一根股骨顯示古人類曾與現代人共存數萬年

Analysis of an ancient thigh bone suggests that a species of early hominin may have survived as late as 14,000 years ago in southwest China.

對一根古代股骨的分析表明，有一個早期人亞族物種可能在中國西南地區存活到了近至1.4萬年前。

The bone was discovered in 1989 along with other human remains at a site known as Maludong, or Red Deer Cave. Scientists have not yet ascribed the bone to a particular species.

這根股骨和其他一些人類遺骸是1989年在一個被稱爲“馬鹿洞”的地方發現的。科學家們一直沒有把這根股骨歸爲一個特定物種。

But in a study in the journal PLOS One, Darren Curnoe, a paleontologist at the University of New South Wales Australia, and his colleagues report that the thigh bone strongly resembles those of Homo erectus or Homo habilis, which lived around 1.5 million years ago or more in Africa.

但在《科學公共圖書館-綜合》(PLOS One)發表的一項研究中，澳大利亞新南威爾士大學(University of New South Wales Australia)古生物學家達倫·克諾伊(Darren Curnoe)及同事表示，這根股骨和直立人或能人的股骨非常類似，而他們大約150萬年前或更早的時候生活在非洲。

The finding suggests that early hominins may not have immediately disappeared in China after the appearance of modern humans.

這一發現表明，現代人出現後，早期人亞族物種可能並沒有在中國立即消失。

“It seems likely now that there was extensive overlap in time between archaic and modern humans for tens of thousands of years,” Dr. Curnoe said.

“很可能在大約數萬年時間裏，古人類和現代人一直共存，”克諾伊說。

In 2012, he and his colleagues studied teeth and cranial and jaw bones from Maludong. Radiocarbon dating revealed the remains to be about 14,000 years old as well.

2012年，他和同事研究了馬鹿洞人的牙齒、顱骨和頜骨。放射性碳測年顯示，這些遺骸距今有大約1.4萬年曆史。

Next, the researchers would like to extract DNA from bones found in the cave. But because the thigh bone shows signs of having been burned, ancient human DNA may not have survived.

接下來，研究人員想要從馬鹿洞裏發現的骨骼中提取DNA。但鑑於這根股骨上有被燒灼的痕跡，古人類DNA可能沒能保留下來。