Evolutionary trends of stature in Pleistocene China / 解剖学报

ABSTRACT

Objective To study the evolutionary trends in the stature of Pleistocene hominins from China. Methods We took the indirect method of stature estimation from fragments of long bones; maximum length of the long bones was directly estimated from measurements of its fragments, and thereafter the stature was reconstructed from the estimated maximum length. Results The result showed that the stature variation was 155.4-169.2 cm for H. erectus (n = 4) and 155.2-171.7 cm for early modem humans (n = 12) , and only 166. 1 cm for one female in archaic Homo sapiens. The stature of Liujiang and Lijiang hominins located in the southeast was lower than other early modern humans from North China. Conclusion The stature variation is similarly from H. erectus to early modern humans, while the average stature seems to have increased continuously. We find that the geographical variation observed in modern humans has appeared in early modern humans. In addition, there is no significant difference between early modern humans and Neolithic populations.