1932
0
  1. Home
  2. A-Z Publications
  3. Annual Review of Anthropology
  4. Volume 50, 2021
  5. Article

Annual Review of Anthropology

Volume 50, 2021

Human Evolution in Asia: Taking Stock and Looking Forward

Abstract

We review the state of paleoanthropology research in Asia. We survey the fossil record, articulate the current understanding, and delineate the points of contention. Although Asia received less attention than Europe and Africa did in the second half of the twentieth century, an increase in reliably dated fossil materials and the advances in genetics have fueled new research. The long and complex evolutionary history of humans in Asia throughout the Pleistocene can be explained by a balance of mechanisms, between gene flow among different populations and continuity of regional ancestry. This pattern is reflected in fossil morphology and paleogenomics. Critical understanding of the sociocultural forces that shaped the history of hominin fossil research in Asia is important in charting the way forward.

Keyword(s): Asian paleoanthropology, evolutionary trends, hominin evolution, Homo erectus, Homo sapiens
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-anthro-101819-110230
2021-10-21
2025-02-07
Loading full text...

Full text loading...

/deliver/fulltext/anthro/50/1/annurev-anthro-101819-110230.html?itemId=/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-anthro-101819-110230&mimeType=html&fmt=ahah

Literature Cited

  1. Abi-Rached L, Jobin MJ, Kulkarni S, McWhinnie A, Dalva K et al. 2011. The shaping of modern human immune systems by multiregional admixture with archaic humans. Science 334:89–94
     [Google Scholar]
  2. Andrews PJ. 1984. On the characters that define Homo erectus. Courier Forschinst. Senckenberg 69:167–75
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Antón SC. 2002. Evolutionary significance of cranial variation in Asian Homo erectus. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 118:301–23
     [Google Scholar]
  4. Antón SC. 2003. Natural history of Homo erectus. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 122:126–70
     [Google Scholar]
  5. Antón SC, Spoor F, Fellmann CD, Swisher CC III 2007. Defining Homo erectus: size considered. Handbook of Paleoanthropology, Vol. 3 W Henke, I Tattersall 1655–93 Berlin: Springer-Verlag
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Antón SC, Swisher CC III 2004. Early dispersals of Homo from Africa. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 33:271–96
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Ao H, Dekkers MJ, Wei Q, Qiang X, Xiao G 2013. New evidence for early presence of hominids in North China. Sci. Rep. 3:2403
     [Google Scholar]
  8. Ao H, Liu C-R, Roberts AP, Zhang P, Xu X. 2017. An updated age for the Xujiayao hominin from the Nihewan Basin, North China: implications for Middle Pleistocene human evolution in East Asia. J. Hum. Evol. 106:54–65
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Athreya S. 2010. South Asia as a geographic crossroad: patterns and predictions of hominin morphology in Pleistocene India. Asian Paleoanthropology CJ Norton, DR Braun 129–41 Dordrecht, Neth: Springer
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Athreya S, Ackermann RR 2020. Colonialism and narratives of human origins in Asia and Africa. Interrogating Human Origins: Decolonisation and the Deep Human Past M Porr, JM Matthews 72–95 New York: Routledge
     [Google Scholar]
  11. Athreya S, Wu X. 2017. A multivariate assessment of the Dali hominin cranium from China: morphological affinities and implications for Pleistocene evolution in East Asia. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 164:679–701
     [Google Scholar]
  12. Baab KL. 2008. The taxonomic implications of cranial shape variation in Homo erectus. J. Hum. Evol. 54:827–47
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Baab KL 2015. Defining Homo erectus. Handbook of Paleoanthropology W Henke, I Tattersall 2189–219 Berlin/Heidelberg, Ger.: Springer Berlin Heidelberg
