Lion Rock: Middle Pleistocene, China
collected 1958

List of taxa
Where & when
Geology
Taphonomy & methods
Metadata & references
Taxonomic list
Mammalia - Rodentia - Hystricidae
Hystrix sp. Linnaeus 1758
Hystrix subcristata
H. subcristata swinhoe
Mammalia - Rodentia - Muridae
Rattus rattus (Linnaeus 1758)
Mammalia - Primates - Cercopithecidae
Rhinopithecus tingianus Matthew and Granger 1923
Macaca sp. Lacépède 1799
Mammalia - Primates - Hominidae
Pongo sp. Lacépède 1799
Homo sp. Linnaeus 1758
Mammalia - Perissodactyla - Rhinocerotidae
Rhinoceros sinensis Owen 1870
Mammalia - Perissodactyla - Tapiridae
Tapirus sp. Brisson 1762
"Tapiris sp."
Megatapirus augustus Matthew and Granger 1923
Mammalia - Suidae
Sus sp. Linnaeus 1758
Sus scrofa Linnaeus 1758
Mammalia - Cervidae
Hydropotes sp. Swinhoe 1870
Muntiacus muntjak Rafinesque 1815
"Muntiacus muntiak"
Cervus (Rusa) tricolor
original and current combination Rusa
Mammalia - Bovidae
Bubalus sp. Hamilton-Smith 1827
Caprinae indet. Gray 1821
Mammalia - Carnivora - Felidae
Panthera cf. tigris (Linnaeus 1758)
Felis sp. Linnaeus 1758
Mammalia - Carnivora - Hyaenidae
Crocuta crocuta (Erxleben 1777)
C. crocuta ultima
Mammalia - Carnivora - Viverridae
Viverra zibetha Linnaeus 1758
V. zibetha expectata
Paguma larvata (Smith 1827)
Mammalia - Carnivora - Mustelidae
Arctonyx collaris Cuvier 1825
Mammalia - Carnivora - Ursidae
Ursus thibetanus Cuvier 1823
Ailuropoda melanoleuca (David 1869)
A. melanoleuca fovealis/
Mammalia - Carnivora - Canidae
Cuon javanicus
Mammalia - Proboscidea - Elephantidae
Stegodon orientalis Owen 1870
synonym of Stegodon insignis
Palaeoloxodon namadicus
synonym of Elephas
"Paleoloxodon namadicus"
see common names

Geography
Country:China State/province:Guangdong
Coordinates: 24.7° North, 113.6° East (view map)
Paleocoordinates:24.7° North, 113.6° East
Basis of coordinate:stated in text
Altitude:84 meters
Geographic resolution:small collection
Time
Period:Quaternary Epoch:Pleistocene
10 m.y. bin:Cenozoic 6
Key time interval:Middle Pleistocene
Age range of interval:0.78100 - 0.12600 m.y. ago
Stratigraphy
Stratigraphic resolution:group of beds
Stratigraphy comments: "The cave contained three strata... filling a complex of fissures and openings. Maba 1 and a diversity of mammalian fossils were found in the second level. These deposits extended as much as 10 m above the first level and were ∼8 m in length, ∼7 m in width, and ∼6 m in total height... The associated faunal remains... indicate a later Middle or Late Pleistocene age for the Maba cranium (9– 11). A uranium series date on associated vertebrate teeth yielded an age of 129,000–135,000 y before present (yBP) (12), but it is not clear whether this determination accurately dates the cranium" because of possible analytical biases; "More recent 230Th/234U dating of capping flowstone samples from Southern Branch Cave, another chamber in Lion Head Mountain, suggests that some of the Maba deposits may be as old as 237,000 yBP"
Lithology and environment
Primary lithology:brown unlithified claystone
Lithology description: "primarily... yellow brown clays"
Environment:cave
Geology comments: "a karst cave"
Taphonomy
Modes of preservation:body
Size of fossils:macrofossils
Collection methods and comments
Collection methods:survey of museum collection
Reason for describing collection:paleoecologic analysis
Museum repositories:IVPP
Collection dates:1958
Metadata
Also known as:Lion Hill; Maba
Database number:120834
Authorizer:J. Alroy Enterer:J. Alroy
Modifier:J. Alroy Research group:vertebrate
Created:2011-11-22 12:21:04 Last modified:2012-03-16 06:38:09
Access level:the public Released:2011-11-22 12:21:04
Creative Commons license:CC BY
Reference information

Primary reference:

38591. X.-J. Wu, L. A. Schepartz, W. Liu and E. Trinkaus. 2011. Antemortem trauma and survival in the late Middle Pleistocene human cranium from Maba, South China. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences [J. Alroy/J. Alroy]