Forbidden Archeology: The Hidden History of the Human Race

Aigner (1981, pp. 65–66) stated: “On the basis of their measurements and observations, Wu and Peng conclude the remains belong to a grade of organization similar to that of the European Neanderthals. . . . Coon (1969) agrees with the relative position of the hominid remains but emphasizes that it is not a Neanderthal in the classic sense of the word. He believes Mapa is on the threshold of modern Homo sapiens and is ‘mostly if not entirely Mongoloid.’”

There seems to be general agreement that the Maba skull is Homo sapiens (Han and Xu 1985, p. 285) with some Neanderthaloid features. Coon, it may be noted, believed that Homo erectus evolved directly into separate races of Homo sapiens in different parts of the world. Thus, according to Coon, the classic Neanderthals would have been restricted to Europe.

It is easy to see that scientists, in accordance with their evolutionary expectations, would want to place the Maba specimen in the very latest Middle Pleistocene or early Late Pleistocene, after Homo erectus. And in fact Wu Rukang stated: “Judging from the mammalian fauna associated with the Maba skull, its geological age is probably of late Middle Pleistocene or early Late Pleistocene” (Jia 1980, p. 41). This would give it a chronometric age of about 100,000 years.

Jia Lanpo placed the Maba skull at no earlier than the Riss-Würm interglacial, in the late Middle Pleistocene (Jia 1980, p. 41). Aigner (1981, p. 65) also agreed: “The primitive hominid and fauna including Stegodon suggest a late Middle Pleistocene dating though Kahlke (1961) suggests a Würm-equivalent age.” The Würm glaciation occurred in the early part of the Late Pleistocene.

Now let us take a close look at the associated fauna (Figure 11.6, p. 580), which Chang (1962, p. 754) said was “apparently a typical South China Middle Pleistocene assemblage.” The assemblage included mostly fossils that could only be classified according to their genus (Han and Xu 1985, p. 285). All of these genera existed throughout the Pleistocene, from Early to Late.

A probable minimum age for the Maba site is provided by one of the identifiable species, Elephas (Palaeoloxodon) namadicus Falconer et Cautley. This elephant apparently became extinct in the Late Pleistocene (Belyaeva et al. 1962, p. 370). Nilsson (1983, p. 487) stated that Palaeoloxodon namadicus was typical of the Pleistocene interglacials, the last of which (the European Eem or Chinese Tali-Lushan) occurred about 90,000–110,000 years ago (Aigner 1981, p. 33). This a minimum age for Maba in the early Late Pleistocene.

Palaeoloxodon namadicus also occurs at Hoshantung cave near Kunming in Yunnan province (Aigner 1981, p. 293). This cave is thought to belong to the Holstein interglacial, which would make it the equivalent of Zhoukoudian Locality 1 (Aigner 1981, p. 286).

According to V. J. Maglio, an authority on elephants, Palaeoloxodon na madicus appears at the onset of the Middle Pleistocene, about 1 million years ago ( Nilsson 1983, p. 488). In some lists, Palaeoloxodon namadicus also occurs in Early Pleistocene contexts (Han and Xu 1985, p. 279). The Early Pleistocene could thus be taken as a maximum age for the Maba site.

Stegodon, another extinct elephant discovered at the Maba site in China, provides an age range similar to that of Palaeoloxodon namadicus (Aigner 1981, p. 289). So although Maba might be as recent as the early Late Pleistocene, the faunal evidence is also consistent with an age anywhere in the Middle Pleistocene, or even the Early Pleistocene. The principal justification for fixing the date of the Maba cave in the very latest part of the late Middle Pleistocene or in the early Late Pleistocene seems to be the morphology of the hominid remains.

W. W. Howells (1977, p. 72) stated: “The phylogenetic position of Ma-pa suggested by Woo [Neanderthal] would accord best with the date presently assigned, i.e. early late Pleistocene at latest. Viewed as a really Neanderthal-like fossil (far removed in space from any other known), an early date would seem anomalous.” Maba provides another instance of morphological dating in order to preserve an evolutionary sequence. An early Late Pleistocene date was favored.