     [Google Scholar]
  14. Baba H, Aziz F, Kaifu Y, Suwa G, Kono RT, Jacob T. 2003. Homo erectus calvarium from the Pleistocene of Java. Science 299:1384–88
     [Google Scholar]
  15. Bae CJ. 2010. The late Middle Pleistocene hominin fossil record of eastern Asia: synthesis and review. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 143:75–93
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Bae CJ, Guyomarc'h P 2015. Potential contributions of Korean Pleistocene hominin fossils to palaeoanthropology: a view from Ryonggok cave. Asian Perspect 54:31–57
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Bae CJ, Wang W, Zhao J, Huang S, Tian F, Shen G. 2014. Modern human teeth from Late Pleistocene Luna Cave (Guangxi, China). Quat. Int. 354:169–83
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Bailey SE, Hublin J-J, Antón SC 2019. Rare dental trait provides morphological evidence of archaic introgression in Asian fossil record. PNAS 116:14806–7
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Bar-Yosef O, Wang Y. 2012. Paleolithic archaeology in China. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 41:319–35
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Barker G, Barton H, Bird M, Daly P, Datan I et al. 2007. The ‘human revolution’ in lowland tropical Southeast Asia: the antiquity and behavior of anatomically modern humans at Niah Cave (Sarawak, Borneo). J. Hum. Evol. 52:243–61
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Black D. 1927. On a lower molar hominid tooth from Chou-Kou-Tien deposit. Palaeontologia Sin. Ser. D 7:1–29
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Brown P 2001. Chinese Middle Pleistocene hominids and modern human origins in east Asia. Human Roots—Africa and Asia in the Middle Pleistocene L Barham, K Robson Brown 135–47 Bristol, UK: Western Acad. & Spec.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Brown S, Higham T, Slon V, Pääbo S, Meyer M et al. 2016. Identification of a new hominin bone from Denisova Cave, Siberia using collagen fingerprinting and mitochondrial DNA analysis. Sci. Rep. 6:23559
     [Google Scholar]
  24. Cartmill M, Smith FH. 2009. The Human Lineage Hoboken, NJ: Wiley & Sons
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Chang C-H, Kaifu Y, Takai M, Kono RT, Grün R et al. 2015. The first archaic Homo from Taiwan. Nat. Commun. 6:6037
     [Google Scholar]
  26. Chen F, Welker F, Shen C-C, Bailey SE, Bergmann I et al. 2019. A late Middle Pleistocene Denisovan mandible from the Tibetan Plateau. Nature 569:409–12
     [Google Scholar]
  27. Coppens Y, Tseveendorj D, Demeter F, Turbat T, Giscard P-H. 2008. Discovery of an archaic Homo sapiens skullcap in Northeast Mongolia. C. R. Palevol. 7:51–60
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Cunningham DL, Wescott DJ. 2002. Within-group human variation in the Asian Pleistocene: the three Upper Cave crania. J. Hum. Evol. 42:627–38
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Curnoe D, Ji X, Shaojin H, Taçon PSC, Li Y 2016. Dental remains from Longtanshan cave 1 (Yunnan, China), and the initial presence of anatomically modern humans in East Asia. Quat. Int. 400:180–86
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Demeter F, Shackelford L, Westaway K, Duringer P, Bacon A-M et al. 2015. Early modern humans and morphological variation in Southeast Asia: fossil evidence from Tam Pa Ling, Laos. PLOS ONE 10:e0121193
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Demeter F, Shackelford LL, Bacon A-M, Duringer P, Westaway K et al. 2012. Anatomically modern human in Southeast Asia (Laos) by 46 ka. PNAS 109:14375–80
     [Google Scholar]
  32. Dennell R, Roebroeks W. 2005. An Asian perspective on early human dispersal from Africa. Nature 438:1099–104
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Détroit F, Mijares AS, Corny J, Daver G, Zanolli C et al. 2019. A new species of Homo from the Late Pleistocene of the Philippines. Nature 568:181–86
     [Google Scholar]
