摘要
获得个体准确的性别和年龄信息是生物人类学研究的基础。受演化特点和保存程度的限制,古人类化石的性别和年龄鉴定经常存在争议。本文以广西娅怀洞遗址出土的更新世晚期头骨、下颌骨及牙齿为研究对象,使用肉眼观察、测量、micro-CT扫描等方法辅助对其性别和年龄进行判断。娅怀洞1号个体头骨和下颌骨形态的观测及对比分析表明,其为女性的可能性大。基于该个体头骨骨缝愈合的情况、头骨的多项特征以及对其牙齿磨耗与年龄关系的校正,我们认为其死亡年龄在30~40岁。
Obtaining accurate information about an individual’s sex and age at death constitutes the cornerstone of biological anthropological research.The estimation of adult sex from skeletal samples relies on two types of characteristics:those associated with functional differences between the sexes,and those manifested as variations in the size and shape of bones and teeth.Most methods for age estimation are based on the assessment of osteological degenerative changes.The identification of sex and age in human fossils often sparks controversy due to their evolutionary traits and preservation limitations,particularly when the hip bone is unavailable.This study utilized visual observation,measurement,and micro-CT scanning to examine the Late Pleistocene crania,mandible,and teeth(YH1)excavated from the Yahuai Cave site in Guangxi,Anthropologica Sinica,2025,44(3):389-403 southern China.Regarding non-metric characteristics,the cranial and mandibular morphology indicates that Yahuai 1 is more likely to be female.However,certain robusticity-related features are more pronounced in YH1 compared to most recent-modern females in East Asia.The sexual dimorphism observed in late Pleistocene human skulls differs from that of modern humans,as evidenced by cranio-facial metric features.Comparisons with late Pleistocene human skulls from East and Southeast Asia reveal that YH1 shows no obvious sexual dimorphism in craniometric characteristics.When compared with recent populations from the same region,YH1 is found to be larger in size,and exhibits similarity to recent female samples after size calibration.YH1 has a medium-sized mandible overall and a high corpus robusticity index,which is comparable to that of late Pleistocene and Neolithic females.In terms of age-at-death estimation,YH1 displayed a low degree of synostosis in the cranial sutures,and no age-associated features were observed.Moreover,by comparing with two Neolithic populations from South China,the relationship between dental wear and age estimation was adjusted.Collectively,these findings suggest that YH1 was not elderly,but rather a young adult aged between 30 and 40 years.
作者
贺乐天
谢光茂
林强
李大伟
吴秀杰
HE Letian;XIE Guangmao;LIN Qiang;LI Dawei;WU Xiujie(Key Laboratory of Vertebrate Evolution and Human Origins,Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology,Chinese Academy of Sciences,Beijing 100044;College of History,Culture and Tourism,Guangxi Normal University,Guilin 541001;Guangxi Institute of Cultural Relic Protection and Archaeology,Nanning 530023;Institute for History and Culture of Science&Technology,Guangxi University for Nationalities,Nanning 530006)
出处
《人类学学报》
北大核心
2025年第3期389-403,共15页
Acta Anthropologica Sinica
基金
国家社会科学基金(24CKG045)
国家社会科学基金重大项目(22&ZD246)。
