Structural properties of the Late Pleistocene Liujiang femoral diaphyses from southern China.

The characterization of the femoral diaphysis in Pleistocene hominins with chronoecogeographical diversity plays a crucial role in evaluating evolutionary shifts in locomotor behavior and body shape. However, Pleistocene hominin fossil remains in East Asia are scarce and are widely dispersed temporally and spatially, impeding our comprehension of the nature and polarity of morphological trends. Here, we present qualitative and quantitative analyses of the cross-sectional properties and structural organization of diaphyses in two Late Pleistocene hominin femora (Liujiang PA91 and PA92) from southern China, comparing them to other Eurasian and African Pleistocene hominins.

The upper limb skeleton and behavioral lateralization of modern humans from Zhaoguo Cave, southwestern China.

Objectives: Aims of the study are to initially describe and comparatively evaluate the morphology of the new Zhaoguo M1 upper limb remains, and contextualize upper limb functional adaptations among those of other worldwide Upper Paleolithic (UP) humans to make inferences about subsistence-related activity patterns in southwestern China at the Pleistocene-Holocene boundary.

Materials And Methods: The preserved Zhaoguo M1 skeletal remains include paired humeri, ulnae, and radii, among others. These specimens were scanned using micro-computed tomography to evaluate internal structural properties, while external osteometric dimensions of the Zhaoguo M1 upper limb elements also were acquired.

Tianshanbeilu and the Isotopic Millet Road: reviewing the late Neolithic/Bronze Age radiation of human millet consumption from north China to Europe.

The westward expansion of human millet consumption from north China has important implications for understanding early interactions between the East and West. However, few studies have focused on the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, the vast geographical area directly linking the ancient cultures of the Eurasian Steppe and the Gansu Corridor of China. In this study, we present the largest isotopic investigation of Bronze Age China ( = 110) on material from the key site of Tianshanbeilu, in eastern Xinjiang.

The easternmost Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian) from Jinsitai Cave, North China.

The dispersal of Neanderthals and their genetic and cultural interactions with anatomically modern humans and other hominin populations in Eurasia are critical issues in human evolution research. Neither Neanderthal fossils nor typical Mousterian assemblages have been reported in East Asia to date. Here we report on artifact assemblages comparable to western Eurasian Middle Paleolithic (Mousterian) at Jinsitai, a cave site in North China.

Social Complexification and Pig (Sus scrofa) Husbandry in Ancient China: A Combined Geometric Morphometric and Isotopic Approach.

Pigs have played a major role in the economic, social and symbolic systems of China since the Early Neolithic more than 8,000 years ago. However, the interaction between the history of pig domestication and transformations in Chinese society since then, have not been fully explored. In this paper, we investigated the co-evolution from the earliest farming communities through to the new political and economic models of state-like societies, up to the Chinese Empire, using 5,000 years of archaeological records from the Xiawanggang (XWG) and Xinzhai (XZ) sites (Henan Province).

Tracing the locality of prisoners and workers at the Mausoleum of Qin Shi Huang: First Emperor of China (259-210 BC).

The mausoleum complex of the First Emperor of China, Qin Shi Huang (259-210 BC), is one of the most famous and important archaeological sites in China, yet questions remain as to how it was constructed and by whom. Here we present isotopic results of individuals from the Liyi (n = 146) and Shanren sites (n = 14), both associated with the mausoleum complex. Those buried at Liyi represent the local workers/inhabitants of the Qin population, and the δ(13)C (-8.

An early Oligocene fossil demonstrates treeshrews are slowly evolving "living fossils".

Treeshrews are widely considered a "living model" of an ancestral primate, and have long been called "living fossils". Actual fossils of treeshrews, however, are extremely rare. We report a new fossil species of Ptilocercus treeshrew recovered from the early Oligocene (~34 Ma) of China that represents the oldest definitive fossil record of the crown group of treeshrews and nearly doubles the temporal length of their fossil record.

Early Miocene elevation in northern Tibet estimated by palaeobotanical evidence.

The area and elevation of the Tibetan Plateau over time has directly affected Asia's topography, the characteristics of the Asian monsoon, and modified global climate, but in ways that are poorly understood. Charting the uplift history is crucial for understanding the mechanisms that link elevation and climate irrespective of time and place. While some palaeoelevation data are available for southern and central Tibet, clues to the uplift history of northern Tibet remain sparse and largely circumstantial.

Identification of kinship and occupant status in Mongolian noble burials of the Yuan Dynasty through a multidisciplinary approach.

The Yuan Dynasty (AD 1271-1368) was the first dynasty in Chinese history where a minority ethnic group (Mongols) ruled. Few cemeteries containing Mongolian nobles have been found owing to their tradition of keeping burial grounds secret and their lack of historical records. Archaeological excavations at the Shuzhuanglou site in the Hebei province of China led to the discovery of 13 skeletons in six separate tombs.

Earliest evidence for commensal processes of cat domestication.

Domestic cats are one of the most popular pets globally, but the process of their domestication is not well understood. Near Eastern wildcats are thought to have been attracted to food sources in early agricultural settlements, following a commensal pathway to domestication. Early evidence for close human-cat relationships comes from a wildcat interred near a human on Cyprus ca.

The asymmetry of the carpal joint and the evolution of wing folding in maniraptoran theropod dinosaurs.

In extant birds, the hand is permanently abducted towards the ulna, and the wrist joint can bend extensively in this direction to fold the wing when not in use. Anatomically, this asymmetric mobility of the wrist results from the wedge-like shape of one carpal bone, the radiale, and from the well-developed convexity of the trochlea at the proximal end of the carpometacarpus. Among the theropod precursors of birds, a strongly convex trochlea is characteristic of Coelurosauria, a clade including the highly derived Maniraptora in addition to tyrannosaurs and compsognathids.

Ramapithecus and Sivapithecus from China: Some implications for higher primate evolution.

The pattern of overall dental dimensions in over 900 teeth of ramapithecines from Lufeng in China is examined using frequency distribution histograms and fitted normal curves, and compared with data for extant hominoids. A prior study has demonstrated unequivocally that at least two groups of animals must have existed at Lufeng [Wu and Oxnard, 1983; Oxnard, 1983a]. The present investigation confirms this finding in more detail.