PALEOANTHROPOLOGICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL POTENTIAL OF YANHUIDONG ENDOKARST (TONGZI), GUIZHOU PROVINCE, SOUTH CHINA
Zhang, Pu; Malasse, AD; Cao, Z; Lallouet, F
Since 2009 a cooperation program between the Mountainous Research Institute of Guizhou (Guizhou Academy of Sciences, Guiyang) and the UMR 7194 CNRS (Departement de Prehistoire du Museum national d'Histoire naturelle of Paris) has been engaged to value the prehistorical patrimony of the Guizhou Province, especially the site of Yanhuidong. The Yanhui Gallery belongs to the Chaishan karst system, 17 km north-west of Tongzi County and represents the first karst of southern China rich in Homo erectus teeth with traces of anthropic activities (lithics, foyer, burned bones). A review of Chinese articles and unpublished fauna highlights the potential of the Yanhui karst. The small and narrow gallery was discovered in 1971 by the Geological Bureau of Guizhou Province, then in 1972 a survey organized by the Geological Bureau, the Guizhou Provincial Museum and the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (I.V.P.P.) of Beijing, identified a mud flow rich in Middle Pleistocene fossils species with the complex Ailuropoda/Stegodon, lithic tools, traces of coals, two burned splinters and two human teeth. In 1983 I.V.P.P. recorded four new human teeth attributed to Homo erectus (Wu Maolin). In 1986, uranium series dating on three teeth enamel gave ages of 113 ka, 115 ka and 181 ka. In 1988 the Institute of Guizhou Mountain Resources (Cao Zetian) undertook a latest excavation that remains unpublished. In 2009 the consultation of the fauna identified a human left M-1 with typical Homo erectus features, then an observation of the six teeth in I.V.P.P. (Beijing) supports the first diagnosis. An exhaustive review of the articles indicates Th-227/Th-230 dating of stalagmites published twenty five years ago, which supports the occupation of the Chaishan range by Homo erectus during the Middle Pleistocene (at least 240 ka). The material of the 1988's excavation (more than 2,000 teeth) was collected at the bottom of the gallery, in a small room dominated by small channels. The assemblage of charcoals, burnt bones, lithic industry, seven juvenile and adult teeth all from the maxillary, likely coming from dismantled skulls, suggests three hypotheses: (1) the proximity of one archaeological level above the gallery, (2) carnivores den sites, (3) anthropophagic activities. They justify future explorations in the karst to discover suspected inhabited level and fossil hominids.