THE COMPARISONS OF SOME CRANIAL MORPHOLOGICAL FEATURES BETWEEN THE AFRICAN AND CHINESE Homo erectus

For the debate on the relationship between African and Asian Homo erectus, the present paper examined the main cranial features that are used to support the separation of Asian and African Homo erectus and put the African Homo erectus into Homo ergaster. The African specimens observed in present study include the earliest fossils of Homo erectus skulls ever found in East Africa (KNM-ER 3733、KNM-ER 3883 and KNM-WT 15000). The supporters for the separation of Asian and African Homo erectus use these fossils as the main evidence to demonstrate their opinions. In present study, 18 cranial features were compared between African and Chinese Homo erectus. Our results show that some morphological features suggested to be uniquely derived character state for East Asian Homo erectus also occur in the East African Homo erectus. The differences between African and Chinese Homo erectus for these cranial features are mainly the expression pattern and extents of development. The authors believe that according to the comparisons of the cranial features in present paper, the cranial morphologies of African and Chinese Homo erectus are very similar, and the morphological differences between them may just reflect the morphological variations of Homo erectus. The opinion that supports the existence of Asian Homo erectus autapomorphies cannot be proved in present study.