  34. Devièse T, Massilani D, Yi S, Comeskey D, Nagel S et al. 2019. Compound-specific radiocarbon dating and mitochondrial DNA analysis of the Pleistocene hominin from Salkhit Mongolia. Nat. Commun. 10:274
     [Google Scholar]
  35. Dizon E, Détroit F, Sémah F, Falguères C, Hameau S et al. 2002. Notes on the morphology and age of the Tabon Cave fossil Homo sapiens. Curr. Anthropol. 43:660–66
     [Google Scholar]
  36. Eller E, Hawks J, Relethford JH. 2004. Local extinction and recolonization, species effective population size, and modern human origins. Hum. Biol. 76:689–709
     [Google Scholar]
  37. Etler DA. 1996. The fossil evidence for human evolution in Asia. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 25:275–302
     [Google Scholar]
  38. Falk D, Hildebolt C, Smith K, Morwood MJ, Sutikna T et al. 2005. The brain of LB1, Homo floresiensis. Science 308:242–45
     [Google Scholar]
  39. Fu Q, Li H, Moorjani P, Jay F, Slepchenko SM et al. 2014. Genome sequence of a 45,000-year-old modern human from western Siberia. Nature 514:445–49
     [Google Scholar]
  40. Fu Q, Meyer M, Gao X, Stenzel U, Burbano HA et al. 2013. DNA analysis of an early modern human from Tianyuan Cave, China. PNAS 110:62223–27
     [Google Scholar]
  41. Ge J, Deng C, Wang Y, Shao Q, Zhou X et al. 2020. Climate-influenced cave deposition and human occupation during the Pleistocene in Zhiren Cave, southwest China. Quat. Int. 559:14–23
     [Google Scholar]
  42. Glantz M, Athreya S, Ritzman T. 2009. Is Central Asia the eastern outpost of the Neandertal range? A reassessment of the Teshik-Tash child. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol 138:45–61
     [Google Scholar]
  43. Glantz MM. 2010. The history of hominin occupation of Central Asia in review. Asian Paleoanthropology CJ Norton, DR Braun 101–12 Dordrecht, Neth: Springer
     [Google Scholar]
  44. Green RE, Krause J, Briggs AW, Maricic T, Stenzel U et al. 2010. A draft sequence of the Neandertal genome. Science 328:710–22
     [Google Scholar]
  45. Green RE, Krause J, Ptak SE, Briggs AW, Ronan MT et al. 2006. Analysis of one million base pairs of Neanderthal DNA. Nature 444:330–36
     [Google Scholar]
  46. Guo Y, Huang CC, Pang J, Zha X, Zhou Y et al. 2013. Sedimentological study of the stratigraphy at the site of Homo erectus yunxianensis in the upper Hanjiang River valley, China. Quat. Int 300:75–82
     [Google Scholar]
  47. Guo Y, Sun C, Luo L, Yang L, Han F et al. 2019. 26Al/10Be burial dating of the Middle Pleistocene Yiyuan hominin fossil site, Shandong Province, Northern China. Sci. Rep. 9:6961
     [Google Scholar]
  48. Harvati K. 2009. Into Eurasia: a geometric morphometric re-assessment of the Upper Cave (Zhoukoudian) specimens. J. Hum. Evol. 57:751–62
     [Google Scholar]
  49. Hawks J. 2013. Significance of Neandertal and Denisovan genomes in human evolution. Annu. Rev. Anthropol. 42:433–49
     [Google Scholar]
  50. Henneberg M, Eckhardt RB, Chavanaves S, Hsü KJ 2014. Evolved developmental homeostasis disturbed in LB1 from Flores, Indonesia, denotes Down syndrome and not diagnostic traits of the invalid species Homo floresiensis. PNAS 111:11967–72
     [Google Scholar]
  51. Huffman OF, Zaim Y, Kappelman J, Ruez DR Jr., de Vos J et al. 2006. Relocation of the 1936 Mojokerto skull discovery site near Perning, East Java. J. Hum. Evol. 50:431–51
     [Google Scholar]
  52. Indriati E, Swisher CC III, Lepre C, Quinn RL, Suriyanto RA et al. 2011. The age of the 20 meter Solo River terrace, Java, Indonesia and the survival of Homo erectus in Asia. PLOS ONE 6:e21562
     [Google Scholar]
  53. Jacob T, Indriati E, Soejono RP, Hsü K, Frayer DW et al. 2006. Pygmoid Australomelanesian Homo sapiens skeletal remains from Liang Bua, Flores: population affinities and pathological abnormalities. PNAS 103:13421–26
     [Google Scholar]
  54. Kaifu Y, Baba H, Aziz F, Indriati E, Schrenk F, Jacob T 2005. Taxonomic affinities and evolutionary history of the early Pleistocene hominids of Java: dentognathic evidence. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 128:709–26
