern human sites in China.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL CONTEXT
None.PREVIOUS DESCRIPTIONS AND ANALYSES
J.-K. Woo, the original describer, found the human re-
mains to be those of a middle-aged male representing
“an early form of the evolving Mongoloid and... theearliest fossil representative of modern mankind so far
found in China” (1959: 116). All subsequent authors
(e.g., Wu and Zhang, 1985; Pope, 1992) have followed
Woo in regarding the Liujiang individual as modern
Homo sapiens. Advocates of Regional Continuity point
to morphological traits in this specimen that allegedly
support their viewpoint (e.g., Wolpoff et al., 1984). Wu
and Poirier (1995) give a cranial volume of ca. 1480 ml.MORPHOLOGY
Well-mineralized cranium. Essentially complete but
lacking R and L zygomatic arches, part of sphenooc-
cipital region, and various other details. L supraorbital
region damaged; LI1 and M2 missing.
Large rounded neurocranium, highest at bregma.
Relatively small face lies below an essentially vertical
frontal. Frontal and parietal eminences clearly delin-
eated. Rounded profile of skull somewhat interrupted
by gently swollen occipital plane. Viewed from behind,
sides of narrow neurocranium tall s/i and relatively ver-
tical; flow into broadly curved superior surface. Viewed
from above, postorbital constriction is minimal.
As seen on the R, supraorbital region characterized
by poorly protruding glabellar butterfly Lateral to
glabellar butterfly, supraorbital region is flat. R orbital
roof quite concave; forms a sharp angle with supraorbital
region. Moderately swollen glabellar region overhangs
frontonasal suture; highest point at nasion. Gently
curved nasal bones bear a central keel; were apparently
not very long and protrude only moderately, although
farther than the inferior nasal margin. Orbits roundedly430