LIVING ADAPTATION AND BEHAVIORS OF LATE PLEISTOCENE HUMANS FROM HUANGLONG CAVE IN YUNXI OF HUBEI PROVINCE REFLECTED BY TOOTH USE MARKS
人类牙齿表面痕迹与人类生存适应及行为特征——湖北郧西黄龙洞更新世晚期人类牙齿使用痕迹

The use marks on human teeth are produced by the nonmasticatory utilization of teeth and other activities to obtain and process food,and some activities are related to the behavior.They thus can reflect various cultures of prehistory humans,recording information of living environment,food composition,way to get food,behavior and habits.In 2004 a new Late Pleistocene human fossil site named Huanglong Cave was discovered in Yunxi County,Hubei Province.The three excavations from 2004 to 2006 unearthed seven human teeth,evidence of fire use by humans,stone tools and other evidence of human activities.Preliminary studies indicate that the age of the human fossils is around 100ka.The discoveries are very important for the studies of Late Pleistocene human evolution and modern human origin in China.In the present study,the tooth use marks of the seven human teeth found in Huanglong Cave were observed,and further analyzed with the human behavior and environmental adaptations.Our observations reveal three kinds of use marks on the anterior teeth from the Huanglong Cave.They are enamel damage and chipping,cut marks on the crown labial surface,and interproximal grooves.(1)The enamel damage and chipping: They were identified in the incisal edge and adjacent regions of the upper incisor,upper lateral incisor and lower lateral incisor.The surface of the damage and chipping are very rugged and rough which seems to be caused by gnawing hard materials(like bones)or using the teeth as tools.It's worth noticing that all the enamel damage and chippings occurred in the anterior teeth.Such a distribution fits with the behavior using the anterior teeth for gnawing.Moreover,the enamel damage and chippings mainly appear in the lingual and buccal surface of crown closer to the incisal edge or near the corner regions of the incisal edge,which should be caused by the activities using the anterior teeth peeling the meat attached to bones or peeling some plant shell.(2)The interproximal grooves: Among the seven human teeth found in the Huanglong Cave,five were found to have interproximal wear facets.The interproximal wear facets in the upper lateral incisor and upper canine are semi-round shaped which seems to be produced by tooth-picking.The three grooves are all situated on the upper region of the crowns near the roots.Obviously,the groove-shaped wear facets in this region cannot be caused by the tooth contact.Moreover,some horizontal striates can be identified on the surface of the groove.We believe that the groove-shaped wear facts should be caused by tooth-picking activities.(3)The cut marks on the crown labial surface: Our observations found some damages on the upper lateral incisor of the Huanglong Cave.Under microscope,some vertical damage surface cutting marks can be identified.Such marks seem to be caused by sharp tools.Humans of the Huanglong Cave might use their anterior teeth to hold food or other materials.At the same time,they used sharp tools to peel meat or p