Chinese Scientists Conclude Wushan Man Is Oldest Human Fossil In China

All Headlines News ^ | 11-16-2007 | Windsor Genova

[blam]

Chinese Scientists Conclude Wushan Man Is Oldest Human Fossil In China

November 13, 2007 9:57 p.m. EST
Windsor Genova - AHN News Writer

Beijing, China (AHN) - Chinese archeologists have concluded that the two million years old human fossils found in Wushan County, Chongqing municipality from 1985 to 1988 belong to the earliest human species in China.

The lower jawbone fragment, an incisor and more than 230 pieces of stone tools of the so-called Wushan Man pre-dated the fossils of the Yuanmou Man by 300,000 years, the Chinese news agency Xinhua reported.

The Yuanmou Man was discovered in southwestern Yunnan Province in the 1960s. It was previously regarded as the oldest human species found in China.

Huang Wanbo, a professor with the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, said various dating techniques corroborated earlier findings that the geological layer containing the Wushan Man fossils and artifacts is two to 2.04 million years old.

Huang said his team of experts dug up and examined more stone tools and animal fossils at the Longgupo Site in Wushan Mountain during excavations from 1997 to 1999 and 2003 to 2006. British, Canadian and French experts joined Chinese archeologists in the diggings.

The professor said more diggings at Longgupo will be done next year to find more evidence.

[mysterio]

I wonder if they can get mitochondrial DNA from the teeth.

[blam]

GGG Ping.

Three Little Gorges - - Wusha Man

Homo Erectus, of the early Paleolithic Age, unearthed in Longgupo of Wushan County, Sichuan Province in 1988 was a wonderful discovery. The fossilized remains comprised an incisor, two molars, a mandible and some animal fossils of the Early Pleistocene Era. Thus, it is estimated that Wushan's Homo Erectus lived in the Early Pleistocene Era, about 2,000,000 years ago. In comparison to Beijing Man, Wushan's Homo Erectus bore many similarities to modern humans. For example, their teeth resembled those of modern humans, although they were much stronger, although not as strong as those of Beijing Man.

[Verginius Rufus]

Wushan Man is so old that Helen Thomas was his den mother when he was in the Cub Scouts.

[DocH]

Chinese Scientists Conclude Wushan Man Is Oldest Human Fossil In China

meanwhile, in a related story...

American Scientists Conclude West Virginia Man Is Oldest Human Fossil In Senate

WAY TO GO "SHEETS"!

[353FMG]

“..and more than 230 pieces of stone tools..”

What? No chopsticks yet?

[blam]

New human fossil find rewrites China's history

[ASA Vet]

There were no teeth, it was a fossil.

Doctor Coyoteman, any thing you can add?

[Red Badger]

I knew him well, Grasshopper!.........

[woollyone]

IBHTP!
(in before the helen thomas pic)

[mysterio]

The lower jawbone fragment, an incisor

From pubmedcentral

: "And, intriguingly, mitochondrial DNA has now been extracted from Quaternary fossil teeth, allowing fossil samples to be placed in the same population genetic framework as extant populations living in the same geographic area"

[Coyoteman]

There were no teeth, it was a fossil.

Doctor Coyoteman, any thing you can add?

I think getting DNA from this one would be difficult.

But, the technology is improving every year, so it may someday be possible.

(Fossil DNA? How would you amplify that? Maybe some of the remote sensing techniques would be of more use than typical genetic procedures.)

[rahbert]

Wushan Man? wasn’t that a hit single by the Spinners?

[Disambiguator]

I am shocked, shocked, to find that no-one has yet posted a picture of Helen Thomas on this thread.

[ASA Vet]

Further readings indicate I was wrong in my assumption regarding dna not being possible. I’m an old fart but am not too old to learn, or to enjoy Kobe Tai.

[Coyoteman]

The lower jawbone fragment, an incisor

From pubmedcentral

: "And, intriguingly, mitochondrial DNA has now been extracted from Quaternary fossil teeth, allowing fossil samples to be placed in the same population genetic framework as extant populations living in the same geographic area"

The above case is only 2,400 years old. They have Neanderthal DNA much older than that.

But I think 2 million years will be a challenge for a while to come for DNA studies.

[mysterio]

I only know about it because a girl I went to grad school with was extracting DNA from fossil teeth for some project.

That girl wasn't Kobe Tai, though. :)

[allmendream]

It sure would provide some interesting data if we could do it. It would confirm a lot of data about the neutral mutation rate I would imagine, as well as showing if he was at all an ancestor of modern man including modern Chinese.

[ASA Vet]

Kobe certainly has grad school level skills and could extract samples from this old fossil.

[mysterio]

But I think 2 million years will be a challenge for a while to come for DNA studies.

Yeah, that is a pretty old sample. I remember reading about scientists doing protein analysis of a T. rex sample like 68 million years old, but I don't think there was any DNA, mitochondrial or otherwise.