1. ^*Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Academia Sinica, Beijing 100044, China
2. ^†Departments of Anthropology and Pediatric Dentistry, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242, USA
3. ^§Department of Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts 01003, USA
4. Chongqing Museum of Natural History, 72 Loquat Hill Park Street, Chongqing, Sichuan 630013, China
5. ^¶Department of Geology, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario L85 4M1, Canada
6. ^£Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 1N4, Canada
7. National Museum of Natural History, Post Office Box 9517, 2300 RA Leiden, The Netherlands
8. ^‡To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Abstract

THE site of Longgupo Cave was discovered in 1984 and excavated in 1985–1988 by the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology (Beijing) and the Chongqing National Museum (Sichuan Province). Important finds include very archaic hominid dental fragments, Gigantopithecus teeth and primitive stone tools. Palaeomagnetic analysis and the presence of Ailuropoda microta (pygmy giant panda) suggested that the hominid-bearing levels dated to the earliest Pleistocene¹. In 1992, joint Chinese–American–Canadian geochronological research corroborated the age using electron spin resonance (ESR) analysis. We report here that the hominid dentition and stone tools from Longgupo Cave are comparable in age and morphology with early representives of the genus Homo (H. habilis and H. ergaster) and the Oldowan technology in East Africa. The Longgupo dentition is demonstr-ably more primitive than that seen in Asian Homo erectus. Long-gupo's diverse and well preserved Plio-Pleistocene fauna of 116 species provide a sensitive contextual base for interpreting the early arrival of the genus Homoin Asia.