Mass spectrometric U-series dating of the Chaoxian hominin site at Yinshan, eastern China

The fossils of Chaoxian hominin, widely accepted as representing archaic Homo sapiens in eastern China, were recovered from the middle or slightly higher levels of Layer 2 deposits of a collapsed cave at Yinshan, Anhui Province. Results of mass spectrometric U-series dating of intercalated speleothem calcites are presented. Based mainly on four broadly coeval calcite samples, the hominin fossils should be bracketed in the range of 310–360 ka or somewhat older. These ages are much older than the previous estimate at 160–200 ka based on the U-series dating of fossil teeth and bones, and may be cited as supporting evidence for an earlier H. erectus–archaic H. sapiens interface in China.