     [Google Scholar]
  55. Kaifu Y, Fujita M. 2012. Fossil record of early modern humans in East Asia. Quat. Int. 248:2–11
     [Google Scholar]
  56. Kaifu Y, Zaim Y, Baba H, Kurniawan I, Kubo D et al. 2011. New reconstruction and morphological description of a Homo erectus cranium: Skull IX (Tjg-1993.05) from Sangiran, Central Java. J. Hum. Evol. 61:270–94
     [Google Scholar]
  57. Kidder JH, Durband AC. 2004. A re-evaluation of the metric diversity within Homo erectus. J. Hum. Evol. 46:297–313
     [Google Scholar]
  58. Klein RG. 1989. The Human Career: Human Biological and Cultural Origins Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
     [Google Scholar]
  59. Krause J, Fu Q, Good JM, Viola B, Shunkov MV et al. 2010. The complete mitochondrial DNA genome of an unknown hominin from southern Siberia. Nature 464:894–97
     [Google Scholar]
  60. Krings M, Geisert H, Schmitz RW, Krainitzki H, Pääbo S 1999. DNA sequence of the mitochondrial hypervariable region II from the Neandertal type specimen. PNAS 96:5581–85
     [Google Scholar]
  61. Lee S-H. 2016. Homo erectus in Salkhit, Mongolia?. HOMO 66:287–98
     [Google Scholar]
  62. Lee-Thorp J, Likius A, Mackaye HT, Vignaud P, Sponheimer M, Brunet M 2012. Isotopic evidence for an early shift to C4 resources by Pliocene hominins in Chad. PNAS 109:20369–72
     [Google Scholar]
  63. Li F, Bae CJ, Ramsey CB, Chen F, Gao X 2018. Re-dating Zhoukoudian Upper Cave, northern China and its regional significance. J. Hum. Evol. 121:170–77
     [Google Scholar]
  64. Li T, Etler DA. 1992. New Middle Pleistocene hominid crania from Yunxian in China. Nature 357:404–7
     [Google Scholar]
  65. Li Z-Y, Wu X-J, Zhou L-P, Liu W, Gao X et al. 2017. Late Pleistocene archaic human crania from Xuchang, China. Science 355:969–72
     [Google Scholar]
  66. Liao W, Xing S, Li D, Martinón-Torres M, Wu X et al. 2019. Mosaic dental morphology in a terminal Pleistocene hominin from Dushan Cave in southern China. Sci. Rep. 9:2347
     [Google Scholar]
  67. Liu W, Jin C-Z, Zhang Y-Q, Cai Y-J, Xing S et al. 2010a. Human remains from Zhirendong, South China, and modern human emergence in East Asia. PNAS 107:19201–6
     [Google Scholar]
  68. Liu W, Martinón-Torres M, Cai Y-J, Xing S, Tong H-W et al. 2015. The earliest unequivocally modern humans in southern China. Nature 526:696–99
     [Google Scholar]
  69. Liu W, Schepartz LA, Xing S, Miller-Antonio S, Wu X et al. 2013. Late Middle Pleistocene hominin teeth from Panxian Dadong, South China. J. Hum. Evol. 64:337–55
     [Google Scholar]
  70. Liu W, Wu X, Pei S, Wu X, Norton CJ. 2010b. Huanglong Cave: a Late Pleistocene human fossil site in Hubei Province, China. Quat. Int 211:29–41
     [Google Scholar]
  71. Liu W, Zhang Y, Wu X. 2005. Middle Pleistocene human cranium from Tangshan (Nanjing), Southeast China: a new reconstruction and comparisons with Homo erectus from Eurasia and Africa. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 127:253–62
     [Google Scholar]
  72. Lordkipanidze D, Ponce de León MS, Margvelashvili A, Rak Y, Rightmire GP et al. 2013. A complete skull from Dmanisi, Georgia, and the evolutionary biology of early Homo. Science 342:326–31
     [Google Scholar]
  73. Lü Z. 1989. [Date of Jinniushan Man and his position in human evolution]. Liaohai Wenwu Xuekan 1:44–55 In Chinese )
     [Google Scholar]
  74. Lü Z 2003. The Jinniushan hominid in anatomical, chronological, and cultural context. Current Research in Chinese Pleistocene Archaeology C Shen, SG Keates 127–36 Oxford, UK: Archaeopress
     [Google Scholar]
  75. Martinón-Torres M, Wu X, Bermúdez de Castro JM, Xing S, Liu W. 2017. Homo sapiens in the Eastern Asian Late Pleistocene. Curr. Anthropol. 58:S434–48
     [Google Scholar]
  76. Massilani D, Skov L, Hajdinjak M, Gunchinsuren B, Tseveendorj D et al. 2020. Denisovan ancestry and population history of early East Asians. Science 370:579–83
     [Google Scholar]
