FOSSIL HUMAN CRANIA FROM YUNXIAN:MORPHOLOGICAL COMPARISON WITH HOMO ERECTUS CRANIA FROM ZHOUKOUDIAN

Two fossil hominid crania from Yunxian were found in 1989 and 1990 respectively,and were attributed to Homo erectus by Li Tianyuan and D.A.Etler(1992) and Li et al(1994).In this paper,theHomo erectus featuresof these two crania are examined in a comparison of the crania with those from Zhoukoudian.The features examined include supraorbital tori, occipital torns,lambda-opisthion angle,postorbital constriction,skull breadth conditions,lowness of skull,frontal flatness and receding, and cramal capacity.Results show that some features are doubtful owing to damage and distortion of these two crania,and others arc of early Homo sapiens instead.Morphologically,the crania from Yunxian arc likely of Homo sapiens ifereclus and sapiens are considered as different species.