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These fossils are believed to come from two females who lived about 530,000 to 1 million years ago, the second being the older one by about 400,000 years. Gongwangling Man represents the oldest fossil of an erect human ever found in northern Asia. Scientists classify Lantian Man as a subspecies of homo erectus. The fossils are displayed at the Shaanxi History Museum, Xian, China.
The cranial capacity is estimated to be 780 cubic cm (48 cubic inches), somewhat similar to that of its contemporary, Java Man. Lantian Man is older than the better-known Peking Man (240,000-400,000 BCE), but younger than Yuanmou Man, who lived about 1.7 million years ago in modern-day China.
In the same strata as and close to the Lantian Man fossils, stone artifacts were found, such as treated pebbles and flakes. The presence of these stone artifacts and as well as ashes suggests that Lantian Man used tools and could control fire.
References
- Woo, J., 1964. Mandible of Sinanthropus lantianensis. Curr. Anthropol. 5, 98-101.
- Woo, J., 1965. Preliminary report on a skull of Sinanthropus lantianensis of Lantian, Shensi. Sci. Sin. 14.
- Woo, J., 1966. The skull of Lantian Man. Curr. Anthropol. 5, 83-86.
- Woo JK. A newly discovered mandible of the Sinanthropus type – Sinanthropus lantianensis. Sci. Sin. 13:801-11,1964.
- Aigner JS, Laughlin WS. The Dating of Lantian Man and His Significance for Analyzing trends in Human Evolution. Am J Phys Anthrop 39:97-110, 1973. PMID 4351579
See also
"Lantian Man"