  77. Matsu'ura S, Kondo M, Danhara T, Sakata S, Iwano H et al. 2020. Age control of the first appearance datum for Javanese Homo erectus in the Sangiran area. Science 367:210–14
     [Google Scholar]
  78. Matsumura H, Pookajorn S. 2005. A morphometric analysis of the Late Pleistocene human skeleton from the Moh Khiew Cave in Thailand. HOMO 56:93–118
     [Google Scholar]
  79. Mayr E. 1950. Taxonomic categories in fossil hominids. Cold Spring Harb. Symp. Quant. Biol. 15:109–18
     [Google Scholar]
  80. Mijares AS, Détroit F, Piper P, Grün R, Bellwood P et al. 2010. New evidence for a 67,000-year-old human presence at Callao Cave, Luzon, Philippines. J. Hum. Evol. 59:123–32
     [Google Scholar]
  81. Morley RJ, Morley HP, Zaim Y, Huffman OF. 2020. Palaeoenvironmental setting of Mojokerto Homo erectus, the palynological expressions of Pleistocene marine deltas, open grasslands and volcanic mountains in East Java. J. Biogeogr. 47:566–83
     [Google Scholar]
  82. Morwood MJ, Soejono RP, Roberts RG, Sutikna T, Turney CSM et al. 2004. Archaeology and age of a new hominin from Flores in eastern Indonesia. Nature 431:1087–91
     [Google Scholar]
  83. Nakagawa R, Doi N, Nishioka Y, Nunami S, Yamauchi H et al. 2010. Pleistocene human remains from Shiraho-Saonetabaru Cave on Ishigaki Island, Okinawa, Japan, and their radiocarbon dating. Anthropol. Sci. 118:173–83
     [Google Scholar]
  84. Norton CJ. 2000. The current state of Korean paleoanthropology. J. Hum. Evol 38:803–25
     [Google Scholar]
  85. Norton CJ, Gao X. 2008. Hominin–carnivore interactions during the Chinese Early Paleolithic: taphonomic perspectives from Xujiayao. J. Hum. Evol 55:164–78
     [Google Scholar]
  86. Ossendorf G, Groos AR, Bromm T, Tekelemariam MG, Glaser B et al. 2019. Middle Stone Age foragers resided in high elevations of the glaciated Bale Mountains, Ethiopia. Science 365:583–87
     [Google Scholar]
  87. Pääbo S. 2015. The contribution of ancient hominin genomes from Siberia to our understanding of human evolution. Her. Russ. Acad. Sci. 85:392–96
     [Google Scholar]
  88. Park S-J, Lee Y-J. 1990. A new discovery of the Upper Pleistocene child's skeleton from Hūngsu Cave (Turubon Cave Complex), Ch'ôngwôn, Korea. Korean J. Quat. Res 4:1–14
     [Google Scholar]
  89. Petraglia M, Clarkson C, Boivin N, Haslam M, Korisettar R et al. 2009. Population increase and environmental deterioration correspond with microlithic innovations in South Asia ca. 35,000 years ago. PNAS 106:12261–66
     [Google Scholar]
  90. Pope GG. 1988. Recent advances in Far Eastern paleoanthropology. Annu. Rev. Anthropol 17:43–77
     [Google Scholar]
  91. Porr M, Matthews JM. 2017. Post-colonialism, human origins and the paradox of modernity. Antiquity 91:1058–68
     [Google Scholar]
  92. Porr M, Matthews JM 2020. Interrogating Human Origins: Decolonisation and the Deep Human Past New York: Routledge
     [Google Scholar]
  93. Prüfer K, Racimo F, Patterson N, Jay F, Sankararaman S et al. 2014. The complete genome sequence of a Neanderthal from the Altai Mountains. Nature 505:43–49
     [Google Scholar]
  94. Reich D, Green RE, Kircher M, Krause J, Patterson N et al. 2010. Genetic history of an archaic hominin group from Denisova Cave in Siberia. Nature 468:1053–60
     [Google Scholar]
  95. Rightmire GP. 1990. The Evolution of Homo erectus: Comparative Anatomical Studies of an Extinct Human Species Cambridge, UK: Cambridge Univ. Press
     [Google Scholar]
  96. Rizal Y, Westaway KE, Zaim Y, van den Bergh GD, Bettis EA et al. 2019. Last appearance of Homo erectus at Ngandong, Java, 117,000–108,000 years ago. Nature 577:381–85
     [Google Scholar]
  97. Rosenberg KR, Lü Z, Ruff CB 2006. Body size, body proportions, and encephalization in a Middle Pleistocene archaic human from northern China. PNAS 103:3552–56
     [Google Scholar]
  98. Rosenberg KR, Wu X 2013. A river runs through it: modern human origins in East Asia. Origins of Modern Humans: Biology Reconsidered FH Smith, JCM Ahern 89–121 New York: Wiley, 2nd ed..
     [Google Scholar]
  99. Sautman B. 2001. Peking Man and the politics of paleoanthropological nationalism in China. J. Asian Stud. 60:95–124
     [Google Scholar]
  100. Scardia G, Parenti F, Miggins DP, Gerdes A, Araujo AGM, Neves WA. 2019. Chronologic constraints on hominin dispersal outside Africa since 2.48 Ma from the Zarqa Valley, Jordan. Quat. Sci. Rev 219:1–19
     [Google Scholar]
  101. Schmalzer S. 2008. The People's Peking Man: Popular Science and Human Identity in Twentieth-Century China Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press
     [Google Scholar]
  102. Semaw S. 2000. The world's oldest stone artefacts from Gona, Ethiopia: their implications for understanding stone technology and patterns of human evolution between 2.6–1.5 million years ago. J. Archaeol. Sci. 27:1197–214
     [Google Scholar]
  103. Shackelford L, Demeter F, Westaway K, Duringer P, Ponche J-L et al. 2018. Additional evidence for early modern human morphological diversity in Southeast Asia at Tam Pa Ling, Laos. Quat. Int 466:93–106
     [Google Scholar]
  104. Shang H, Tong H, Zhang S, Chen F, Trinkaus E 2007. An early modern human from Tianyuan Cave, Zhoukoudian, China. PNAS 104:6573–78
     [Google Scholar]
  105. Shang H, Trinkaus E. 2010. The Early Modern Human from Tianyuan Cave, China College Station, TX: Texas A&M Univ. Press
     [Google Scholar]
  106. Shen G, Fang Y, Bischoff JL, Feng Y-X, Zhao J-X. 2010. Mass spectrometric U-series dating of the Chaoxian hominin site at Yinshan, eastern China. Quat. Int. 211:24–28
     [Google Scholar]
  107. Shen G, Gao X, Gao B, Granger DE. 2009. Age of Zhoukoudian Homo erectus determined with 26Al/10Be burial dating. Nature 458:198–200
     [Google Scholar]
  108. Shen G, Wang W, Wang Q, Zhao J, Collerson KD et al. 2002. U-Series dating of Liujiang hominid site in Guangxi, Southern China. J. Hum. Evol. 43:817–29
     [Google Scholar]
  109. Shen G, Wu X, Wang Q, Tu H, Feng Y-X, Zhao J-X. 2013. Mass spectrometric U-series dating of Huanglong Cave in Hubei Province, central China: evidence for early presence of modern humans in eastern Asia. J. Hum. Evol. 65:162–67
     [Google Scholar]
  110. Storm P, Wood R, Stringer C, Bartsiokas A, de Vos J et al. 2013. U-series and radiocarbon analyses of human and faunal remains from Wajak, Indonesia. J. Hum. Evol. 64:356–65
     [Google Scholar]
  111. Stringer CB. 1984. The definition of Homo erectus and the existence of the species in Africa and Europe. Courier Forschinst. Senckenberg 69:131–43
     [Google Scholar]
  112. Stringer CB 1991. Replacement, continuity and the origin of Homo sapiens. Continuity or Replacement: Controversies in Homo sapiens Evolution G Bräuer, FH Smith 9–24 Rotterdam, Neth: A.A. Balkema
     [Google Scholar]
  113. Stringer CB. 2016. The origin and evolution of Homo sapiens. Philos. Trans. R. Soc. B 371:20150237
     [Google Scholar]
  114. Stringer CB, Andrews P. 1988. Genetic and fossil evidence for the origin of modern humans. Science 239:1263–68
     [Google Scholar]
  115. Sun X-F, Wen S-Q, Lu C-Q, Zhou B-Y, Curnoe D et al. 2021. Ancient DNA and multimethod dating confirm the late arrival of anatomically modern humans in southern China. PNAS 118:e2019158118
     [Google Scholar]
  116. Sutikna T, Tocheri MW, Morwood MJ, Saptomo EW, Jatmiko et al. 2016. Revised stratigraphy and chronology for Homo floresiensis at Liang Bua in Indonesia. Nature 532:366–69
     [Google Scholar]
  117. Suzuki H. 1983. The Yamashita-cho man. A late Pleistocene infantile skeleton from the Yamashita-cho Cave (Okinawa). Bull. Mém. Soc. d'Anthrop. Paris 10:81–87
     [Google Scholar]
  118. Suzuki H, Hanihara K. 1982. The Minatogawa Man Tokyo: Univ. Tokyo Press
     [Google Scholar]
  119. Swisher CC III, Curtis GH, Jacob T, Getty AG, Suprijo A, Widiasmoro 1994. Age of the earliest known hominids in Java, Indonesia. Science 263:1118–21
     [Google Scholar]
  120. Swisher CC III, Rink WJ, Antón SC, Schwarcz HP, Curtis GH, Widiasmoro AS. 1996. Latest Homo erectus of Java: potential contemporaneity with Homo sapiens in Southeast Asia. Science 274:1870–74
     [Google Scholar]
  121. Tong H, Shang H, Zhang S, Chen F 2004. A preliminary report on the newly found Tianyuan Cave, a Late Pleistocene human fossil site near Zhoukoudian. Chin. Sci. Bull. 49:853–57
     [Google Scholar]
  122. Trinkaus E, Ruff CB. 1996. Early modern human remains from eastern Asia: the Yamashita-cho 1 immature postcrania. J. Hum. Evol. 30:299–314
     [Google Scholar]
  123. Tseveendorj D, Batbold N, Amgalantogs T. 2006. [Mongolanthropus was discovered in Mongolia.] Stud. Archeol. Inst. Archaeol. Acad. Sci. Mong. 23:5–10 in Mongolian )
     [Google Scholar]
  124. Tseveendorj D, Gunchinsuren B, Gelegdorj E, Yi S, Lee S-H 2016. Patterns of human evolution in northeast Asia with a particular focus on Salkhit. Quat. Int. 400:175–79
     [Google Scholar]
  125. van den Bergh GD, Kaifu Y, Kurniawan I, Kono RT, Brumm A et al. 2016. Homo floresiensis-like fossils from the early Middle Pleistocene of Flores. Nature 534:245–48
     [Google Scholar]
  126. Vialet A, Guipert G, Jianing H, Xiaobo F, Zune L et al. 2010. Homo erectus from the Yunxian and Nankin Chinese sites: anthropological insights using 3D virtual imaging techniques. C. R. Palevol 9:331–39
     [Google Scholar]
  127. Villmoare B. 2005. Metric and non-metric randomization methods, geographic variation, and the single-species hypothesis for Asian and African Homo erectus. J. Hum. Evol. 49:680–701
     [Google Scholar]
  128. Weidenreich F. 1939. On the earliest representatives of modern mankind recovered on the soil of East Asia. Peking Nat. Hist. Bull. 13:161–74
     [Google Scholar]
  129. Weidenreich F. 1943. The skull of Sinanthropus pekinensis: a comparative study of a primitive hominid skull. Palaeontol. Sin. New Ser. D 10:96–157
     [Google Scholar]
  130. Weidenreich F. 1951. Morphology of Solo man. Anthropol. Pap. Am. Mus. Nat. Hist. 43:205–90
     [Google Scholar]
  131. Wolpoff MH. 1999. Paleoanthropology New York: McGraw-Hill
     [Google Scholar]
  132. Wolpoff MH, Hawks JD, Frayer DW, Hunley K. 2001. Modern human ancestry at the peripheries: a test of the replacement theory. Science 291:293–97
     [Google Scholar]
  133. Wolpoff MH, Thorne AG, Jelínek J, Zhang Y. 1994. The case for sinking Homo erectus: 100 years of Pithecanthropus is enough! In 100 Years of Pithecanthropus: The Homo erectus Problem. JL Franzen 341–61 Frankfurt, Ger.: Forschungsinst. Senckenberg
  134. Wolpoff MH, Wu X, Thorne AG 1984. Modern Homo sapiens origins: a general theory of hominid evolution involving the fossil evidence from East Asia. The Origins of Modern Humans FH Smith, F Spencer 411–83 New York: Alan R. Liss
     [Google Scholar]
  135. Wood BA. 1994. Taxonomy and evolutionary relationships of Homo erectus. Courier Forschungsinst. Senckenberg 171:159–65
     [Google Scholar]
  136. Wu X. 2004. On the origin of modern humans in China. Quat. Int. 117:131–40
     [Google Scholar]
  137. Wu X, Athreya S. 2013. A description of the geological context, discrete traits, and linear morphometrics of the Middle Pleistocene hominin from Dali, Shaanxi Province, China. Am. J. Phys. Anthropol. 150:141–57
     [Google Scholar]
  138. Wu X, Poirier FE. 1995. Human Evolution in China: A Metric Description of the Fossils and a Review of the Sites New York: Oxford Univ. Press
     [Google Scholar]
  139. Wu X-J, Pei S-W, Cai Y-J, Tong H-W, Li Q et al. 2019. Archaic human remains from Hualongdong, China, and Middle Pleistocene human continuity and variation. PNAS 116:9820–24
     [Google Scholar]
  140. Xiao D, Bae CJ, Shen G, Delson E, Jin JJH et al. 2014. Metric and geometric morphometric analysis of new hominin fossils from Maba (Guangdong, China). J. Hum. Evol. 74:1–20
     [Google Scholar]
  141. Yang MA, Gao X, Theunert C, Tong H, Aximu-Petri A et al. 2017. 40,000-year-old individual from Asia provides insight into early population structure in Eurasia. Curr. Biol. 27:3202–8.e9
     [Google Scholar]
  142. Yen H-P. 2014. Evolutionary Asiacentrism, Peking Man, and the origins of Sinocentric ethno-nationalism. J. Hist. Biol 47:585–625
     [Google Scholar]
  143. Zaim Y, Ciochon RL, Polanski JM, Grine FE, Bettis EA III et al. 2011. New 1.5 million-year-old Homo erectus maxilla from Sangiran (Central Java, Indonesia). J. Hum. Evol. 61:363–76
     [Google Scholar]
  144. Zhao J-X, Hu K, Collerson KD, Xu H-K. 2001. Thermal ionization mass spectrometry U-series dating of a hominid site near Nanjing, China. Geology 29:27–30
     [Google Scholar]
  145. Zhu R, An Z, Potts R, Hoffman KA. 2003. Magnetostratigraphic dating of early humans in China. Earth-Sci. Rev. 61:341–59
     [Google Scholar]
  146. Zhu RX, Potts R, Pan YX, Yao HT, Lü LQ et al. 2008. Early evidence of the genus Homo in East Asia. J. Hum. Evol 55:1075–85
     [Google Scholar]
  147. Zhu RX, Potts R, Xie F, Hoffman KA, Deng CL et al. 2004. New evidence on the earliest human presence at high northern latitudes in northeast Asia. Nature 431:559–62
     [Google Scholar]
  148. Zhu Z, Dennell R, Huang W, Wu Y, Qiu S et al. 2018. Hominin occupation of the Chinese Loess Plateau since about 2.1 million years ago. Nature 559:608–12
     [Google Scholar]
  149. Zhu Z-Y, Dennell R, Huang W-W, Wu Y, Rao Z-G et al. 2015. New dating of the Homo erectus cranium from Lantian (Gongwangling), China. J. Hum. Evol 78:144–57
     [Google Scholar]
  150. Zwyns N, Paine CH, Tsedendorj B, Talamo S, Fitzsimmons KE et al. 2019. The northern route for human dispersal in Central and Northeast Asia: new evidence from the site of Tolbor-16, Mongolia. Sci. Rep 9:11759
     [Google Scholar]
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-anthro-101819-110230
Loading
Human Evolution in Asia: Taking Stock and Looking Forward
Annual Review of Anthropology 50, 145 (2021); https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev-anthro-101819-110230
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-anthro-101819-110230
/content/journals/10.1146/annurev-anthro-101819-110230
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Review Article

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a Success
Invalid data
An Error Occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error